Cuddly toy attachment???? Any knowledge?

[MamaMammalon]

My DD 15mths has just discovered the joys of 'Panda'. I read about cuddly toys being a replacement for the Mother in some way and I'm now panicking that perhaps she is feeling insecure?

She adores him and this has happened in around 5 days; beforehand she showed no allegiance to any one toy. Panda stays in bed to 'keep it warm' throughout the day to avoid her needing him to much.

I am sure this is all normal but I want to make sure!

Any opinions?

Haha, you are all making me laugh.

Katie, don't feel bad. Po sings the Teletubbies theme tune. Loudly.

We have psycho eyes staring Chickchick the purple chicken who goes to bed with DD everynight. Then we have equally mad-eyed Pinky who is Chickchick's girlfriend. Then there is Big Pingu and Big Pinga and occasionally a "guest sleeper" who is any other stuffed toy she chooses. Its amazing she fits in the bed.

DS has only just got the point of cuddly toys (just turned 2), up to then the closest thing he had to an attachment object seemed to be his buggy .

He now has Bear at sleep times, occasionally Monkey, supporting cast of Tiger, Leopard and Lion are sometimes evident (we're great at imaginative names in this house...). Although quite often Bear has to come down stairs in the mornign and be served with his own bowl of cereal.

I think it's lovely, and better than his other comfort technique, which is to suck his thumb and ferret about in my bra. Wouldn't mind but he stopped BF around 6 wks ago.

I was on a ferry a couple of weeks ago near the childrens play area. A 2 or 3 yr old boy came up to his father and asked for doggy 2, which turned out to be identical to doggy 1 already in his hands. Once he had doggy 2, he started pulling another identical soft toy from a bag but his father said that he wasn't allowed doggy 3 as well!

dd1 has 4 elephants

Also get the toy microchipped, embroider your mobile number on it, make it wear an identity disc...

I speak from bitter experience

We tried (and have so far failed miserably) to find a reserve teddy for DD 25 months after he was abducted in IKEA !! She must have dropped him or put him down and when my parents realised he was missing they re-traced their steps only to find some little brat walking round with him under their arm. When my mum said, "oh you;ve found teddy for us", the parents of the brat didn't even reply or care . I'd have been horrified to realised my DD had picked up someone's teddy and would have apologised profusely (and ticked her off) . Some people don't seem to understand how "attached" they get to their teddies (and other animals!). Would definitely recommend buying reserves if poss.

Neither of my dcs formed any lasting attachments to loveys. They might have an affection for one but that does not usually last for more than a week. They are social butterflies, they are. Preferring to attach themselves (literally) to dh and I.

BTW, there is a thriving market on eBay for loveys for parents desperate to replace a loved one that got lost. They go for ridiculous amounts - so remember to keep that Mothercare teddy to sell later.

toomanysweeties, that is awful! I think I'd have been tempted to do an intervention and snatch the teddy back!

It's normal. DD2 18 still has a favorite cuddly toy. she doesn;t sleep with it now but still keeps it in her room.

Well the worst happened yesterday. DS left the horse at nursery - well actually I think he'd swapped it with another child for the teddy we found in his bag

So Shore Mark 2 leapt into action last night as he wouldn't go to sleep without it. I dreaded the moment he realised that Shore looked remarkably new and clean and didn't smell rank. But he never noticed, or if he did he didn't mind - thank God. The nursery rang today to say they'd found him, so we'll get him back on Monday.

So don't worry - it needn't be a disaster if you do lose the cuddly!

DS has 3 teddies, we recently lost number 4 in the supermarket!!

my dd1 attached herself to andy pandy at around 15 months, and he was surgically attached to her for the next three years or so 1

he is in every photo we have of her from that age on, and had to go to nursery and ballet with her, it was a complete addiction. She was a shy clingy child, and I guess he gave her comfort and reassurance when she was unsure of things.

She is 6 next month, and he still goes to bed with her every night, but happily he stays at home most days now, (probably due to the few scary times we nearly lost him !)

He is so adored even now, I truly think she will never get rid of him. But I think its lovely, he helped her through her shy times, and she is now a very confident, chatty outgoing girl, so I don't regret letting her cling to him when she needed to.

Dd2 is 4 now, and has never had a favourite comfort toy, she just flits from toy to toy. So I guess every child is different !

I must admit I put ds (15 mo) to bed every night with a lovely cuddly elephant, hoping he'll get attached ! I know I'm asking for trouble .

So what does it mean if your child has never shown any attachment to any toy?

my dh still has his blankie - I put my foot down when he wanted to take it on honeymoon with us.