Blankie

My mother in law bought a small blanket for my first daughter when she was born thinking that Sophia might use it as a security blankie (because her kids used them and couldnt go anywhere without them!- ugh) Thankfully, Sophia was never hooked on it.

Unfortunately, it was passed down to Moriah when she was an infant and now she is obsessed with it!! I am not a fan of it at all. It is a breeding ground for bacteria I am sure because she wants to carry the little square of fabric around with her wherever she goes. I try to wash it as much as possible but it is difficult because she always needs to have it--now lately more than ever!!

There have been several occasions where I have forgotten it (at my mom's when we go visit her, a friend's house) and she won't go to sleep without it. I have looked on the web to see if I could purchase a back up one but my mother in law has no idea where she got it from. She won't take any other blankets at all.

http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/o...r/IMG_7827.jpg
Because Sophia was never hooked on anything, I am wondering when this obsession will end?? She won't be in kindergarten with this, right??

Here is a picture of the girls at Sophia's preschool graduation ceremony. Notice what Moriah is holding on to!!!!!!!!!

Victoria was my blankie baby; she had a toddler size fuzzy care bear blanket she brought everywhere. If we went somewhere and forgot it, it was like the end of the world. We actually went home quite often to get it or it would just be a disastrous outing. She would watch the washer and dryer waiting for her blanket to come out. She just had to have it, she was addicted. By the time she was three she started to wean from carrying it everywhere to just using it at night and naptime. Now at five years old she will once in a while pull it out to sleep with but she isn't attached to it like she used to be. Vincent could care less about blankets. Vance has a baby, not a full size blanket but a small yellow square lovie with a Winnie the Pooh head that he carries. He sleeps and naps with him every day. When he wakes up he takes him out of the crib with him and carries him everywhere for a while. When I can distract and steal him I put him back in his crib so he doesn't get all dirty. I'm not too worried about these small blankets being breeding grounds as much as I was worried with the big blanket that was being dragged on the floor constantly since it was bigger than her. I wouldn't worry about her being attached to her blankie and just let her decide when she is secure enough to not always carry it around.

:lurk: I've read that you can cut the blanket in half to give you two of them? Not sure if you want to do that or not but just a suggestion. We had to buy 2 back-ups for the elephant blanket animal thing for Nicholas....he chews on it ewwwwww

Aww the lovey!!! Neither of my girls have become attached to anything... I kinda wanted them to but nope!

My mom said that we were all attached to a blanket. When we turned three, she told us that the dryer ate the blanket. On our wedding days we got our baby blankets back! ;)

Both of my girls are blankie kids, but we set up rules about it. They can bring it in the car, but not into church or stores, etc. That way it comes with us, but not into anywhere that it can become irreversibly lost or dirty. They also help me give them a "bath" in the wash machine so that they smell good again. We have left Miriam's at a friend's house a couple times, and it was nightmarish, but she's getting to the point now, at 4, where she doesn't seem to care quite as much as she used to. Katie, however, is so attached that she wears hers toga-like just so she can have her whole body touching it. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Girlandi

Both of my girls are blankie kids, but we set up rules about it. They can bring it in the car, but not into church or stores, etc. That way it comes with us, but not into anywhere that it can become irreversibly lost or dirty. They also help me give them a "bath" in the wash machine so that they smell good again. We have left Miriam's at a friend's house a couple times, and it was nightmarish, but she's getting to the point now, at 4, where she doesn't seem to care quite as much as she used to. Katie, however, is so attached that she wears hers toga-like just so she can have her whole body touching it. :rolleyes:

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This is our situation with Zoey's pacifier, which she calls her "cee-cee". We have rules in place about it, which I strongly recommend. The funny thing about her pacifier is that she didn't really rely on it until this past December. We had moved, and she was in and out of the hospital having tests run, so we let her keep it. Prior to that, she would use it during naps but not really the rest of the time. Since December though, the darn thing is in her mouth at all times. She's frantic without it.

My plan is this. Keep our current rules in place-it's ok in the car but she can't take it into a store for instance, or outside to play. I do not let her have it in public. Once she's settled down with her 2 year molars, which knowing her horribly long teething schedule will be Christmas time, I'm going to stop letting her have it outside of her crib. I believe with as bad as she's teething that it's okay for her to have a security "blanket." Plus, it keeps her from chewing on her fingers and hands. Also, I'm having a baby today so I think now is a rotten time to take anything away from her. It's going to be a step by step process. First, not outside of the bed. Then, once she's used to that, it's getting yanked.

For you, I would do it either before you have another baby, or long after. Don't do it around the same time. I think the transition is tough enough to new baby that you don't need to yank away the security blanket as well.

She WON'T Carry this around for life, don't worry. :bigarmhug:

DD has a blankie and has been hooked on it since 10 mos. As she's gotten older we've just weaned it from her slowly. It doesn't come out with us and she only wants it for naps and bedtime now. She does take it to the dayhome for her quiet time in the afternoon, but is not allowed to drag it around with her throughout the day. Even if she could she's old enough now to be fine without it. Soon Bunny will need stay home all the time (except for when we go someplace overnight - Bunny is a must for bedtime no matter where we are). I guess I really don't see much of a problem with lovies and blankies. Most kids just give them up over time, or only want them for bed when they're older. If you have to make rules when it's time to leave the blankie behind then just be really firm. As gross as the blanket might be to you, it's probably not THAT dirty if you've been able to wash it in really hot water. It looks like it's pretty light in colour too, so a bit of bleach might help too.

*Lurker*

I had 2 blankies given to me when I was born. I have had them all my life. I would be so worried when my mom put them in the washer, I feared they were having their brains scrambled. (yes, I used to say that ALL the time)

I still have my blankies. Even as an adult, I have trouble sleeping without them. I know it sounds totally silly, and is probably most of your worst fears about your kids having blankies LOL!! I don't take them on vacation with me, they do stay home.

They are on my bed though, and I use them as kind of a pillow. I wash them regularly.

My DD is attached to a Beanie Baby dog named Fetcher. We are on Fetcher 2.0, and have about 3 more as backups. She will not sleep without him, and my mom has had to drive 20 minutes at 10 p.m. to bring him back. But I don't judge.

DS has a blankie, but he hardly ever takes it out of the house. And we are working on getting rid of the sucky. I have been cutting it every couple of days, only about 1/16 of an inch at a time. We're down to about 3/8" and he doesn't seem to care. He will still insist on having it. Not much longer and I think he'll be carrying around the faceplate for it to bed(he's only allowed to have it at bedtime).

Josie got attached to her lovey (a little soft blanket square with a pooh-bear head attached) around 6 months. She still looks for "honey" (as she calls it) when she goes to bed but doesn't tend to carry it around or look for it at other times unless she is tired or sick/teething and then usually it's a case of "let's get honey and take him to bed". When I realised she was attached to it, I went out and bought another 2 of them (lucky they were only $8!) so when she was little I didn't have to cart the one around and worry about losing it. When she was little and napped in the car, she had one in bed at home, one in the car and one at grandma's. She still has one at grandma's for when she naps there. The other two are in her room at home, which is good because if one gets lost in the bedsheets, she can usually find the other one in the night ok. :-)

ETA - I just realised that she is holding onto "honey" in my siggy pic!

Hayleigh fortunately has her "baby" which she likes at night but thankfully it is not and obsession and can usually be replaced with another baby at night if she is really tired.