toddler sleeps with stuffed animal in his mouth

[Anonymous]

Around 10 months we introduced a "lovey" to DS-- a small bunny with nothing additional sewn or glued on (i.e. no googly eyes or bowtie). He's 12 months old now and has been falling asleep with bunny's arm in his mouth. When we go in to take it out of his mouth after he falls asleep, he's been waking up and putting it back in! We tried taking it away and he screamed and cried until we finally gave it back to him.

He loves sucking on bunny. Is this something to worry about?

[Anonymous]

nope. kids are weird.

[Anonymous]

Mine has a small elephant and puts the trunk in her mouth.
Sometimes if there's a pacifier in the bed she'll take that but she mostly sucks the elephant.

It will need to be washed every so often. I put it on the gentle cycle in the washing machine, dry it for a few minutes on the low cycle and let it air dry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine has a small elephant and puts the trunk in her mouth.
Sometimes if there's a pacifier in the bed she'll take that but she mostly sucks the elephant.

It will need to be washed every so often. I put it on the gentle cycle in the washing machine, dry it for a few minutes on the low cycle and let it air dry.

Oh yeah, we wash it at least once a week, when we do sheets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Around 10 months we introduced a "lovey" to DS-- a small bunny with nothing additional sewn or glued on (i.e. no googly eyes or bowtie). He's 12 months old now and has been falling asleep with bunny's arm in his mouth. When we go in to take it out of his mouth after he falls asleep, he's been waking up and putting it back in! We tried taking it away and he screamed and cried until we finally gave it back to him.

He loves sucking on bunny. Is this something to worry about?

Well duh. Either he sucks on the lovey or he sucks his thumb.

I wouldn't worry about it. A word of warning, don't take it out and about. You'll end up loosing it and have one unhappy kid to deal with.

[Anonymous]

My 17 month old still does this, I'm not concerned. Her older brother has a stuffed animal that he has to sleep with but he never sucked on it like she does!

[Anonymous]

Same as PP, my son sucks and chews on his loveys elephant trunk. It's a huge comfort to him.

[Anonymous]

Our friends had a lovey for their toddler-it was a unique one and the mom bought multiples whenever she saw them. She had 32-seriously-but I digress. The child was always with the lovey and he always had it in his mouth. When he turned three the dentist said it was affecting his teeth. But he had it ALL the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our friends had a lovey for their toddler-it was a unique one and the mom bought multiples whenever she saw them. She had 32-seriously-but I digress. The child was always with the lovey and he always had it in his mouth. When he turned three the dentist said it was affecting his teeth. But he had it ALL the time.

Yup- this bunny was a gift from grandma who got it at barnes and noble last year. Of course they don't sell it anymore and its some random european stuffed animal brand. Luckily I found it on Ebay from a seller in London and am having 4 of them shipped here!!!

Oh yes, the rule in our house is bunny stays in your crib. I had a blankie growing up and it was never allowed to leave my room, not even into the living room. I once left it in a hotel on our way to Florida and luckily the hotel mailed it to our destination so I wasn't without it long. But it was the worst feeling losing it!

[Anonymous]

Sounds cute. My 2.75 year old still chews on his bunny. He tells me "I ate rabbit today." He has 3 so we can wash them every few days. He never accepted a pacifier or sucked his thumb (though I guess there is still time for that); gnawing on Mr. Rabbit was always his comfort thing, ever since we put it in the crib when he was 6 months. Sleep-trained himself with it, too. I would not worry about it. If it eventually affects his teeth you can deal with it then. No reason to interrupt perfectly good sleep now.