What to do when your lo's 'comforter' has had a n accident?

[PanicPressiePants]

Ds' favourite thing in the whole wide world - even more than me or dp, is Henry (one of those teddy bears you can microwave, which was mine before we ever had ds, and which ds took an instant liking too, and even though we have desparatly tried to get rid of it due to me not thinking it's that safe for him due to lavender seeds inside).

Anyway, ds, now 2.4, takes henry EVERYWHERE and now takes him to bed etc.

At the weekend, Henry got mixed up with the bedsheets I was washing and got washed in the washing machine. He came out swollen and fat. And I thought ds would reject him, but no.

Anyway. Henry is now stiff as a board and I'm now worried that the seeds inside will go mouldy and start giving off mould spors. We have tried alternative teddies for ds, but absolutely nothing will do, I even bought a new identical Henry, but ds woke screaming in the night for Henry (after I swopped Henrys over when we went to bed last night).

So what can I do?

Ds has also got a v&d bug atm, and it's crossing my mind it might have something to do with mouldy Henry?

I doubt that the v&d was caused by Henry. When did he get washed? Does he smell musty? Could you try baking him in a very low oven to try and cook the seeds and dry them out completely?

Would your ds understand that Henry is ill and needs to go to hospital or doctor? Could he love Henry brother Harry for a couple of nights, until Henry is better? Then - if you're good at sewing - you could empty out Henry's old filling and replace it with polystyrene beads like in bean bags to make it swollen again. You could mist it with lavender essential oil from time to time for the smell.

Can't you take out the lavender bag and stuff him with something else? We've lost the lavender bag for ours, and it's stuffed with an old flannel.

Both good ideas about the stuffing - will do that I think, as there is no chance that ds is going to accept the new Henry (He calls it Bear, whilst Henry is HENRY - yet to you and me they are identical )

Henry stopped smelling of lavender years ago Now more like a mix of wee, sick, antibac fabreeze and burnt seeds due to over microwaving (my attempts to remove germs)