How Long Should a Child Be Attached to a Stuffed Animal?

You might have a love-hate relationship with your child's lovey, comfort toy or transitional object -- whatever you choose to call it. It's grimy, nearly unrecognizable as a kitty, puppy, bear or even a blanket anymore and smells, despite your best efforts to keep it clean. But regardless of your feelings for it, your child's attachment is often deep and abiding, despite your best efforts to find it a new home in the closet. A lovey attachment is healthy and normal.

  1. Developing an Attachment

    • Around 60 percent of American children have a transitional object, according to the Encyclopedia of Children's Health, and most give it up over time on their own. Transitional object attachments often develop between the ages of 8 and 12 months, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports. Your child will choose the object, which is very often not the one you would have chosen for him. The attachment is at its strongest between 18 and 24 months and remains high through around age 29 months, the Encyclopedia of Children's Health states.

    Giving It Up on His Own

    • Many children give up their transitional objects on their own by age 5; by 5 1/2 years of age, only 8 percent of children still have a strong lovey attachment, the Encyclopedia of Children's Health reports. Boys often give up their transitional object earlier than girls, due to peer pressure that suggests it's more acceptable for girls than boys to have stuffed animals.

    Long-Term Attachments

    • Not all kids give up their transitional object on their own; a survey of 230 adolescents published in the 1986 Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry found that 21 percent of girls and 12 percent of boys still used their transitional objects. As many as 35 percent of girls pack their transitional object to take along when they go to college according to Dr. Barbara Howard, developmental-behavioral pediatrician at Johns Hopkins as quoted in the The New York Times in 2011.

    Helping Him Move On

    • Trying to get your toddler to give up his lovey before age 3 is a waste of time, psychologist Dr. Heather Wittenberg reports on her website, BabyShrink.com. Don't try and remove Mr. Bunny Rabbit at the same as you're trying to accomplish another major goal such as potty training or starting full-day kindergarten. Start with limiting access; for example, leave the object at home when you go to the store or have him live only in the bedroom. Having a transitional object isn't psychologically damaging, according to Dr. Wittenberg; there's no real reason to force the issue of giving it up before she's ready and willing.

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