Poll Do You Use Stuff Toys / Animals For Comfort?

[amethist]

This is my husbands, and it sits on the table at the side of him all the time.

As you can see he has his name on a dog tag too.

 

[712xx]

I did up untill I was about 28, then it tappered way off. Now I don't want to have anything in sight that even resembles a 'toy'. I do have lots of blankets and one special blanket (that is falling apart). I used to love shopping in the bedding section. I'd take the blankets out of the plastic and smell them to see if they have potential to join my blanket family.

I had to open up the fold and smell where the plastic wasn't touching it -- my nose can detect and separate different scents. I can smell what the natural fibers smell like -- detect a hint of it at least, among the other unnatural scents. Special talent, or special bus? :laugh: Maybe I was raised by wolves in human clothing -- this would explain so much.

 

[Spiderallis]

I'm blaming this thread for an impulse buy- a new stuffed bunny from the Easter clearance bin. It was too fluffy, he had to come home with me.

 

[Yzeal]

I've always had them at least somewhere close by me, for as long as I can remember, but until I saw this question I didn't really notice one little detail--my little fluffy buddies didn't start following me to bed again until the trauma happened. It seems to help out.

There was a concert recently where I'd carried a certain plush mascot with me, and there were quite a few trigger incidents. Hugging onto it nice and tight seemed to help out a lot.

 

[JoAnnD]

I use my cats instead.

So do I. :)

 

[JoAnnD]

As a child, even well into my teens, I arranged a group of stuffies and dolls around the edges of my bed. They protected me from evil. I was also concerned with their comfort - on cold nights they were under the covers, and I made sure there were no arms or paws sticking in anyone else's eye.

Several years ago I bought myself a sweet little teddy bear from a second hand shop. When he saw me take the bear to bed, my husband unkindly disapproved so I ashamedly (and angrily) set the bear on my dresser.

 

[Dissociated1]

I hadn’t slept with a stuffed animal in 40+ years until about 6-8 months ago. My wife was out of town and something just seemed right as I walked by the row of stuffed animals she had on the back of the family room sofa for holiday decorations. I grabbed a fluffy little moose I named Guss. Ironically, my childhood stuffed animal was a reindeer. When we told our couples councilor about the nightmares/feelings of vulnerability I had started to have she suggested I try sleeping with a stuffed animal. It was a bit embarrassing but I told her and my wife about how I had discovered Guss.

I tried sleeping with my childhood stuffed animal as a experiment but it brought me to tears.

 

[Venusian]

I started sleeping with a teddy bear last Christmas when the nightmares were really bad and the sleeping meds weren't working. It helped. I haven't had one since I was really young, my parents didn't have a lot of money and all of the stuffed animals seemed to migrate to my younger siblings. At the time I didn't mind since we always had cats or dogs that used to sleep in my bed with me.

 

[Froggie]

Several years ago I bought myself a sweet little teddy bear from a second hand shop. When he saw me take the bear to bed, my husband unkindly disapproved so I ashamedly (and angrily) set the bear on my dresser.

I'm sorry that he wasn't empathic with your needs, cause it does help. I have a stuffed camel that I call Chamo and I search for him in the middle of the night when I can't feel his presence.

 

[bright_morning]

Wow I had to answer no because I haven't done this yet but at the same time this thread is making me well up with tears. I can feel the loss of that safety and the desire for comfort from my stuffed toys as a child. Trippy and heavy. :(

 

[Hashi]

Nope, and sometimes I feel like the only female who doesn't. I don't remember liking them particularly when I was little, either. I was given dolls and I used to use them for play-acting but I can't remember ever cuddling them. I'm pretty sure I never took them to bed with me or anything.

Because people talk about this so much, I actually bought a stuffed toy a couple of years ago when my symptoms were bad. It was cute to look at and the texture was nice but I'm sorry to say it just got in the way. It was annoying.

I see some other people have voted no, but no-one seems to have posted a "no" (unless I missed it, skimming through). I thought I'd post in case anyone out there feels the same as me, and doesn't get it either!

 

[Aqib]

I sleep with two dolls that have been with me since I was a little boy. They're in my house, not in my dorm. When I was young, my parents were busy a lot so most of my time would be spent playing with them "imagining them to be real." Haha, it's silly, and it's even sillier that I still keep them around. I guess for me they're symbolic of comfort, of something familiar, a place where I can anchor for a little while.