to think that a toyshop shouldn't change the fur they make their bear with?

oh it was yours if you could tell me where you got the beads from I’ll forever be in your dept!!! Check my other post for context lol.

Hey! I’m not sure if anyone will ever see this but if dachsandpup ever sees this please tell me where you got the lollypop bears from! I hand mine since i was a kid, and the arm ripped off and got lost, and I need a replacement so bad!! If you could do a kid in need a huge favour I would be forever in you dept😭. If anyone else can find a listing or know some with this stuffy please dm me🙏

We had a specific bear like this but as soon as the special status became apparent we aquired a second one and started swapping them around regularly to ensure an even rate of lovedness. Also allegedly surface wash only but both have been through gruesome events which required washing and ate none the worse. A few years later and he is no longer the lovedest of all the cuddlies - just a rank-and-file member of the couple of dozen who live in the bed. When we go away it is a different bear chosen to be packed but DC is old enough that if there is a disaster of the lost teddy we won't replace it.

So the question is: what do we do about the doppelgangers? Neither of them is identifiable as the original and both have been truly loved so it would feel wrong to get rid of either. However I also am not sure about confessing that there are two. Do I take the secret with me to the grave?

DSs 1, 2 and 3 all have their original teddies who turn 25, 25 and 14 this year respectively and they've been through the wars something chronic. Washed in many things (including white spirit once when DS3 dropped him in a tin of paint), patched, stitched, sewn back together after DS1s monkey's arm and tail came off in a tug of war at show and tell. DS3 actually hand washes his teddy now because he's scared he might be damaged in the wash. He smooths down his fur in the same direction and everything! Fun fact: watching 13 year old boy dotingly cleaning a battered teddy bear with a flannel is equal parts hilarious and adorable. I bet you Teddy will come out just fine. Set him on the radiator for a day or so, tell DD he's had a bath because he got a bit grubby and give him back.

I have spent a fortune on spare Dollys on eBay since M&P no longer make her the same. Once a toy is discontinued, its second value is whatever someone will pay.

Both my DD's have blankeys.

My eldest had a butterfly fleece blankey. Which one night, she was really ill and vomited all over it in the car on the way to hospital. I had a towel with me to clean her up and swapped that for her blankey. That was 6 years ago. She still has this purple hand towel from Asda now. It only leaves the house if we're staying over somewhere. But she used to take it everywhere with her. I've not seen a more bedraggled, threadbare towel in all my life. But, as with the toys it has become a member of the family (and blankey is male for some unknown reason)

DD2 had a duvet cover to begin with. She dragged that sodding single quilt cover everywhere. Until an 11 hour flight to Cuba. I'd bought myself a slankey so we could snuggle when she got tired. She claimed that slankey as her new (also male) blankey. Fine....

It was huge, note the word was. When I was at work my DH said to her they were going to make blankey smaller. So he cut off a large square, which DD took too. Afterall, blankey had only gotten smaller, not been changed.

Now if I had done that, I'd have cut two squares off.

But no. The pillock cut one square off. And threw the rest out (sob).... blankey went on an adventure one day. (We lost it okay?). And never returned. For 3 nights DD2 cuddled Daddys blankey (his gym towel - clean) until one day, we're walking through Aldi and they are selling baby blankets.

Now she has a baby blanket from there....but will she take another? Will she heck. I have to prise it from her when she's sleeping to wash it.

I think kids having these comforters is cute as sin. But why do they have to choose obscure ones?!

I love threads like these.

OP you've been a model of restraint in the face of some rather grumpy answers.

My little sister had a special teddy until she left in in the park (parenting fail on the part of my DM there). It wasn't possible to get another identical teddy in the country at the time, so my Mum had to wait until a friend brought one over. She told my little sister that teddy had been in holiday and had now returned, she was delighted.

We have Rabbie and he has been washed, sown and patched many times, he was also involved in a security incident in Budapest airport. I mDe him a pair of felt shoes as his feet fell to bits.

For op. Bedtime bear and spare bear. Bedtime bear has had his ears rubbed through. Spare bare looks more played with since a vomit and wash incident, and now dts play with him sometimes too. But spare bear is generally banished to the foot of the bed while bedtime bear is snuggled up with. Dd1 is nearly 8 and the original bear is nearly 6.

I'm oft reminded of Peter rabbit of a child I used to baby sit for. Peter rabbit is threadbare, lost his ears from chewing and granny had to knit him a new jacket. But he was a very loved rabbit and never was a replacement/spare ever found. Kids just attach themselves to things without rhyme or reason.

Wash him. Dd1 has one of those bears. But she also has bedtime bear. Bedtime bead got lost and fortunately then found. It was a random bear that a relative gave her and we never believed she would take to it like she did. When we realised, efforts were gone to to get a spare. Dd1 never took to spare bear - she even refers to him as spare bear. So bedtime bear is the grottiest, holiest thing ever. But thankfully being asthma friendly, was designed to be machine washable. Dts have their favourites too. They have the same toy in 2 different colours. It works, they may have them at the same time but they are happy with either if one cannot be found. They apparently are not machine washable, or so the label would have you believe. 1 has beans, the other does not. They just go through the hand wash cycle then a gentle spin before tumble drying to make sure they are thoroughly dry. They all accept that the toy has been washed far better than a replacement toy being brought in.

Our soft toys used to regularly go in a plastic bag in the freezer overnight and then a trip through the washing machine/tumble drier. Otherwise they could be full of dust mites which your child is breathing in every night. They just had to get used to their favourites being missing sometimes.

I was given a bear by my auntie the day I was born. As evidenced by the fact it is see through, stained and has a smashed eye and no mouth, it's never been replaced. Betty the bear looks shocking but I think it's part of her charm.

I'm in the don't replace camp!

I agree with one

All soft toys should be going through the washing machine regularly too, they must become encrusted otherwise!

The child in the OP is two but there are many more of older ages on the thread.

And, at 2 I think one or at most 2 attempts to replace are probably fair enough but 4 and upwards, I think you have to deal with that a bit differently.

By age 2 my children had lost 2 grandparents and 2 uncles, I couldn't buy replacements. I accept though that they didn't spend all day every day with those people so didn't miss them as much as we did.

We've got Mr Stripes - a primark tiger that had been discontinued long before I realised how special he was. I did buy another from eBay but obviously that was pristine and became The Other Mr Stripes. He has now become Mrs Stripes with the addition of a hair bow, and some stitched-on eyelashes and red lips. She was a birthday present for Mr Stripes! But she's not nearly as loved, poor lass.

The youngest has 2 cuddle objects of the same species (being deliberately vague here as its really outable)

He sleeps on top of one of them, its vile. It frequently gets a 60 degree wash despite being 'sponge clean only'

Still alive.

My dd has lamby, he is rather manky looking as he was white, once I realised he had become special I got a spare, of course of all the toys to fall in love with lamby happened to be a steiff limited edition and it was stupid money to get a spare. Mil who bought original lamby managed to get us a spare but the spare has never been acceptable even from a young age and even in her sleep dd can tell them apart. is known as imposter lamby and though it gets played with it is not loved and is not special like lamby is.

Lamby says hand wash but I just put him in a pillowcase periodically and wash and then dry with hairdryer. Now dd is 5 lamby does not leave the house, when she was younger it was quite stressful, the odd time we had to retrace our steps to find him etc. Lamby wears a collar with my phone number just incase!

Ds4 has a 'diddy' as his comforter, now age 7 it lives in his bed, but diddy was a cellular cotton cot blanket of which we had several and they are easy to replace.

I am expecting Dc6 and dd is wanting to choose a cuddly for the baby, my only specification is that it's generic and easy to get hold of a spare, I think muslin cloths etc are good loveys as easy to have a few.

I can understand your frustration op,I do think shopping out the teddy that went a bit pink was ott but I hope teddy survived the wash Ok.

I don't think by shielding children from loss we are doing them favours in the long term tbh.

I take your point but the child in question here 2!!!

I'm with Norks and firmly in the replacement camp, and my DD was 7 when we had to do it with a Build a Bear that went AWOL at Butlins. I think I was at least as upset as DD and she'd only had Vanessa for 8 months at that point!

4 years later Vanessa (Mk2) is still going strong and loves a spa day !

The duplication if a favoured toy must be a generational thing. Our DD has 2 of a particular toy (1 about 20 years old, given by a neighbour, the other was bought from the USA after extensive internet searching). In contrast, my DM still has her bear she received for 1st birthday - she's recently turned 60!

yup - 4 was getting ott.

Oh Thank god one
Yes !!!!!!!!! this !

went

Goldfish were when DSs were toddler age so probably a bit less than honest. Hamster was primary school age so was obviously more honest.