Oh God, what have I done?!

[Nutjob]

My ds is 5 and he absolutely loves his teddy, who he has had since birth. He takes it to bed with him every night, takes him with us on days out, basically he is part of the family.

The trouble is because of excessive cuddling over the years he has begun to get really smelly, sort of musty and yuck. I have squirted him with Febreze a few times but it doesn't seem to have worked, so in a moment of madness I shoved him in the washing machine (on hand-wash mode I hasten to add), he is in there now, and I am starting to panic, have I done the right thing?!! Ds will be inconsolable if anything happens to him. HELP!!! Is he going ot be OK?

[ThomCat]

What a funny thread, I started off thinking OMG is teddy going tobe Ok and then OMG these girls are having a row over it all!!! I don't mean to flippant, but coming in late it just seemed funny, sorry! Bubbly - that is just too funny
What did DS/DD do?

[Lorien]

And one last thing, a bit of advice I never took myself (but wish I had) -- if you see signs of attachment to a particular cuddly/softy buy a second one the same. Then you can substitute/wash whenever you need to....Oh, the hours I've spent looking for grotty stuffed animals

[bubbly]

Thomcat it's been three years and she is still in mourning. If she ever wants to get at me she says 'and you burned my teddy' - guilty guilty guilty

[KeepingMum]

My ds hasn't yet become attached to a particular teddy or blanket, but my genes are obviously in there somewhere. He uses (or would if he could) my hair as his comforter. Many nights have been spent with me sitting next to his cot, and his little hand poking through stroking my hair. He often wakes in the night calling not for mummy but for 'hair' (only mummy's will do though). I don't let him do it that often, but it is quite therapeutic after a hard day. Washing it doesn't seem to pose a problem, and it doesn't often get left on the other side of town. I've tried replacement therapy, but the doll with long hair I bought him gets her hair tugged out in disgust if I try and substitute.

[janh]

DS2 (he's 10) still has his blankie in bed with him - it's never mentioned, it's just there. (He doesn't take it away with him though.)

We cut it in half when it started being blankie so we always had a spare.

[wiltshirelass]

lorien, we bought some replacement identical bears as soon as we realised he was attached, at about 5 months old (there is a very funny story here, involving tracking down these no-longer-produced bears to a warehouse in doncaster, and then arranging a handover with the sales rep in Hamleys - but I won't go into it here!) Anyway, from the moment the other bears came home he just pushed them away in disgust. they were completely indistinguishable, but he would not even look them in the eye. He now does talk to them a bit (because I've told him that they are his bears mummy and daddy) and we have some very funny games where one of the imposters tries to shove her ear in his mouth saying "please chew my ear, please, please" but he just laughs hysterically at such a ridiculous thought and says "NO! Go away Mummy Bear".

completely bizarre.

[prufrock]

bells - a word of warning. My little sister was very attached to a silky underskirt of my mothers, and used to take her "diddit" everywhere. Including the Nottingham branch of the Old Orleans, where it was left under the table. My Dad was very embarrassed when he was sent back to get it, especially as someone else was already seatyed at the table and he had to ask them to look underneath their seats for it

[bells2]

Too late Prufrock! To date I have had to contact the theatre where Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is playing, the kitchenware department of John Lewis and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai to enquire whether anyone had handed in a long white womens nightdress covered in pink flowers. I have also had to suffer a number of leery men saying to DS "so that's what Mummy wears in bed is it?".

[suedonim]

My married DS, aged 28, recently lost his life-long teddy bear friend, Daniel, while staying at an hotel in California. He and his dw even drove all the way back to search for him, to no avail. Ds is very upset and so are we.

My brother murdered my teddy by flushing him down the loo. He was rescued and hung on the line to dry but because in those days teddies were stuffed with sawdust, he went mildewy and mum threw him away. Waaaaaahhhhhhhh! I've never got over it! I still have the golliwog (if I'm allowed to admit to that word?) that my godmother knitted for me, though.

[EmmaTMG]

I had my blanket, which was actually a cotton bed spread until I was about 8 month PG with DS1 (he's now 4). I'd put it in a plastic bag when we moved house and when I finally unpacked everything it smelt awful. As I was putting it in the washing machine I had a mad moment when I decided to throw it away, it was quite tatty and old as I'd had since I was about 3 years old. My mum could remember it on her bed as a little girl too.
Even now as I type this the thought of it in a landfill site somewhere makes me shudder.
AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH why did I do it!

[SimonHoward]

I handed over my sole remaining teddy some years ago to my nephew with instructions to keep it safe for me. I have no idea if it is still with him.

On another note though has anyone here washed a stuffed toy that has scented crystals in them? If so what happened?

[janh]

SH, stuffed toys with scented crystals? What are you on, mate?

[CAM]

dd aged 6 has had 3 identical teddy bears since birth, the first one was lost in France and dh bought her an expensive French teddy for rest of holiday but luckily we already had No2 waiting at home. She knew it was another one though but learned to love it just as much. She is now on No3 as No2 is very tatty and has to stay at home as is falling apart. All were/are washed regularly in the machine and she always knows and works hard on making them "smell nice" again. Definitely can't get to sleep without them and have had to revisit/make phone calls at several places.

[SimonHoward]

Janh

My grandparents bought it for my DD when she was born.

The tummy and the legs have some sort of scented crystal or bead in them that smells of Lavender when you scrunch them.

[tigermoth]

simonH I've never heard of those before. Can you try dipping a small area of the toy in cold water and see what happens? I'd imagine the smell will fade but the bead/crystals will be OK. If you want to make the toy scented again, you could add lavendar old to the water possibly?

[tigermoth]

lavendar oil (spelling!)

[meanmum]

Yes SimonH add either lavender oil after it is washed or put a few drops in with the water going into the machine and it should come out smelling pretty good.

[helenmc]

help - ladies...DH WASHED my Monsoon satin evening dress ..ideas for resurrection ..please please

[helenmc]

help - ladies...DH WASHED my Monsoon satin evening dress ..ideas for resurrection ..please please

[abbysmum]

What happened to it? I've washed dry clean only Monsoon velvet things before with no apparent affect. Not satin though.

[helenmc]

well it doesn't seem to have shrunk. butits not the glossy shiny satin any-more.

[florenceuk]

Have you tried ironing it yet (very gently, test a patch first)? IME, the worst things to put in the washing machine are mixtures of natural/manmade fibres, eg viscose/linen because they shrink at different rates. Generally viscose shouldn't go in either (that's how they make those stretchy Ghost outfits!) But straightforward polyester is generally OK, silk is OK but may run a bit.

[helenmc]

ks - I don't know if I want to resurrect dh atthe moment, from past washing experiences (on black wool pair of rousers, one grey lambswool jumper and now my posh frock and of course they are all from MOnsoon). He's out mowing the hay field we used to call a lawn so i can't moan, as I'm playing on mumsnet (agaian!)