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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Fabric Fetish

7 replies

NotQuiteCockney · 26/01/2005 20:57

DS2, 4 months, has a fabric fetish. He happily wraps any fabric around his fist, and then chews on it. It's a bit weird to me, but it keeps him happy.

I'm sure other people's kids had, or have, this sort of fetish. Did they end up with a comfort blanket? Or did they just leave wet spots on everyone's clothes? When did they grow out of it, if they ever did?

OP posts:

pixiefish · 26/01/2005 21:01

obsessed with muslin squares for a while. Not interested now at 1

nailpolish · 26/01/2005 21:05

my dd has a comfort blanket, she tried to suck her thumb when she was a baby and got frustrated cos she didnt quite have the co-ordination to get it in, so used to wrap the blanket around her wee fist. it hasnt caused any problems, she only wants it at naptime and bedtime. in fact its very useful if she hurts herself and cries - 'bada' makes it better.

dd2 (4 mths) is doing exactly the same thing.

i think anything that helps comfort a baby is a good thing

vicdubya · 26/01/2005 21:38

Sounds highly normal

A friend of mine's ds has a comfort sock, at first it was any old sock, now it's a specific pair. He goes to bed with it.

Mine has a piece of his favourite nightie (I mean, it was my nightie, and he took a fancy to it) which I recently cut up into bits so we would always have a spare bit.

Me & my sisters all had comfort cloths as babies & my sister had hers (in bed only) until she was about 11, but them she always was a bit weird

candycane · 27/01/2005 10:05

Lol at sis being a bit weird! I had a tiny bit of blanket until I was about 8. My dd used to drag my nightie (of all things!) around with her for a while. She also had a bit of a label fetish and liked to take a pair of (her own) knickers to bed with her when she was about 1 and a half. The worst thing was when we looked down at her in her buggy in town one day and discovered that she'd whipped her knickers off and was holding the label, half asleep!!! Don't worry - they do get over it!

msann · 27/01/2005 10:21

oh my god notquitecockney! how do u cope with that....i cringe at any1 putting material of any description in their mouths....its just the thought of that 'squeakiness' when they bite on it! If my dd's put any fabric anywhere near their mouths i go spare! they know not to even do it 4 a laugh!

Original poster

NotQuiteCockney · 28/01/2005 12:08

I'm not worried, more amused ... I had a meeting the other evening, and brought DS2. He was lying on the floor, and started fussing a bit. So I draped a muslin square over most of him, including his head. Several people made slightly outraged noises, until they saw him grab the muslin around a fist and start chewing on it.

I do find fabric in the mouth a bit gross, but hey, it's not my mouth, what do I care?

But I'm very curious to see how other kids who had this interest developped with it.

OP posts:

crouchingtigeress · 30/01/2005 22:04

Not quite fabric, but:

My little one has a thing for yellow washing up gloves. He's quite happy to walk around touching, feeling and chewing them, but prefers to touch them when they are ON someone's hands.

I think he's amazed at the texture and the transformation. 1) A normal hand 2) A big YELLOW hand.

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