Security Blankets and My 16 Month Old.

He's still little and it's not doing any damage (like a paci might inhibit speech, etc). If this keeps up past age 2, then slowly start limiting when he can have it: it can leave the house but not the car, then it can't leave the house, then it's not allowed at the table, and eventually it's only for sleeping.

If it makes you feel any better, my best friend has always slept with her ga-ga (blanket), and she's a perfectly normal, healthy, happily married 30 year old kindergarten teacher :)

Hi Momof3 :-)

My daughter (now 23) STILL has hers! His name is FOZZIE.. and he is stuffed mouse.. well, not too stuffed now! lOL.. but he's in her bedroom as we speak :-) She wanted Fozzie for a very long time.. what's better than a BEST friend! My first thoughts are just allow it, what is the harm :-)

My second thought goes to your statement that he just started this the last couple of weeks. I would encourage you to sit down at a quiet time.. if you can find it.. hehehe... and examine these past few weeks to see if there may have been some experiences that might have caused him to be a bit more fearful or unsure of his surroundings or other people. This may be a way of his expressing his tentativeness, and so makes even better sense to allow him this "chosen item for safety" to bring him comfort :-)
hugs,
A. R.N., Energy Medicine Practitioner

Sounds like he's working through some seperation anxiety issues.
That being said, I am 26 with a child of my own and I still have my blankey. At this point, it's more about the fact that I have gotten into the habit of sleeping with something in my arms.
My mom used to joke that she was going to sew it into my wedding dress.
I carried it to the hospital with me when I gave birth to my son.
It makes me feel better. Lots of people turn to dugs or alcohol to make them feel better. When you think about it like that, the blankey doesn't seem so bad!

If you're OK with it, then it's fine. I agree that you may eventually want to set some boundaries around it. It sounds like it's maybe reaching that point for you now - maybe it can come in the car, but it stays in the car seat. Maybe it has a special "seat" at the table where he can see it, but he doesn't actually hold it during meals. With my first, he was attached to the pacifier, and it was around 18 mos that I banished it to the bedroom (he could have it during naps and at night, and if he hurt himself or otherwise needed comfort, we would go get it, sit in the rocker until he felt better, and then put it back in the bed.) That's a little different, since I didn't want the pacifier to interfere with speech. We're just now setting the "only in bed" rule with my second's (2-1/2) blankie - which is mostly because it got really dirty and I got tired of washing it every two days. I also still have my blankie and bear from my childhood, and although I don't actually sleep with them anymore, I did until my husband and I moved in together. The blankie is actually helping your son to be independent of *you*, and that's a good thing. He is learning to soothe himself (with the help of a blankie), and that's a fantastic skill for him to have. Trust your gut, though, and if it's getting out of hand, set some boundaries. Good luck!

My son went through a similar phase around the same age... we couldn't go anywhere without "Joe" the monkey.

When he became more verbal and more interactive, Joe was relegated to the crib (around his second birthday) and was there for naps and night-night. He was fine with it and now he barely looks for him... only when he's having a hard time falling asleep!

My oldest (age 7.5) and youngest (nearly 3) both have security blankets. My oldest DD has been attached to the same blanket since she was a baby in her crib. When she was little she'd take it places where we'd be separating and she'd feel comforted having it w/ her. As she got older we stopped letting her take it in the car and she knows she is only allowed to have it in her bedroom (she's fine w/ that...her attachment is not very much now, just at night when she sleeps.) My little guy has a blanket too and at first my DH tried to stop that attachment from happening cause he remembers the anxiety we all felt when the blankie went missing, and how we'd leave it places and such. But I am okay w/ the attachment at this age cause if it makes them feel secure, than that's good. My son only has it in our house now so he doesn't need it as much as our DD did, but it still comforts him when he's feeling bad or tired. Your son is so young and it's completely healthy to have a "lovie." Try and have a back-up in case you lose it though, we never found a duplicate blankie for our DD and it was stressful when it went missing (always turned up though!)

My boys went through this phase, but they out grew it and their lovies now stay in their beds. The one thing I would never allow was for it to go into stores, ect.... They could take with along in the car, but it had to stay in the car! Think about what will happen if it gets lost in a store or park? This happened to a girl I knew, who though I was mean for making it stay in the car. She thought I was mean until she had to sit for 3 nights with a child that would not sleep until they could have another lovie made and sent up after she lost hers in a store and they could not find it!! But other than that I would not be concerned, he will out grow it. At that age my older son had his lovie on his head all the time, rubbing the silky end of it between his fingers (wore a hold it it!) and sucking his thumb. He still sleeps with his lovie, but it stays in bed now.

no he will outgrow it. my 2 1/2 yr old has one and is slowly outgrowing it. why make your job harder when you can let them do it on thier own.

you can always cut it down and make it a smaller less intrusive version...
they usually grow out of this once they communicate well. when they are "secure" with themselves the false need of security from an object generally diminishes. in the meantime it's cute that they become attached to blankies and stuffed toys I think. make sure you save some of it to put in his babybook one day. he'll laugh when he's a grown man, and his wife will think it's sweet and will then understand WHY her kids might be doing the same thing.

My daughter (almost 6 now) had a blankie she named "baby" and that blanket went everywhere with us. As she got older, we made rules for where baby could go. About 2 1/2, baby could go in the car for trips but couldn't leave the car for errands, preschool, Grandma's, etc. About 4, baby couldn't leave her room. Last year we "lost" baby one day in the house after she brought it out to play and she was ok with that. She picked a couple stuffed animals to sleep with, none that she's obsessive about, and she hasn't mentioned it since then.

Time is the only thing I can recommend and slowly weaning him off his dependence. It's a friend and comfort when kids are small, which is important to them.