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Blankets and Other Creature Comforts

Toddlers and Security Items

By Jacqueline Bodnar

Throughout the course of time, generation after generation of parents have watched their children grow up expressing fairly predictable behaviors. Toddlers, especially, have gained a reputation for being notoriously fond of security items – blankets, stuffed toys, pacifiers, pillows and their own fingers or thumbs.

While many parents feel the attachment to such items is nothing more than a normal stage that all children go through, many professionals feel that such behaviors often bring consequences more costly than the majority of parents realize.

"It's true that many toddlers have special items that they use to soothe and comfort themselves with – most often it's pacifiers, thumbs, special blankets or pillows or favorite stuffed animals," says Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a psychologist in Cranbury, N.J. "These 'cuddlies' can be very helpful tools on their journey toward learning to manage their feelings; however, after a certain amount of time they can actually interfere with development."

Kennedy-Moore, who wrote the book, The Unwritten Rules of Friendship: Simple Strategies to Help Your Child Make Friends (Parenting Press, 2005), refers to development in a number of ways. Development, as she states in reference to these "toddler addictions," includes both physical and emotional.

The Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, states that chronic thumb sucking cannot only "reduce peer social acceptance in school-age children," but can also result in dental malformations such as class II malocclusion, narrowing of the dental arches and mucosal trauma. Similar studies show that heavy dependence by toddlers on items such as blankets or stuffed toys can hinder the development of "self-soothing" strategies – among them emotion regulation, anxiety reduction and stress-coping skills.

Want to see more?

• Check out our Article Library.
• A Hard Habit to Break Part One: Bring on the Cup
• A Hard Habit to Break Part Two: From Diaper Donned to Toilet Trained
• A Hard Habit to Break Part Three: Pacify the Pacifier Habit
• A Hard Habit to Break Part Four: Baby Blanket Bingo
• Talk about it!

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