If your child lost her 'special' teddy???

[Quoideneuf]

OMG...the trauma. Just back from a stay in a hotel abroad where 'Special Ted' was accidentally swept up & taken away with the bedlinen. Despite best efforts & a brilliant response from hotel 'Special Ted' is still missing :-(
My daughter is heartbroken (& wierdly, I also feel sad?!!). As a last resort am thinking that I now need to find an exact replacement (& then make grubby to match the real 'Special Ted' (!) and pretend she's been returned by the hotel).

I have a photo of the original missing toy but don't know where to post it. It's a pale pink, satin edged square of velour-like fabric with a teddy's head and arms with a little satin dicky bow. We've had it 7 years (a gift when my daughter was born) and google searches have thrown up similar blankies but not close enough to pass off as the original article. Please help!

Oh how awful, my DD is very attached to her teddy, as was I, so I can understand how upsetting it is. Have you tried eBay, and also Jellycat, as hey seem to do lots of baby teddies/comforters?

Good luck

As your daughter is 7 why don't you let her choose a new teddy. I imagine she likes the feel of the silk or velour, if so that should be easy to replicate, but hey what do I know compared to a 7 year olds broken heart.

By the way how has she managed since returning from the hotel, has she taken to something else?

Good luck!

We lost dd1's, but she was much younger. We didn't replace straight away as thought it might turn up, when we did it looks the same, but about 2 or 3 times the size. He had obviously 'grown up'! At the time she knew it was a replacement, but never mentions that now. Could it come clean (as he has been in the wash), and some of the fabric changed colour due to the wash? I think part of it also depends on the smell, sounds gross, but when it comes could you bundle it up overnight with some of her dirty clothes to get some of her smell on it before giving it to her? I know it sounds horrible, but really not much different to it being snuggled by her in the same clothes.

Think there is a missing toy category on MN! You could put the picture on your profile, and you might want to put it somewhere with more traffic AIBU or chat. Or if you know the make then go and ask in a shop which sells them. Not much help to you, but some toys (e.g. Jellycat) have codes on the label so you can track them down again.

Oh and try ebay, that's where we found ours, probably the original is no longer made.

If you post a picture of it here there's a possibility that some kind MNer might have one that they would send to you? Or someone might know where you could buy a replacement.

It has happened before where an MNer appealed for her DS's missing monkey. It's a thread in classics.

I'm sorry for your dd. :( My DD1 has a 'special Cat' and if it got lost I imagine that from her pov it would be like a pet had died.

I'm guessing that it's something like this ? These don't have a bow tie though.

If it was my ds it would just be gone and he would adjust. However if it was dd I would be pulling out all stops and searching the whole earth. The one you describe sounds like the one ds had he is 6 and it is tesco f&f one I am not sure if his is still kicking around somewhere but if it is and you have no luck I can send it to you and you can dye it because unfortunately it is Blue version.

I used to work at an idustrial laundry (for hotels and hospitals) and we always kept any teddies that went through the wash and returned quiet a few, so maybe you could ask the hotel which laundry it was and go from there.

My dd would be heart broken to loose hers :(

I hope you find it.

THANK YOU to all of you who responded to my post with your brilliant suggestions and with your sympathy for the plight of the lost teddy bear. I am really touched by your responses. Well, ta da...... I have some good news....the hotel has emailed us to say that they've found 'Special Ted' and that they have posted him back to us. They even sent us a photo just so we could confirm it was her! Honestly, the amount of relief I felt was totally out of proportion. Both my daughter and I are on cloud nine. I'll take three things away from this whole, sorry, roller coaster of an affair: (i) just how lovely everyone on Mumsnet has been - thank you again, (ii) the fab customer service at our hotel really saved the day and very importantly (iii) NEVER leave your child's 'Special Ted' on or in the bed if you're staying in a hotel!
Thank you again to everyone and wishing you all a very happy 2013.

How lovely Quoid - very relieved for you - think you should name them as their customer service is so good

So pleased for you and your dd well done to the hotel too.

Exactly the same happened to me when I went away with my parents.

We were in a hotel stopping over on the way to Australia and my teddy got left behind.

The very kind hotel people found him tucked into the blankets and sheets to wash and posted him to Australia.

There's a lovely photo of me cuddling him.

Think I was about 4.
I still have him

DS1's special toy got left on a cruise ship and when I phoned the same day they said that all items of low value are thrown away.

We did get a new one (it was Amercian so I had to import him via my DB) which wasn't quite the same and said the other one was travelling the seas and having a lovely time. Aww.

Forgot to say, I also felt traumatised, a little like a bereavement!

I feel your DD's pain, and yours. When my DD got attached to her Piglet from Adams I bought a second. We lost both in a month . One was found but the other has never been seen again. DH and I bought a few from ebay - Adams would not help - but they were only hald right. DD is okay now about it but still sleeps with the other and I am still really sad about the loss. DH and I went back to where we thought it was and asked in all the shops but nothing.

Put a photo on your profile and also repost on the Toys Reunited topic on here. I also think there is a national website for posting lost and found toys.

Good luck!

Having been through this ( but we didn't get back - replaced with a cousin found on eBay, smaller too), we no longer allow special teds to leave the house. Kids take a different ted on hol that they wouldn't be heartbroken to lose. Sometimes when they were smaller we took a photo with us.

One friend had special ted's photo printed on to t shirt - also good for wearing under uniform/clothes when extra re-assurance needed. I thought this was a genius idea!

Great news though!

It's for this reason that we have three of DS's special toy! (And the ability for one to disappear into the wash...)

OMG Arsey what a genius idea about the t-shirt

Isn't it? Actually, mine would still love this now at ages 6 to 10!

I'm dreading this ever happening to us, so we have a couple of spares hidden away. In France/Belgium they have a special website called SOS Doudou Perdu for lost special teddies, where you can find a replacement for just about anything. There's nothing like that in the UK?

Great news about the safe recovery of Mr Ted!

When DD was 4 her favourite tellytubby teddy disappeared when we were walking home from the shops, DD was VERY upset but i promised her if she wrote it on her Santa list he would find it for her and send it back in her Santa sack, which he duly did...clever Santa!

It did help that there were millions of red po's in the shop back then