Sleep Training & the Best Lovey for Babies

Does your babe have a lovey? We first started using one with our oldest daughter, Vienna, when we were sleep training. (If sleep training isn’t for you, please feel free to simply pass on this article #toeachtheirown). Miss V slept for 2-3 hours max at at time and while we were over the moon in love with all those new baby experiences, we were also Losing. Our. Minds.

One of the recommendations for sleep training was to have a “lovey” that always went to sleep with her and provided comfort. I think the proper reference is “transitional object”, but I’ll leave that to the sleep experts to discuss. 😉 Both of my girls have a lovey and they snuggle up and fall asleep easily with it every night.

I remember the day I picked up Vienna’s lovey: 9 months pregnant, not sure if I was having a boy or girl, browsing the “gender neutral” (read: boys) section at Carters. Vienna loves to hear about how I found her beloved stuffed monkey, and I think that’s just the sweetest thing.

We’d be in dire state if we ever lost her lovey. In fact, I remember my sister losing her beloved Champ Bear when we were kids on a picnic trip with my Grampa and he actually flagged down truck drivers to ask them if they’d seen it. Desperate times call for desperate measures, people. Also, he was a total hero. 

Here are my top 5 Tips for Choosing the Right Lovey for your baby.

1. Washable
Choose something that is easy to wash. Toddler germs, stomach bugs, need I say more? Moms everywhere are nodding right now.

2. Two of a Kind
Buy two; you’ll need a back up for when one is in the wash, daycare, etc. (see #1 above). The company Angel Dear knows this concept well and have started packaging their loveys in threes– genius.

3. Sleep Time Only
Limit lovey time to bedtime only. There’s been times when we haven’t followed through on this and you can usually find my kids snuggling up as though they are going for a nap out of nowhere. Your baby’s lovey isn’t a toy or something to be dragged everywhere. You’ll have the most success if you use it for bedtime, nap time, and when your kids need that extra bit of comfort (transitioning to a daycare, for example). So if your child is older, don’t choose a toy they already play with all the time.

4. You Love It
Pick something you won’t mind having around until the end of time. Trust me on this one.

5. Safe for Sleeping
Aria slept with her mouse on her face for the first few months of her life. We’d watch her on the monitor pick up, and carefully place the dress fabric across her face and then go back to sleep. Anyone who know’s Aria (#diva) won’t be surprised by this. I mean, why wouldn’t she make her own sleep mask?! Make sure you choose something that is safe for babies to sleep with, in terms of size, breath-ability, materials, etc.

A lovey will make your sleep training process so much easier, offering comfort and consistency to your baby as they build great sleep habits. And, since this weekend marks daylight savings time, be sure to check out my tips on navigating the time change with kids.

Need some inspiration? Here are five lovies we love!

Enjoy! xo

One / Two / Three / Four / Five

Mama Writes

36 comments

  1. Can I just say your daughters have the best names? Vienna and Aria are so beautiful! I never slept with a lovey but I used to suck my finger when I needed comfort

    1. Thank you Mimi! It was so hard to choose their names, but we of course love them too! One of my daughter’s sucks her two fingers too– we wonder when she is going to give it up!

  2. These are such great tips. Only my oldest daughter had a lovey (she had 2) but both became disgustingly dirty. Sometimes, you have no idea what a child will attach to but I love the idea of trying to guide it. Thanks for sharing.

    1. Thanks for checking this out, Sara! For my second daughter we definitely bought 2 of the same, and I’d probably even buy 3!

    1. Haha those things get well used! My daughter’s would drag theirs everywhere if I let them too, but I do find that it results in a lot of thumb/finger sucking that we are trying to curb 😉

  3. Probably as the Grandma of the group it is a good thing for “Glamma” to have on hand too! This makes it easier for mom and Grandma to put the wee one down for a nap. There is nothing worse than a problem “Glamma” can’t fix. 🙂

  4. My son had Lamby and it’s still in his room..he’s 15:) He also had a blanket called Night NIght which has a silky tag that he still rubs to calm down:)

    1. Thanks Ayanna! That’s so great they chose theirs! My girls have had theirs since a few months old 🙂

  5. Oh I love this!! I have backups of my backups too. It’s so needed when it comes to toddlers and their sleep/ my sleep. Haha!! Great post!! Such a good reminder!!
    Angela

  6. I sleep trained my daughter and she had a bunny. Sadly we lost him a year ago, but she didn’t really seem to mind. She now sleeps with a million stuffed animals.

  7. As a Mom of olders, I think a lovey in the way you are presenting it is a great idea for comfort and joy for babies. Way to go!

  8. My kids are 6 and 9 now but we were big fans of sleep training when they were little. Funny though they never had loveys! they have plushys, but nothing that became a must have! For us, with sleep training a routine was key, and then the clear signal and you have to stay in your crib and you are not being picked up or fed! They both now sleep great and are in no way traumatized from a few nights of crying

    1. Yes, yes and yes! My girls both did amazing with sleep training and I’m so thankful to have well-rested, great sleepers! Routine and consistency are so key!

  9. Yeah, it’s a great idea to have 2! My middle had a specific dog he needed to sleep with, but we had only one. There were many nights he wouldn’t go to sleep until he had Dog, so we had to go searching. The worst spot was when we found him after an hour of searching and he was in the hamper!!!

  10. Awe the story of Grampa made me tears such a hero I still have champ bear to this day in a safe spot from your nephew

  11. My son sleeps with a stuffed dog, he sleeps with it and if he goes over his grandparent’s house he takes it with him. From time to time when we were sleep training I would spray it with my perfume because he felt like I was close without being in the bed with me

  12. My babe loves his blankies, he has to have them at naptime and bedtime. He also has a moose binky that we would be lost without most times.

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