LO is 12 weeks old, and he's recently started liking his A+A blankets a lot. He likes to chew on them and snuggle with them during naps (always supervised!). To avoid him dragging around the huge blankets when he gets older (we have pets who shed a lot which would = lots of hair on the blankets, gross), I've thought about getting a set of A+A loveys for him to attach to instead. But my husband isn't really thrilled about the idea of our son having a "blankie". I don't mind, but I'm not sure how to sell him on the idea! Help?
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SELF SOOTHING! It will hopefully allow little one to soothe himself and put himself to sleep with less work from you. That oughta convince him ; ) What is his reasoning for not wanting LO to have a blankie?
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Sounds just like J. We bought him some and he is hooked !
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I feel you on not wanting LO to drag the blanket on the floor - we have two dogs and that blanket is disgusting after a few days of being dragged all over (outside, too!). I've found that kids will generally attach themselves to something, regardless of what you want/don't want, and you have little control over what that item is. I don't think it will hurt to get some and see if your LO will take to those like he takes to the blankets. They're really a comfort thing for the baby and you can wean from them whenever you want to.
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@MamaMoose: well, he already puts himself to sleep without the blanket at night. I don't think it's something he necessarily needs for self-soothing, I think at this point he just likes the softness. I think it's so sweet!
I think husband just doesn't love the idea of LO being attached to any inanimate object? I mean, he'd never take it away from him or anything, but I guess he sees us buying loveys for the specific purpose of LO attaching to them as kind of weird/unnecessary? And like we're promoting a bad habit? I see his point, but I still think the loveys are sweet
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@allison: I think a lot of parents have the same attitude about loveys (and pacifiers... anything for self-soothing purposes only). For us it was a lifesaver. Wagon Jr. dropped his paci on his own for his fingers, and all along he was attached to his little lion blankie. Babysitters and friends called it the "magic blanket" because if we weren't around and he started to cry, they'd hand him the blankie and he would IMMEDIATELY stop crying. LMW's only form of self soothing is her blankie. She wakes crying every night, then finds her blankie and snuggles it and falls back asleep on her own.
I think having something around that they can associate with comfort is really helpful if YOU don't want to be that source of comfort 24/7. If you're going to be cosleeping and always available, then there's no need for a lovey-- YOU are the source of comfort. For us, we wanted our kids to be able to feel attached to something other than us.
Also, I think kids will attach to SOMEthing, so better to choose and decide what you want that to be (instead of being forced to deal with some random weird thing! I've seen kids be way too attached to the fisher price laugh and learn puppy... so their parents have to take out all the electronics inside and it's this weird, dirty, ripped, deflated thing... and I've seen kids claw at their moms' bellies or boobs for comfort even if they're not nursing anymore... I did not want that happening!) That is my perspective!
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@mrs. wagon: very good points! I know I'm on the anti-paci train (even though we do use it on occasion). I think the reasons you have outweigh my dislike for the paci too though. I definitely don't like seeing toddlers pawing at their moms boobs in public. So be it a lovey or anything else, I'd see that as a better alternative!
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I LOVE our LO's lovey. It's a sweet little lamb that she hugs during naps and nighttime for self-soothing. Because it's white we have to wash it every couple of weeks, but we also have a back-up. It's seriously one of our best purchases
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My son loved his gloworm, it was the only thing that made a difference to him in terms of sleeping on his own. It made me so sad when he didn't want it any more.
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I think I'll probably order a set of them and see what happens. Maybe I'll tell my husband AFTER I order them
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@allison: I think for us it's nice when we're traveling that he has his sleep sack and aden +anais lovey that stay the same. He LOVES his, and like your LO loves all blankets like crazy. We only give it to him for sleep times or when he's sick.
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Our LO took a liking to the A& A blankets as well so I just got the A& A blankies from baby steals.
http://baby.steals.com/daily/deal/id/3005281/aden-by-aden-anais-blankets-sleeping-bag -
We have some Angel Dear lovies that LO LOVES. Generally I only let her have it at night because I don't want it to become something she drags around during the day. But if shes having a total meltdown I will bring it out to calm her down.
Benefits - it calms her right away. And at bedtime she snuggles right up to it and falls asleep. She never took a paci, and with the lovie I dont have to go in 10x a night to replace it.
She's only 11 months now, but I feel like I don't care that much if she continues to use it for a long time. whereas I really wouldn't want her using a paci for the next 2 years.
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not only does a lovey allow them to self-soothe, but it's great for trips/travel so that you can always count on it being that one familiar item to help them go to bed in a foreign place.
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It's my hope that he'll eventually replace the paci with the lovey, and that way I won't have to put the paci back in his mouth. I don't think there's anything strange about a lovey though...did your DH ever have a fave stuffed animal or something as a kid?
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@mrs. wagon: A is going through a clawing at the boobs stage now, ouch! She's also started scratching her head and grabbing at her hair when she's tired and trying to go to sleep. I think I remember you writing a post that LMW was scratching herself for comfort... Was she a similar age? A is almost 6 months. How did you get her to stop?
@allison: thanks for this post, we're thinking about introducing a lovely but I'm a little unsure of how to do it.
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@travelgirl1: we started holding it next to his face while he nursed and then put it in the crib with him. He'll usually cuddle with it as soon as we put him down (although sometimes he flings it around!).
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LO didn't really care about anything lovey-like till he was closer to 10 months old, now he has two "loveys" (tiny blankets with a rabbit head and monkey head respectively) that he hugs to go to sleep. They live in the crib, so it's not like he's carting them around a la Linus in Peanuts. He kind of uses them like a pillow, and I think it helps him when we're in a new place- we take the loveys, his light-up turtle, and his two blankets whenever we sleep away from home, and I think it does make a difference to how easily he goes to sleep.
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@travelgirl1: yes LMW did that
We introduced and pushed the lovey on her, and luckily she took to it really well and it has helped. But we used to put socks on her hands to stop her from scratching... then she figured out how to bite the sock off. Once she got attached to the lovey, the scratching pretty much stopped. She still tugs at her hair and scratches at her ear (only one side) when she's overtired or sometimes when she's falling asleep in her crib on her own, but at least it's not every single time anymore. Once she gauged a big tear in her ear and was bleeding so badly so sad. All we can do is keep her ears/cheeks SMOTHERED in vaseline (so the scratching is less severe when it happens) and keep her fingernails super short and file the tops of them so they're thin. As for introducing the lovey, we'd just always put it next to her in the crib and we also would place it in her hands while she was eating. I think stroking it while eating really helps associate the comfort factor.
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As far as it dragging everywhere goes, what if you cut it into a smaller piece and sew the edges so its more size appropriate for your LO?
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@mrs. wagon: Thanks so much, we nipped out and got an A&A security blanket and girlfriend will be scratching that instead if it kills me! She has super long hair (past her shoulders already and only five months old!) so she yanks that or scratches herself/me. The breaking point yesterday was when she started yanking my nipple out of her mouth (while still latched, oooow!) every two seconds. Yeah, the lovey is making an entrance!
We introduced and pushed the lovey on her, and luckily she took to it really well and it has helped. But we used to put socks on her hands to stop her from scratching... then she figured out how to bite the sock off. Once she got attached to the lovey, the scratching pretty much stopped. She still tugs at her hair and scratches at her ear (only one side) when she's overtired or sometimes when she's falling asleep in her crib on her own, but at least it's not every single time anymore. Once she gauged a big tear in her ear and was bleeding so badly Reply
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