What type of comforter does your LO have?

[MintGreenLife]

My LB is almost 11 months, and I want to start getting him attached to a comforter to have in his cot for when he’s 1 year+. This is probably a stupid question, but when I look online ‘comforter’ seems to just bring up blankets and muslin type things, but can a 1yo have a Teddy as a comforter? Just wondering what everyone else uses. We have various JellyCat Teddies, and one of these (linked), but I do wonder if the little thin one will be too small to offer much in the way of comfort?

www.kidly.co.uk/products/jellycat/cordy-roy-soother/5591?colour=dino&utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyPPStdv39wIVCoODBx2UdglbEAQYAiABEgJiAfD_BwE

Why do you want him to have a comforter? DS has a few soft toys that live in the end of his bed (he's 3) but has never had a dummy or a toy needed for bedtime. My niece does and there have been a couple of panics and one occasion my mum had to drive over there at 10pm as they'd left her comforter behind and she would not go to sleep without it

I’ve never heard of anyone deliberately choosing to buy a comforter, or to encourage it. One of my DC grew attached to a stuffed toy, and always had that with her. She’s now a grown-up and still has it. Her first stuffed Teddy got lost and we had to get another type. My other DC grew attached to her cot blanket and had that - until it was just a scrap of material she used. But I wouldn’t encourage it, particularly.

It's not something I would deliberatel6 encourage.

Only one of my two children have become attached to a particular soft toy and the near nightly hunt for the manky creature before the child will go to bed is infuriating.

Why? No need to purposefully introduce one. They get attached, they go missing, you forget it when you're out, it breaks etc and everything falls apart.

Hmm, very strange as I have heard of lots of people introducing a comforter and as far as I was aware it was a pretty normal thing to do 🤔

Mine has those same jellycat cordy roy soothers. He loves them so we bought several different animals

before he would only settle if I breastfed. So around 7/8 months I started giving him these in the pram or car etc first, then in cot. It means he could then settle with Dh and it brings him comfort in the car ie on long trips so he falls asleep rather than screams

ps if he likes the cordy roy, lion and pink rabbit have thicker arms which are not the same. The fox, dinosaur, elephant, grey rabbit, monkey, duck and dog are the same style ( although last three older so only available secondhand)

Mine has a little soft telletubby

Ds just had a couple of small blankets. Rotated so not too dependant!. He is nearly 8 and still has them on his pillow!! Never particularly asks for them but they are always on his pillow with his face cuddled into them asleep!

I think that one you linked to is perfect as a comforter. I think it’s more about the smell and familiarity of it which will help him settle

@Caspianberg DS is breastfed too, and I do want to work out a way to move on from feeding to sleep if possible, but don’t want to cause lots of upset and tears, so maybe a comforter would help the transition. Do you mind me asking how old your DS is, and if the cordy Roy soother still comforts him? I just wondered if it might be too small for when he’s a bit older, but maybe not?! Also does he not mind that you swap in different ones sometimes? I guess they all feel the same for the most part x

@Finalcountdowntoourtripaway ah that’s sweet ☺️ My husband had a pillowcase when he was a baby 😂 I guess anything does the trick really!

@Greenplantblue brilliant, thank you x

@MintGreenLife - we has the Dinosaur and fox the first month or so, but then I bought x2 more ( rabbit and elephant) so I had enough to wash, dry and use. I bought different on purpose so he doesn’t mind which, as they are all same size and material just different animals

Hes just turned 2 years now so has has almost 18 months. I added another fox and found secondhand monkey to add to collection but they are too ‘new’ so had to wash a few times to roughen up!

I only let him have at nap and bedtime in general. It comes out with us in bag if I want him to nap in pram or car whilst out. He can fall asleep without in pram or car but takes longer, and they were handy on flights and new hotels recently as a comfort thing. They are small enough they don’t take up much space if you need to take them.

He never accepted a bottle or dummy either, so it was the next thing on the list. With, I was able to stop feeding to sleep at 12 months

My friends kids had a muslin blanket. Made it easier to swap out when dirty.
My DS has a monkey comforter. Head of a monkey, body of a small blanket. I just gave him a few toys and he became attached to the monkey. So I went out and bought 2 more so I could rotate them round and clean them easily. It also meant there wasn't one that was more worn out then the other.

@Caspianberg that’s a good point about them being small for travelling. I think I’ll have a go at encouraging him to settle with one of those then. Same with my DS - dummy and bottle refuser! Out of interest, do you now put your DS down awake?! And if so, how did you master that? I’m still BF but would like to start doing this, as I have to do a lot of rocking too, and I’m already finding I’m getting boiling hot doing it, and it’s not even the height of summer yet!

@Figmentofimagination great thanks, I think I’ll try the one I have, and maybe pop another teddy or similar in his cot once he’s turned one, so that he can decide what works best for him ☺️

@MintGreenLife - yes once I started not feeding to sleep. Fed downstairs 12-18 month about 30 mins before bed.

Then upstairs, ready for bed, dh or I read story in armchair, give him the toy and we sat in the chair where he could see us. No milk, no rocking. He’s gone through stages, some months we could pop into bed and leave room and just return a few times if unsettled, but since travel recently we sit back in room again with him

I've never heard of deliberately choosing a comforter. My son has all the teddies/blankets in the world (9 months) but will actively seek out a top/shirt of mine. So much so that now I purposely leave something that could do with a wash for him to snuggle with. Obvs once asleep I remove it. I assume it's my scent that comforts him

Oh and I made dh do every bedtime the first week we changed over, so Ds couldn’t get annoyed he couldn’t feed.

My daughter was maybe a year older than yours, she found the long labels on the inside of her T-shirts very comforting
she used to rub them between her fingers to sleep… to the point where I started saving old T-shirt labels so she could have one handy - she used to call it “listy” and demanded “listy” to go to bed
they we’re the soft (silk like) labels on H&M shirts
ive seen people selling squares of material with soft ribbons around for babies… so that’s another option
the big plus for me of “listy” was that she could always have one on her, very hard to loose, and very easy to replace

A peppa pig cot quilt cover,10 now and still looks for it at bedtime.

My eldest has a little soft toy elephant, maybe about 4inches tall, which is holding a corner of a small square blanket. He has 2 of these.
My youngest has a jellycat bunny, has 3 of those in 2 different sizes. The smallest one is his favourite though and he holds onto the ear in the same way eldest holds onto the blanket.
Tbh though, youngest is not particularly attached to his comforter. Eldest loves his though, they are his "kids" and they are called Elsa and Anna!

I picked comforters for both of mine, although if they’d attached to something else I wouldn’t have minded. I think they’re great, it definitely helps them settle to sleep and it’s useful if you’re away to have something familiar. My oldest had a cuski and my youngest has a jellycat one that’s a bunny holding onto a little blanket. I see her on the monitor sometimes wake up, find her bunny and go back to sleep. We bought 2 so there’s always a spare if one gets lost/ needs to be washed.

If he doesn't have anything I wouldn't be introducing one.

I introduced them from a few weeks old. I'd stroke their faces with them or put them in their hands while they were feeding. I put them to sleep with the comforter although I'm aware that's not recommended.
I started with DC1 because they had to start nursery at 3 months (although I ended up giving up work after a month) and I wanted something to help them settle. It was one of those flat ones, we called it Cwtch, DC ended up calling it chi.
After almost losing chi several times and being unable to find a replacement I decided with my other three DC to use a muslin although they all ended up favouring particular ones.
I found them having a comforter really useful. It helped soothe them instantly, I never had issues with putting them down to sleep.
I sewed little pieces of DC2's muslin in the pockets of his school trousers when he started school nursery and struggled to settle and it really helped.
DC4 is 10 and still rubs his face on his raggedy old muslin if he's unwell or upset.

My eldest picked her own a bunny and also a blanket which she loves and likes to take it everywhere with her. My youngest I introduced one when sleep training it was similar to the one you linked. I did a kind of gradual retreat and I would rub his face with the soft comforter and then he started doing it, he’s not super attached to it but likes to have it there. The thing he’s decided to become very attached to is a very large blanket which is much less convenient lol.