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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be concerned my daughter still sleeps with her ‘blankie’ aged 17!

118 replies

Applebojangles · 22/03/2018 00:58

My dd (17) still sleeps with her blanket and literally cannot be without it at night, she has had it since she was born but just won’t give it up. She is mature for her age apart from this. When I looked in on her just now she had it over her face just like she was 4 years old again, she used to have a thing about it keeping her safe while she was asleep. She will hopefully be off to uni in September and I’m very worried about this, she can’t exactly take it with her can she? So is this weird or am I just overreacting?

OP posts:
MsJaneAusten · 22/03/2018 07:23

Overreacting. I’m 38. ‘Cuddles’ went to uni with me, has travelled the world and still sleeps in my bed. No one’s ever queried it. Not even the boyfriends / husband that have had to share a bed with it 😂

Saracen · 22/03/2018 07:23

YABU. One of my children often travels on the bus with her teddy and chats with elderly ladies who say they still sleep with theirs. My dh has had a blankie off and on since childhood. (It's a very special sort which is hard to get, but not one-of-a-kind, and they fall apart over time, so we have to keep looking for replacements at the car boot sales!) Quite a number of my friends at uni had special cuddly things to sleep with - I should say about 10% of students I knew.

Of course she can take it with her. Nobody will think anything of it.

IME the only people likely to tease someone for taking a cuddly thing to bed are 12 year olds. Fortunately kids outgrow that closed-mindedness and behave more reasonably as they grow up!

Forevertired19 · 22/03/2018 07:23

I'm 22 and still have a bear my brother gave me at birth.. Bear sits on my bedside table and although I don't cuddle it or use it for comfort to sleep next to, it's still a past time thing for me.
Something I refuse to give away or up.
That bear helped me as a child through some traumatic times. Yabu let her find comfort in blankie

Roussette · 22/03/2018 07:24

One of my DDs still sleeps with her teddy and she's in her twenties! She hooks her arm round him as she sleeps, nothing wrong with it and she took him to Uni too and now when I visit her in her flat, he's sat there on her bed still.

whoareyoukidding · 22/03/2018 07:26

I find it odd that so many people say that they still have childhood security props with them. I am more on the side of thinking that it is not quite right to be holding onto comforters into adulthood. Keeping childhood toys for memories is fine, but needing them still, to me , doesn't sit quite right.

moita · 22/03/2018 07:26

My well-travelled friend takes a small bear from her childhood everywhere with her. I think it's endearing. Although she's 30 and I'm amazed she hasn't lost it.

EleanorRobinson · 22/03/2018 07:32

When she has a boy in her bed, I bed the blankie won’t be there too! Which would you prefer?!

InMySpareTime · 22/03/2018 07:33

DS (16) still has his blanket, takes it on Expeditions and on holiday, will likely take it to University too.
There are actually 2 blankets, and they started out as throw rugs I bought for my University halls, so he'll definitely get away with them!

cantstopfuckingeating · 22/03/2018 07:33

My 25 year old niece still sleeps with her's😂

pimlicolife · 22/03/2018 07:35

My brother's girlfriend does too and she's in her 30's.

Roussette · 22/03/2018 07:40

I don't think of it as a 'childhood security prop', I think of it as a memory of childhood that my DD likes. She's very secure in herself so I have no worries there!

letsgomaths · 22/03/2018 07:58

My childhood teddy is still in my bedroom! (I give him a sleep mask to wear when adult activities take place though, to protect his innocence.)

deadringer · 22/03/2018 08:03

My dd is 27 and lives on the other side of the world and she still sleeps with her baby blanket and teddyshe has always been fiercely independent.

Trilllllian · 22/03/2018 08:09

Love this. Classic case of something we don’t necessarily talk about but when we do we find out everyone else does it!

I don’t have one but my DCs occasionally get to see my DMs owl doll who lives carefully wrapped up in a drawer. She’s 78!

whoareyoukidding · 22/03/2018 08:19

No. Not everyone does it.

BikeRunSki · 22/03/2018 08:27

DH is 42. He has a piece of satin under his pillow which he has had all his life.

SluttyButty · 22/03/2018 08:30

Mine’s almost 19,off to uni in sept and still sleeps with her stinky blankie. I might try and wash it before she actually flies the nest Hmm

MrsJayy · 22/03/2018 08:32

I think that is quite sweet why does it matter if she still sleeps with a blankie. My Dd has a beany duck that is 20years old that sits on her headboard, honestly don't worry about your Dd

PaperdollCartoon · 22/03/2018 08:36

My DM is nearly 60 and still sleeps with a bit of her cot blanket under her pillow. I sleep with a bear every night and take him with me when I go away. It’s really not that uncommon and nothing to worry about.

frieda909 · 22/03/2018 08:40

I have a favourite cuddly toy from childhood who came everywhere with me: holidays, school trips etc. He came to uni with me and nobody ever batted an eyelid. In fact I think most people had a treasured childhood toy with them!

It never occurred to me that it was particularly weird. I’d just grown up my whole life sleeping with him tucked under my arm and it felt odd not to!

I stopped sleeping with him in the bed when I started living with a partner, but when I moved abroad for a few months without my boyfriend the cuddly toy was temporarily reinstated!

Nowadays he just sits on my bedside table but I still occasionally cuddle him at night if my partner is away or if I’m feeling sad.

VulvaNotVagina · 22/03/2018 08:41

I still had a blankie at that age! Went abroad for a month before uni and didn't take it with me because I didn't want anyone to know about it. When I got back, I'd lost interest. It still has pride of place on my dressing table though Grin

frieda909 · 22/03/2018 08:42

I also have a relative who is a six-foot-eight cage fighter in his mid twenties, and he too has a favourite cuddly toy that has pride of place in his bedroom!

Pompom42 · 22/03/2018 08:43

I think it's fine and it's got me thinking if my baby will do that. They are 2 and proper attached to the blanket. I can't imagine them ever giving it up.

Wornoutbear · 22/03/2018 08:44

I'm in my 60's - and my bear always travels on holiday with me. He's even been to conferences! (he stayed in my bag!)

happymummy12345 · 22/03/2018 08:46

I'm with whosreyoukidding. I find it very strange that adults do this. Keep childhood toys/ teddies fine, but to need to take them to bed, no.
(This is why I hate child comforters with a passion and no child of mine will ever have one at all. Not needed IMO)

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