AIBU to ask for help in saving Blankie's life?

Blankie needs to go to, if not blankie heaven, then at least a blankie nursing home.

Jokes aside, I was your DD. I slept with a raggy old teddy bear until I left home to go to university. I didn't take it to uni with me but we were always reunited in the holidays. In my mid 20s I ended up moving back in with my parents for quite a long time and he resurfaced, being hidden away every time my boyfriend came to stay. Finally I left home once and for all. He lives in a secret hiding place at my mum's house and I have finally kicked my snuggling habit. But usually when I've been visiting my parents and it's time to leave, I get him out of his hiding place quickly for a snuggle.

I would encourage your DD to put blankie away in a special place and only get it out on very rare occasions. She doesn't want to still be sleeping with her blankie when she's 30, but the occasional sniff won't do any harm.

Ds 10 sleeps with an old cardigan of mine and if he did so in his 20s I wouldn't think he was weird.

Quite. The thought of a grown man or woman being so attached to a tatty old comforter is so weird to me, barring additional needs. I completely understand liking the sensory thing of touching something nice as you fall to sleep. But at that age that usually means a partner! 😆

Well-adjusted adults with no additional needs or childhood trauma usually have no need to keep hold of baby blankets and teddies as comforters to use when they sleep. They naturally grow out of them as they move into the next stage of emotional maturity and happily leave the last stage behind. Maybe it might be kept in a drawer for nostalgia purposes or as an heirloom but to still NEED it at 23 is very unusual.

So glad blankie was saved/an acceptable replacement found. I'm 59 and still have Panda (he sometimes needs a new fur). Long live beloved childhood cuddly things.

I was dreading this with my boys blankets blank & fluff so I’ve brought the exact same 2 again sad I know 😭

What about crocheting or knitting a big white blanket/square and inserting Blankie into the middle? You could also add new white ribbon to the edge of the new white Blankie. If you can't knit or crochet, you can go along to a local knitters group and ask for help, as those groups are usually bursting with people with amazing crochet/,knitting skills and you might even find a volunteer to do it for you! Good luck, my 10 year old still has his noon noons.

First, the people who have no sense of appreciation for tradition or attachment are awful. This is something your daughter values and taking the time to find a way to preserve it for her is an expression of your love for her.

this is going to be scary, but it’s time to get some very sharp fabric scissors and cut Blankie into strips. Then use a blanket stitch to embroider each strip onto a new blanket. Use a random pattern because you aren’t going to end up with anything really coherent. She will now have a sturdy blanket with texture strips of Blankie.

I'd buy a new blanket and sew the old blankie knot to the middle of it with the most unworn side outermost. Hopefully the new blanket can become as mucky and health hazard comforting over time as the old bit .

I make memory bears (and other animals) and often incorporate 'strange' bits into them. I think if you lined it you could use it as one piece (or body part) of an animal especially if you pick the right style. Then it would still be available for snuggles but in a much more stable format. (If you want to PM me with a picture I might have other suggestions!)

@ItNeedsCleansingByFire DNR!!!

I'd just overstitch either visibly or with matching colour with embroidery thread to try to give it a bit more structure? Look at visible mending on Instagram but you can do things that should stabilise it. Try Hikaru Noguchi for inspo

Like this?

I'm 53 and still have blankie. It's not the original one, I found the same thing on ebay!

DS is 276 months old and still has both his blankets (one to snuggle, one to wash).
They were approaching oblivion but still fairly flat so last Christmas I bought two more blankets that had the same texture but were a different colour. TBF the original blankets had faded anyway.
I stitched the old blankets onto the new ones to stabilise the old and acclimatise the new. The solution has been accepted and the new blankets are accepted.
With a knotty ex-blanket I'd do a bit of judicious untangling and stitch whatever edges you can find onto a blanket with a similar texture. You can use hair detangler on fabric too, but it won't smell right afterwards. Perhaps just soaking it in water will loosen it up sufficiently.

Like this?
photo below

My kids on their 20s both still have their much tattered and disintegrating bears. I still have to mend them as get still get squeezed in times of need, illnesses and tubes of loneliness. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Get a ceremonial boat, put blankie in, then set fire to it in a moving ceremony.

Alternatively there's the black bin for general household waste.

Blankie (night nights in this house) is not an emotional crutch !

I don't quite understand the non flatness of Blankie, in one of your pics OP they look quite flat.

Great idea!

Your mum sounds amazing 🤩

You are NOT being unreasonable, OP! It's a tricky one and maybe best asking a specialist restorer of eg teddies. or could you buy a new identical one and sew it onto that like a sort of 'relief' layer so that is still just as it is but protected?

It's a childhood memory that she wants to save, with the tangible element rather than still needing it on a childhood way like others sneered at. I get it!

I'd reach out to leath toy hospital https://leithtoyhospital.co.uk/ see what they can do even though its not a teddy, we've had a toy restored by them before and its amazing how they can take essentially nothing and make something very close to the original, while incorporating the old.

Is it like this one? Could you buy one and stitch blankie to one corner?? Or take a corner off to make a new mini blankie with the old one maybe?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/375560392223?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=4G7LfS6ES1C&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=SAT4ldrBTtG&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I didn't take Mr Ted with me, and had to sleep with a hoodie rolled into a ball for the first three weeks until I went home and got him! DM offered to post him, but I was worried he'd get lost.

She made a gown and mortar board for him when I graduated since he'd been at university too.