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Original poster

Your children's comfort items

40 replies

Posey · 16/01/2004 22:38

Following on from Skie's strawberry thread, I just wondered if your children have a comforter, what it is and how long they've had it.
Dd has 2. A blue flannel she's had since birth (6.5 years ago) I used to put a bit of breast milk on it to smell of me for comfort at night. It is now really ragged, and falling to pieces. She rubs it gently over her nose as she's going to sleep, and still has a quck sniff of it if she's at all anxious.
The other is a little raggy doll, "Jakey", manky little thing but as it says in Bagpuss, "...but Emily loved him"

OP posts:
Hulababy · 16/01/2004 22:43

DD (21 months) used to carry around a little blue monkey (one made by the designer Paul Frank) all the time. She had it from birth and it was like a couple of socks sown together to make a monkey. It has recently not been out as muc as new toys and Baby Annabel have tken over, but she always knows where he is and he always goes in bed for a 'cuddie' at night.

He is here Middle top picture. Password is cnr.

JanH · 16/01/2004 22:43

ds2, who is 10, still keeps his blankie - half a cot blanket (soft acrylic) from when he had a cot blanket. It's not crucial and it stays in his bedroom but he likes it to be there!

popsycal · 16/01/2004 22:44

cnr - link didnt work - need surname, date of birth etc

Hulababy · 16/01/2004 22:45

Darn - it never works!!! Just cut and paste this:

www.babiesonline.com/imagegallery/gallery.asp?be=m/mollieolivia

Password is still cnr.

Hulababy · 16/01/2004 22:46

Or surname KING
DoB 5th April 2002

ponygirl · 16/01/2004 22:48

Skie's thread rang all sort of bells for me. Ds1 has a cuddly moose that came from Ikea when he was 11 months. It wasn't expensive and was a complete impulse purchase but ds1 adored him from the first moment (he's now 5). I got so scared of losing him that I tried to get a replacement but Ikea in the UK discontinued them, but my dad and step-mum live in Germany and they still do them. Ds1 has a reserve and now dd has got one. Strangely, my half-sisters have become addicted: about three times they bought the spare for ds1 but couldn't bring themselves to send it off and had to wait to get another one. There's just something irresistably cuddly and comforting about them. Our original needed some patching and restuffing last year, but is no longer allowed to leave the house. My dd (3) isn't as sentimental and tends to rotate which cuddly is going to be favourite - but does have a floppy rabbit called Harvey who is 'in' most often. Ds2 is only 11 months, so hasn't quite decided yet. Show him a moose though, and it could all be decided...

Sorry, that got really long! It's my sentimental side (where ds1 gets it from probably).

nutcracker · 16/01/2004 22:50

As i was telling fellow mners at the meet up today, my dd2 was in scbu for 2 weeks after she was born and was fed via a feeding tube, which was stuck to her face with tape. At about 8 months old we discovered that she started to stick things on her face along her cheekbone where the tape would of been, and that it really comforted her. When she got a bit older she would actually ask for a sticker if she was tired or upset and it always calmed her down. We used to get very funny looks off people in the street though. She doesn't do it quite as much now (she's 4 now)unless she is really upset or tired.
I may be mad but i am convinced that she does it because of the tape on her face in scbu

rhiannon37 · 16/01/2004 22:50

Tom (6) has a disgusting yellow Pikachu toy, now grey with a much mended tail and a dog which he humps while going to sleep( sorry can't describe it any other way). George (4) has a rotating selection of cuddlies which have to be lined up in the right order and Henry (8) has a very flat and stuffingless bear.All of these have been around pretty much since they were born. I on the other hand am the proud owner of a cushion with "twiddling" corners which my mother used to make new covers for when I was at school. We had to drive hundreds of miles if I ever left it behind! It is now relegated to s cushion on the sofa poor thing. I'm planning on letting the boys decide when they are "too old" for their comforters. My sister-in-law declared the girls too old at 5 and 7 and threw them away, barbaric!Or am I too soft?

HiddenSpirit · 16/01/2004 23:08

Up til DS1 was 2 1/2 his dummy was his main comforter, but when he went into a bed at 2 I gave him a sheet from his cot to sorta help with the transition. It then became a constant night time companion and he always called it his blanket.

DD didn't have a comforter until she was 3 where she would sleep with a cellular blanket and just rub her fingers on the silky edging. When DD2 came along she kept knicking his one from his cot!

DS2 from a few months wanted a blanket, but like DS1 he used a cot sheet to cuddle into. DS1 & DS2 still sleep with their "blankets" only now it isn't the cot sheets, it's a pair of my old fleecy pj's!!! DS1 has the trousers and DS2 the top and they can both tell you what one is theirs(even when all bundled up in a ball so you can't see what's the top and what's the bottoms).

Rhiannon, I don't think you are too soft, I agree with you. DP was the one that got DS1 off a dummy when he was 2 1/2 by holding the dummy infront of DS1 then cutting the teat off with a pair of scissors. I still think that was the wrong way to go about it

hoxtonchick · 16/01/2004 23:11

My ds has an elephant, originally called Nelly, but Nee-Nee since he could talk. DP's grandma started making her when I was pregnant as dp had an elephant he was very attached to when he was younger. She died when ds was 4 months old, before she finished Nee-Nee. We didn't know anything about it 'til dp's aunt gave her to us at the funeral. Big tears all round. DS has always adored Nee-Nee, and HAS to have her to go to sleep with, not too bothered about the rest of the day. I plucked up courage to put her through the washing machine the other day & she survived fine, but she's definitely not allowed out of the house. We still have dp's original Nelly too.

harman · 16/01/2004 23:14

Message withdrawn

Chandra · 17/01/2004 00:51

DS had to wear socks in his hands because of his eczema. When the doctor finally asked us not to use them any more, DS had got so attached to them that needed to wear them to go to sleep.

He is 10m now, his eczema is much better, and he is almost 'weaned' from his hands socks but if he gets a bit sleepy and we don't notice, he removes the socks he is wearing at his feet and puts them in his mouth!!!

Ailsa · 17/01/2004 00:56

DS used socks - we have so many bloody odd socks around the house - he's cost me a fortune in them as they'd go to nursery and shopping, he's 6yo and only grown out of it since DD2 was born in Septebmer.

zebra · 17/01/2004 04:56

My kids don't have comfort items... well, DS got a bit attached to a couple of blankets when we were forcing him to sleep by himself (controlled crying & all that). But forgot about the blankets after we went back to co-sleeping.

misdee · 17/01/2004 08:59

dd1 has a blankie which was made for her by a friend of MIL. it is quite funky actually, it has penguins on it some are wearing pink sunglasses. i lost it recently when we moved house, so she was making do with borrowing one of dd2 blankies but i found it yesterday and she was sooo happy.

dd2 quite likes a bear she forced me to buy recently in mothercare. it is really soft and cuddly and does go a few places with us. she likes to cuddle it, but she also loves a musical peter rabbit toy at night. it helps her sleep.

dd1 didnt really get attached to her blankie til she was over a year old, and by then we had to take it everywhere. i couldnt step outside the house without it as she would scream the whole time. it is really worn now, and holes have started to appear, so i am gonna try repairing it soon if she'll let me.

LIZS · 17/01/2004 09:11

ds has a Beanie dog (Dog dog) which friends sent him when he was born - started to burst at the seams and we had a small filling ball leak saga a few weeks ago. His ears used to get sucked and chewed. It has only ever been a bed companion though with his cuddly Swiss cow.

dd has Teddy and Dolly which are a bit European in design. Sort of flannelette square folded in half and knotted at the corners, overlaid by a cotton skirt and with appropriate head. Teddy (navy and cream)was bought by friends when she was born and Dolly (blue gingham and white)was a present from the clinic in which she was born. Both would go everywhere given the chance but fortunately are machine washable!

fisil · 17/01/2004 09:22

I teach a class of Y11 students who were too disruptive for their original class. One 16 year old boy still has his comfort with him (the label out of clothing)!

lazyeye · 17/01/2004 09:50

My DS1 has a strange one - its a full sized pillow - called cushion on cush. Its actually the cover he is attached to but it has to have the pillow inside. Its quite big to lump around and it gets really grubby but we do have one to swap (when hes asleep)- pretty minging though. Hes 3 - when do they drop this sort of thing. DS2 who is just over 1 doesn't really have any..........

Original poster
Posey · 17/01/2004 10:11

When I was nursing, I did a stint on the toddler ward. One little girl of about 18m had been in for ages and then happily got sent home. But she couldn't settle, didn't sleep etc and kept saying dollie. Well the parents had bought her all sorts of stuff, dolls included and she just threw them aside in anger. Turned out she'd attached herself to a small hand knitted doll that had been donated to the ward. Parents made a 200 mile round trip to the hospital and asked if they could buy it or swap it for something else. Needless to say they were given it (it wasn't worth a penny to anyone but her). One very happy little girl.

OP posts:
Mermaid2 · 17/01/2004 11:29

Our DD has two, a baby doll and bear, both go to bed with her all the time. She has had them since she was tiny and god knows what would happen if they got lost. As for DS he likes to get hold of his blanket when trying to fall asleep.

NoPearls · 17/01/2004 12:10

DD has a toy cat that was given to me as a joke present years before she was born.

We found out that she can survive without it when it was left behind when we went on holiday last year. There was a big event on locally and we laughed smugly as we drove the opposite way, past queues of traffic for about 8 miles. Two minutes later I checked that DH had put the cat in the car when he loaded it... He refused to turn round! The guilt for the rest of the trip was huge and she ended up with a "Kandoo" frog as it was the only thing we could find in the local shops. We told her "cat" had gone to stay with our neighbour - when we got home she immediately wanted to go and see if he was all right, and then wouldn't let go of him for a couple of days.

She doesn't seem psychologically harmed...

SecondhandRose · 17/01/2004 12:12

Sorry, this is one of my pet hate subjects. This sounds ridiclous but I am now 36 years old and still stroke certain blankets! I so wish my Mum had done something about this as a child as I sucked my thumb too.

collision · 17/01/2004 12:16

ds has a few. His favourite is 'Swindon' an ELC brown bear who jingles! Fortunately he goes in the washing machine as he gets very grubby. He also has 'Bear', a brightly coloured soft bear. I didnt think ds was as interested in Bear and stuck him on top of the wardrobe! Big mistake! He saw him and demanded that he be brought down and now the 3 of them are inseparable!! He also has a new soft Tigger backpack he likes to have in his cot as well.

My brother used to do the same - to the extent that there were so many toys in his bed we couldnt see him!

Comfort toys drive me crazy actually......I used to be a nanny and the children I looked after used to have bits of blanket all the time. I used to think 'If I ever had kids, there is no way I would let them do this!'

Now it is anything for a quiet life!! though Swindon and Bear are only allowed in the house.

Bron · 17/01/2004 13:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CountessDracula · 17/01/2004 13:21

Dd seems to like her Jellycat "old Friend" bear the best. He is called Bear!

I have tried to get another in case of loss but he is out of print or whatever they call it. If anyone has one, it's the 14 inch one, and wants to sell it please let me know. His picture is here