Is over-reliance on a sleep aid bad?

[Gabbbbbbby]

My DS (11 months) always goes to sleep with his Ewan the Sheep, since he was about 5 months old. It's on the harp music setting with the red light on. I put him in the his sleeping bag and switch on Ewan and he falls asleep himself, at naps and night time. I was never sure how much he actually needed it, until he went to the childminder yesterday and it had run out of batteries, and he wouldn't go to sleep! Am I creating a problem for the future? Surely he'll grow out of it at some point? I know it doesn't really matter, but it's just if we go somewhere and forget it for example. At the moment I even take it if we're going in the car or buggy at nap times.

No! It’s fine - he will grow out of it. Maybe get a spare to have on hand

Only if it’s a problem for you, which it doesn’t sound like, so no would be my answer.

He won’t be getting into bed with his wife/husband in the future and asking them to put on Ewan so he can sleep.

I honestly wouldn’t worry about it 😆

If you’re worried about being without it, I’d say the obvious thing to do is to buy several! Get them second hand off eBay, they’ll be much cheaper. If you don’t want to do that, record the sound on your phone so you have it in an ‘emergency’

:)