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Friday, July 13, 2012

The evolution of a wrap.


This baby wrap started life as a gift for a newborn baby. It became a preferred item because it was new, not used by baby number one,  it was perfect for a summer baby in weight and texture.

Notice back corner, Stripy Blanket has entered the house. (About 4 weeks old)

After noticing how much it was used, the provider of the gift actually gave us another identical wrap, the two were then used constantly, one used, one washed.

Over time the stripy wrap become a permanent fixture, over my shoulder, in my handbag, in the cot, in the pram, wherever baby Immy was, stripy blanket went too. It was wonderful when I started back at work to know that such an item could actually make her happy. If she was upset, stripy blanket could calm her down and make her feel safe and happy.


Stripy Blanket is now coming along on car trips. (Immy around 3 months old)

After a while, stripy blanket became blanky and as I worried that blanky 1 or 2 may one day disappear I rang the maker of them to see if they had any left at all as the website said they were no longer making them. They did, so I bought the last seven, I put a few away for emergency situations, and added two more into the regular cycle of use, now that Immy was walking blanky got dragged through all sorts of mess and required more washing.

 11 months old, she could not walk but would stand like this for ages.



As Immy started to talk, blanky became blankLet.

Two blanklets got lost, even with my mobile number written on them and searches far and wide, they were never seen again.

Immy's second birthday and first Carols by Candlelight. Blanklet came too.
I tried to throw another blanklet into the mix but "New Blanklets" were not received. The fabric was just not the same anymore.

Once I realised they would never be used as a comfort toy I sewed all but one of them together and used them for the transition to a big girl bed. There was much delight in having a bed covered in blanklets, but they were still not 'attached' to.

Blanklet was once rubbed on the side of the nose while she went to sleep, but somewhere during the year of two, Blanklet started to be sniffed instead. Blanklet was no longer. Blanklet was now called Sniffy.


The corner were the tag must be sniffed.

We have two Sniffy blanklets and one NEW blanklet that is only used for playing dolls.

This winter, Sniffy has been sniffed like someone with a chroming habit and when Immy got a cold Sniffy became nothing but manky, covered in snot and cough. During this time Sniffy also got a preferred corner (the one with the tag on it) to be sniffed and even in her sleep she will spin that rag around until she gets the appropriate corner and sniffs it up with all her heart.



Sniffy is no longer called Sniffy. Sniffy is now called Stinky.

I could not cope with Stinky any longer so yesterday I snuck one of the remaining two from her bed while she slept and washed and dried it and then snuck it back in.

Stinky is still more brown than white.


In the morning there were tears. Stinky smelt wrong. Stinky was  not stinking properly.  But more had to be done.  I gave her the washed Stinky and threw the other one in the wash too. She was more than distraught. Washed Stinky was thrown against the wall as only an old rag can be (softly) he was stomped on and she hugged the front loader like it was her last friend on earth.

Washed Stinkys are currently being dragged around the house, used much less as they don't feel right, and apparently they 'don't have much stink and my body doesn't like them yet".

But they will not be discarded and 'New' Stinky will still not be touched.







There is life in Washed Stinkys yet.






Do your kids have a comfort object, what crazy things have they attached themselves to?










19 comments:

  1. My daughter still has a knitted blanket at the end of her bed that she used since the day we brought her home from the hospital. It's a loosely knitted lace kind of thing.
    When she is really tired, unwell, or when life gets too much for her 11 year old self she still wraps herself in it to sleep.
    Some days it gets wrapped around her and dragged from room to room.
    I'm pretty sure it will be packed with her belongings and taken with her when she eventually leaves home.

    It's one of my secret mum moments, watching her sleep when she's still wrapped in it, her fingers threaded through the wool, just like when she was a baby.

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  2. Ahhh the beloved blanket. Our number 2 (nearly 8 years old now) has always loved having something on her face. When she was a little one it was a cloth nappy (that I bought but didn't ever use for anything remotely resembling a bottom cover). She would stress and fuss and then as soon as you placed the edge of the nappy over her face she would settle. Bliss. For first Christmas she was gifted (by my mother)a piece of ...... raggy material. It is about 30cm square and has been machine embroidered around the outside. She loves it. It is STILL the comfort factor for her. When she has the obligatory ups and downs and trips to the toilet and drinks of water one more time.... a placing of the blankie over the side of her face will settle and calm and let her drift off to sleep. And on the sniffy vs stinky factor? She puts it in the machine herself when it smells horrible :)

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  3. My one year old daughter has attached herself to a flannelette wrap, which she sniffs as well! We lost the original a few weeks ago, but after a few rough days we managed to attach her to a new one, which I'll cut in half for emergencies!She's had a cold this week so blanky will be going in for a wash tomorrow. It's funny when people ask if she has a dummy and I say no, she's a blanket sniffer! She also sucks her two fingers for comfort which is super cute as well. ( I'm sure I won't be saying that in a few years time). My two boys each had dummies and a soft toy when they were younger .

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    1. HI Averil, Immy sucks two fingers too, and I tried really hard to make her into a dummy sucker - clearly I failed at that one. But learn from me, get her attached to 10 of those blankets while you can! It's all in the sniff...

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  4. Love this blog post Claire. My kids have never had a blanket that they have been attached to. I have always wondered what it is like for Mum's who do. This gave me a perfect picture of it. I hope she finds a happy solution for you to make life a little easier. N x

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  5. still have a blanket and age 7 just cant get rid of it!! it will be goign at christmas!!

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  6. This post made me smile so much! My three all still have a version of blankie. No 1 has several interchangeable muslin squares which get rubbed between the fingers or toes!!! No 2 has a couple of flannelette squares which get held tightly all night long, and no 3 has (after losing TWO DOZEN!!!) one lucky last cloth nappy which gets rubbed under the nose or across the belly. I am fortunate that smell doesn't play a part in the relationship mine have with their 'ruggies' though... Keep On snuggling Immy, they'll soon smell delicious and you-like again xxx

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  7. I love this.

    My 6 yo has had "blankies" since he was a few weeks old. It was great for keeping the dummy in place, by pulling a corner through the dummy ring thing and with time just became a comforter of its own.

    We have four. Two are blue and two are yellow. One is a bunny, while three are teddies. He is not much fussed about which he has, as long as he has two. Sometimes, he gets his hands on all four and it is heaven, I tell you...!

    I rotate them through the washing machine and he is happy with that.

    I now always buy "blankies" for friends with newborns. We bought one the other day and my boy has his eye on it. It is all new and soft....

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  8. This is the cutest post! I love the photo of the little one asleep with her dolls :) I don't think my boys are attached to anything. One gets comfort by playing with his belly button as he goes to sleep, and the other one touches an ear as he goes off to the land of nod. But so far neither have a loved blanket or soft toy.

    Great post!!

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  9. I love this post! I love all the stages and different names. My little ones never really got attached to anything like that, I kinda wished they had, although there was the dummies, but we ditched them at the beginning of the year.
    xx

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  10. Thank you Claire for such a wonderful and insightful post - I grinned the whole way through and the pic of Immy and her dolls is divine! And I think finally I understand the "blankie" thing! My girls never attached to an object, my 3 year old even takes a different toy to bed most nights. But her favourite comfort thing without doubt was my hair - twirled it, stroked it, clutched it and even occasionally sucked on it. She'd fall asleep as I lay with her after storytime and it was like unravelling knitting as I'd try to free myself. So far my 1 yr old just likes to hold my hand as she falls asleep. Its the sweetest thing to see and feel those little fingers wrapped around mine.

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  11. Oh I love this.

    My nearly 9yo boy was handed one of his Dad's hankies at maybe a couple of months old. I couldn't tell you where or why, but as a baby and toddler he always had a hanky in his hand.

    This year when he went away on school camp for two nights he hid his hanky in his sleeping bag so his friends wouldn't know. Luckily he has about ten and he is happy with any of them. Also they are small and portable! If he is tired or stressed I'll find him with his hanky in hand, all curled up.

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  12. So cute

    My 11 year old has had a fluffy rabbit since birth and still sleeps with it every night...

    After all those years of leaving it "somewhere" in the shops/park (luckly we always found it) - it at least doesn't leave the home anymore - unless she is going to a sleepover!!

    Washing it in the early years was a nightmare and was performed in secret whilst she was asleep (I always said the fairies did it...)

    It is a lovely memory to have

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  13. My eldest Mr 7 is exactly like this. This story could have been his. My Mum made a 'bunny rug' when he was a new born. He had one corner that he would only, do all the things you mentioned, turn, rub, sniff. My husband even referred to this blanket as 'crack' one night (to me) because he sniffed it so hard! I know all those phases you described and yes our blankey still won't die. It is now a 1/4 of the original size, as I chopped it & re-edged it in the lovely satin, so that we could have 4. But only the one with the corner is acceptable. This corner has long been worn through, & repaired 4 times, including a hole big enough for little Mr to fit his head through. I sewed it up, worried he would choke himself. He only has it when he's tired and at bed time, but he's not giving it up. When asked recently when he thinks he might outgrow blankey, he said "I don't know, maybe never". I think he's probably right.

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  14. Lord help us if my five year old doesn't have her elephant blanket at bed time or if silly Mum forgets to pack it for day care. I bought it while I was pregnant with her and its remained her favourite every since.
    Mumabulous @http://mum-abulous.com/

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  15. I love this! Poss has Crumble bear, who has been with us since she was three. He has come everywhere with us and I worry that one day we will lose him.. It's so sweet - I hope that the new Stinky's are accepted soon!

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  16. We have 'feely' (muslin wrap used from birth) and both my 3yo and 5yo are attached to theirs (and their thumbs!!). My boy starts at school next year and I'm wondering what he'll choose to do about taking it in his bag or not. We'll see.... A great book about this is The Red Woollen Blanket.
    I must say though, when they're upset I can be the first to say "where's your thumb.... someone grab feely please" so I'm a major part of it all..... Mel

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  17. Oh I luv this post. My nearly 5 year old boy still has a 'blanklet'! He started calling it that when he could talk and so the name stuck!

    When he was a baby he used to spew alot so I always had a cloth nappy over my shoulder to catch it, on the couch, under his head in bed (so I didn't have to change the sheets all the time) and this became his comfort toy! The bonus was I had a dozen of them!

    We are now down to 3 of them and new ones aren't accepted! (we have discovered the hem on the new ones is slightly wider which he tells me means he can't rub them properly!). It is also a must that blanklets are only dried in the clothes dryer so they are soft - on the clothes hoist or on the line make them too crispy for his liking!

    Good luck with your stinky's!

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  18. Great post Claire. Finn had 'mousey' a very expensive French Doudou who was lost both in New York and Paris. Managed to source adequate replacements with much stress. Myles didn't have one at all. Sofia has her muslin.cloths 'muzzies' both of the Prince George 'aden and anais' variety. One was a designated comforter (pink muzz) the other was a wrap which is now 'big muzz'. I break into a cold sweat if either one is left behind!! X

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