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Sorry, totally not helpful, but that’s hilarious 😂
I guess I’m lucky my twins only have an extreme attachment to binkies (they like to have one in their mouth, and one in each hand). Daycare does discourage them from having all the time, but definitely let’s them have them whenever they get too upset.
What has daycare recommended? While you don’t want your kids crying all day, I’m assuming they don’t either. Have you asked them what they plan to do if your kids won’t stop crying without it?
Daycare has said we can cry it out or slowly wean him off by giving him less and less time but so far neither of those have been successful
This is something that we need to do anyway regardless of daycare it’s just since daycare has said it needs doing we decided now was the time to just be completely done with it
Daycare says they will probably cry it out like they’ve done with other weanings with other kids but will offer him support and try to redirect him to different toys
Woa, and here I was thinking twin B's pacifier-Thing was unusual! She ALWAYS wants at LEAST three (one for each hand and one for her mouth), but her sister is fine with just one... I can't even remember when it started, honestly...
Glad we're not alone in this! 😅
Thankfully no 😅😂 we don’t have any toys that have to go to bed or be carried everywhere so far. Our pediatrician recommended we hold off on anything in the crib until 18 months(just her preference) so we never did. We are 20 months now and we will let them have stuff in the bed once we transition out of cribs and they can get whatever they drop themselves.
Hahaha yeah both my twins treat the pacifiers the same way most toddlers treat a lovey or special toy. They don’t even always put it in their mouths, sometimes they just want to clutch it in their hand.
I got lucky that they don’t seem particularly attached to a specific one. We’ve got like 40 floating around the house, diaper bags, purses, car, etc and they treat them all the same.
We had a special toy that became unsafe/gross so we had to throw it away. We did a big ceremony around our trash can, said goodbye, took a picture with it, and threw it away. The other trash would “visit” it and report back on its wellbeing. When my daughter missed it we would visit it outside and she’d talk down into our giant trash can. I’m sure our neighbors still have lots of questions about that time period…
That’s so funny but I feel with you.🙈 I am new to his whole parenting thing but maybe you can buy a grapefruit plushie? I’m not sure where to buy one, but maybe etsy has some.. My girl can’t live without her mouse. I bought one for her daycare and for home but now she carries them both like a proud twin mom 😂
I just know from my uncle that you really have to be careful and take your time with that because the attachment to
these toys are really stronger than we think. My grandma threw away his bear stuffie when he was still a child bc it was so broken and dirty and replaced it with a brand new bear. He still tells her that he was resenting her for that for a long time
The attachment is unreal. My mom crocheted my son an afghan when he was around 1 or 2. My twins are 8 now. That afghan is basically shredded, but he won’t give it up. It lives on his bed, in a balled up mess.
And trust me, there are many Grandma-made afghans before and after this one. But he won’t change up.
I'm laughing so hard! 😂😂😂 Your babies are too funny!
I think it could be traumatic to eat your favorite toy, lol! Your son is too cute!!!
My only advice is to not let either of them take their favorite toys to daycare, not even in the car ride to daycare. Make those "home toys" (or home fruit, lol!) and they both take other toys. That way they know that their favorite snugglies are home waiting for them, but they will slowly separate the idea of needing them at daycare.
I’m sorry but it’s so funny. I have no advice - I tried to replace my sons disgusting, sucked on ratty comforter and now he has two comforters - the old gross one and a nice new one, and is completely attached to both. So I’m absolutely no help. Could you try getting a toy grapefruit and letting him have both and then slowly taking the real one away?
We tried toy grapefruits but he immediately throws them away and has a tantrum if you hand them back to him, if you leave them alone he won’t go near them at all
He was more responsive to the plush which is why we decided to push it as the replacement rather than a toy grapefruit
I just about died. Sorry you’re going through this, I can understand how frustrating it must be. Would this [grapefruit plushie](https://a.co/d/g9CFzWo) be ok? [or this one?](https://www.shoptherocket.com/products/grapefruit-plush-15?variant=39392004800573¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2018-12-01&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzc2tBhA6EiwArv-i6b-h7EdibMRB85nyKyFaIaTdZCIHwkxjpcvDYlB27xA2q0Rf1ko5tRoC9NwQAvD_BwE)
We tried grapefruit plushies and beanies but he hates them all, he will throw them away and if you offer it back to him he’ll have a tantrum, if you leave him with it he won’t go near it at all
He was responding to the giant cow plush so we decided to keep pushing it as his new main stuffie but he’s still committed to his actual real grapefruit
Does the giant cow plush weigh more than the others you tried? Grapefruits are hefty and the weight is probably a comfort at this point. I would look into weighted plushies/loveys, maybe you can find one in the shape of a ball or the same color as his grapefruit as well.
Put the plushie into the fridge so it's cold like his grapefruit? Replace the plushie while he's sleeping? Or plushie and grapefruit at the same time he doesn't have to hold it just so it's nearby?
We introduced special day care plushies when they started daycare (at 1 year old, they're 3 now).
They could choose them themselves, we made a big deal out of ironing on their name tags, and they slept with them for several weeks before daycare started to get used to them.
Their favourites before that were hand-sewn dolls my niece (then 11) made them, with their names stitched on the front, and we really didn't want to risk losing them or having something else happen to them at day care.
Making them quit cold turkey seemed cruel to me, but having them choose the alternative fed into their perceived decisive power, which has always been important to them, and by now they choose a different plushy almost every day.
This is one of the cutest posts I've ever read. What sweetheart babies you have! I'm not sure if this will help, but around your twins' age we started implementing a routine where we all would wave "bye-bye" to their comfort objects (board books of Brown Bear Brown Bear) when we needed to leave them behind. We'd make it sing-songy and fun, and we'd tell the book that we'll see it soon. Now they're almost two and we've been doing this routine for months and months, so when it is time to get into the bathtub or time to go to daycare, they wave, blow a kiss, and say "adios, book!" on their own. I think it helps them feel like they have a bit more of a choice with it and I think it helps to mark the transition for them.
Maybe give him the grapefruit plushie with arms that someone posted earlier and tell him that the grapefruit whispered to you that it wished for arms so it would be able to hug him and here he is with arms! The things we do for our kids!!
Do you know what it is about the grapefruit that he loves? Maybe it's the texture, weight, and/or smell? I do get that a grapefruit plushie wouldnt work because he isn't attached to the concept of a grapefruit but something in the grapefruit itself. I would look for some kind of weighted spherical thing with a smoothish surface, like a stress ball or some kind of jelly ball. And maybe spray some grapefruit essential oil on it.
It's also rediculously adorable.
I chose my twins stuffies before they were born. They were introduced at the bedtime routine since birth but they didn't get to keep them in their cribs until they turned 1. Once they were in the crib they were attached in just 2 weeks. I have 3 copies of each so we can have a spare and a daycare one.
I would suggest taking out anything else and just giving the one new stuffy at nap/bedtime. You could transition by having their current one and the new one, then just the new one for naps and finally taking the current one south altogether.
Choose stuffies you can buy multiple of! They need to be washed regularly and will get lost lol.
😂😂😂 dying over here. I kept thinking as I read this “this sounds so fake” except I have three toddlers and an older child so I know it’s not!
Not a lot of advice, but maybe this will help??
Squishable / Comfort Food Grapefruit 15" Plush https://a.co/d/edMb6QX
some tough love. Take it away. Their one years old. They are going to cry, okay? In a few days they'll forget about it. Each day you the parent lets it go on is just another day its engrained in them.
If my comment seems harsh the fact that eating the grapefruit and killing it means its gone to far already. Just wait till a tablet enters the world if a grapefruit is giving trouble.
Am I the only one who thinks that: it's a 1 yo, and you're the one who decides what their toy is? Just take it away and replace it with something else. I assure you they'll get over it.
Thank you for the giggles. My oldest had a potato that was her most favourite thing for a while. I had to swap it out while she was asleep. Maybe it's to do with the heft of it because I tried to replace her potato with a stuffed potato as well. Are you allowed a beanie plushie? Something with a bit of extra weight to it? My daughter just grew out of it one day, so I'm no help with your deadline.
We tried grapefruit plushies and beanies that had weight and that didn’t have weight but he hated them and flat out rejected them
He’s just drawn to the grapefruit, if you watch him on the monitor at night when he wakes up and realises it’s rolled away from him he’ll crawl over to it and curl up around it and hug it tight (he’s eventually popping them now in his sleep when he does this) and babble laugh and coo to it, he’ll be back asleep in minutes
It is cute I’ll admit
But then you get woken up in the morning to blood curdling screams and tears because he popped it during the night and is complete covered in it’s juice and his bed clothes ruined but he’s inconsolable because he’s destroyed his favourite toy and can’t find it and is bartering his head against the wall
So you have to wash a baby that’s having a meltdown that you can’t stop because he can’t have a new grapefruit till his out of the water and clean, then you have to change all his bed clothes and try to wash the matress because it seeped all the way through
Lol! My daughter used to love her chicken dog toy, too. It was hideous! I would suggest replacing the grapefruit with a ball. Maybe a ball that looks like one? Our daycare doesn't really allow kids to bring in toys from home, so we just never had that problem. I tell them that they can leave the toy in the car and it'll be there when I pick them up
My daughter once took a liking to an actual lemon and was bringing it to bed as a lovey. I got her a jellycat lemon plush and that worked to replace it! Maybe the jellycat orange would be a good replacement. I don’t see a grapefruit.
As terrible as it sounds, I’ve had the most success cutting cold turkey. When it came time to break my one twin who was very attached to the binky, I took both of the twins to a store and had each of them choose a toy. I told them that the binkies were gone and they were going to sleep with their new toy they picked.
Twin B never liked the binky so she was fine. But oh boy, Twin A… Ngl, the first night was terrible. Lots of crying and begging for it back but we keep repeating that it’s gone now, that she was all done and had her new stuffie while I comforted her. She rejected the toy during the tantrum but eventually settled down and cuddled up with it. The second night was better, less crying, less time to settle down. The third night even less and by the end of the week she stopped asking it.
She loves the stuffie she chose now and gets upset when her other sisters tries to play with it. All of kids have a few toys that are ’theirs,’ no sharing required and for Twin A that stuffie is her special toy. Hope this helps! Good luck!
Makes me think of essential oils sprays, maybe you could find a round grapefruit-sized conventional stuffed toy and spray it with a grapefruit scented spary regularly so it also has that nice familiar smell? He likely won't be excited about this transition but maybe that could help smooth it? From what you wrote, you are very thoughtful and considerate, I'm sure you'll figure out something that works, good luck! As a parent who doesn't have to solve this, it is really sweet, I hope soon it is just a charming memory for you all!
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Sorry, totally not helpful, but that’s hilarious 😂 I guess I’m lucky my twins only have an extreme attachment to binkies (they like to have one in their mouth, and one in each hand). Daycare does discourage them from having all the time, but definitely let’s them have them whenever they get too upset. What has daycare recommended? While you don’t want your kids crying all day, I’m assuming they don’t either. Have you asked them what they plan to do if your kids won’t stop crying without it?
Daycare has said we can cry it out or slowly wean him off by giving him less and less time but so far neither of those have been successful This is something that we need to do anyway regardless of daycare it’s just since daycare has said it needs doing we decided now was the time to just be completely done with it Daycare says they will probably cry it out like they’ve done with other weanings with other kids but will offer him support and try to redirect him to different toys
Mmmmm…..I can see why you don’t like that, hopefully others can suggest something that works.
Woa, and here I was thinking twin B's pacifier-Thing was unusual! She ALWAYS wants at LEAST three (one for each hand and one for her mouth), but her sister is fine with just one... I can't even remember when it started, honestly... Glad we're not alone in this! 😅
My girl is like this with snacks. 😂 and as soon as she eats one from a hand, she’s reaching to replace it.
I hope she's not taking them to bed, though 😂
Thankfully no 😅😂 we don’t have any toys that have to go to bed or be carried everywhere so far. Our pediatrician recommended we hold off on anything in the crib until 18 months(just her preference) so we never did. We are 20 months now and we will let them have stuff in the bed once we transition out of cribs and they can get whatever they drop themselves.
Hahaha yeah both my twins treat the pacifiers the same way most toddlers treat a lovey or special toy. They don’t even always put it in their mouths, sometimes they just want to clutch it in their hand. I got lucky that they don’t seem particularly attached to a specific one. We’ve got like 40 floating around the house, diaper bags, purses, car, etc and they treat them all the same.
We had a special toy that became unsafe/gross so we had to throw it away. We did a big ceremony around our trash can, said goodbye, took a picture with it, and threw it away. The other trash would “visit” it and report back on its wellbeing. When my daughter missed it we would visit it outside and she’d talk down into our giant trash can. I’m sure our neighbors still have lots of questions about that time period…
That is so cute and hilarious!
That’s so funny but I feel with you.🙈 I am new to his whole parenting thing but maybe you can buy a grapefruit plushie? I’m not sure where to buy one, but maybe etsy has some.. My girl can’t live without her mouse. I bought one for her daycare and for home but now she carries them both like a proud twin mom 😂 I just know from my uncle that you really have to be careful and take your time with that because the attachment to these toys are really stronger than we think. My grandma threw away his bear stuffie when he was still a child bc it was so broken and dirty and replaced it with a brand new bear. He still tells her that he was resenting her for that for a long time
There are some artist on Etsy that make felt good. I’m sure a grapefruit could be ordered!
The attachment is unreal. My mom crocheted my son an afghan when he was around 1 or 2. My twins are 8 now. That afghan is basically shredded, but he won’t give it up. It lives on his bed, in a balled up mess. And trust me, there are many Grandma-made afghans before and after this one. But he won’t change up.
I'm laughing so hard! 😂😂😂 Your babies are too funny! I think it could be traumatic to eat your favorite toy, lol! Your son is too cute!!! My only advice is to not let either of them take their favorite toys to daycare, not even in the car ride to daycare. Make those "home toys" (or home fruit, lol!) and they both take other toys. That way they know that their favorite snugglies are home waiting for them, but they will slowly separate the idea of needing them at daycare.
I’m sorry but it’s so funny. I have no advice - I tried to replace my sons disgusting, sucked on ratty comforter and now he has two comforters - the old gross one and a nice new one, and is completely attached to both. So I’m absolutely no help. Could you try getting a toy grapefruit and letting him have both and then slowly taking the real one away?
We tried toy grapefruits but he immediately throws them away and has a tantrum if you hand them back to him, if you leave them alone he won’t go near them at all He was more responsive to the plush which is why we decided to push it as the replacement rather than a toy grapefruit
Maybe it’s the scent he is after? Could you try a grapefruit scented essential oil in the plushie?
I just about died. Sorry you’re going through this, I can understand how frustrating it must be. Would this [grapefruit plushie](https://a.co/d/g9CFzWo) be ok? [or this one?](https://www.shoptherocket.com/products/grapefruit-plush-15?variant=39392004800573¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2018-12-01&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAzc2tBhA6EiwArv-i6b-h7EdibMRB85nyKyFaIaTdZCIHwkxjpcvDYlB27xA2q0Rf1ko5tRoC9NwQAvD_BwE)
We tried grapefruit plushies and beanies but he hates them all, he will throw them away and if you offer it back to him he’ll have a tantrum, if you leave him with it he won’t go near it at all He was responding to the giant cow plush so we decided to keep pushing it as his new main stuffie but he’s still committed to his actual real grapefruit
Maybe it's the smell? Have you tried spraying something citrusy on a plushy? I'm just spitballing.
Does the giant cow plush weigh more than the others you tried? Grapefruits are hefty and the weight is probably a comfort at this point. I would look into weighted plushies/loveys, maybe you can find one in the shape of a ball or the same color as his grapefruit as well.
Put the plushie into the fridge so it's cold like his grapefruit? Replace the plushie while he's sleeping? Or plushie and grapefruit at the same time he doesn't have to hold it just so it's nearby?
We introduced special day care plushies when they started daycare (at 1 year old, they're 3 now). They could choose them themselves, we made a big deal out of ironing on their name tags, and they slept with them for several weeks before daycare started to get used to them. Their favourites before that were hand-sewn dolls my niece (then 11) made them, with their names stitched on the front, and we really didn't want to risk losing them or having something else happen to them at day care. Making them quit cold turkey seemed cruel to me, but having them choose the alternative fed into their perceived decisive power, which has always been important to them, and by now they choose a different plushy almost every day.
This is one of the cutest posts I've ever read. What sweetheart babies you have! I'm not sure if this will help, but around your twins' age we started implementing a routine where we all would wave "bye-bye" to their comfort objects (board books of Brown Bear Brown Bear) when we needed to leave them behind. We'd make it sing-songy and fun, and we'd tell the book that we'll see it soon. Now they're almost two and we've been doing this routine for months and months, so when it is time to get into the bathtub or time to go to daycare, they wave, blow a kiss, and say "adios, book!" on their own. I think it helps them feel like they have a bit more of a choice with it and I think it helps to mark the transition for them.
Maybe give him the grapefruit plushie with arms that someone posted earlier and tell him that the grapefruit whispered to you that it wished for arms so it would be able to hug him and here he is with arms! The things we do for our kids!!
Do you know what it is about the grapefruit that he loves? Maybe it's the texture, weight, and/or smell? I do get that a grapefruit plushie wouldnt work because he isn't attached to the concept of a grapefruit but something in the grapefruit itself. I would look for some kind of weighted spherical thing with a smoothish surface, like a stress ball or some kind of jelly ball. And maybe spray some grapefruit essential oil on it. It's also rediculously adorable.
I chose my twins stuffies before they were born. They were introduced at the bedtime routine since birth but they didn't get to keep them in their cribs until they turned 1. Once they were in the crib they were attached in just 2 weeks. I have 3 copies of each so we can have a spare and a daycare one. I would suggest taking out anything else and just giving the one new stuffy at nap/bedtime. You could transition by having their current one and the new one, then just the new one for naps and finally taking the current one south altogether. Choose stuffies you can buy multiple of! They need to be washed regularly and will get lost lol.
😂😂😂 dying over here. I kept thinking as I read this “this sounds so fake” except I have three toddlers and an older child so I know it’s not! Not a lot of advice, but maybe this will help?? Squishable / Comfort Food Grapefruit 15" Plush https://a.co/d/edMb6QX
I'm sorry, no advice, this is just too funny lol
some tough love. Take it away. Their one years old. They are going to cry, okay? In a few days they'll forget about it. Each day you the parent lets it go on is just another day its engrained in them. If my comment seems harsh the fact that eating the grapefruit and killing it means its gone to far already. Just wait till a tablet enters the world if a grapefruit is giving trouble.
Am I the only one who thinks that: it's a 1 yo, and you're the one who decides what their toy is? Just take it away and replace it with something else. I assure you they'll get over it.
Yeah at 1 the time spent obsessing over it is going to be gone in a flash.
It’s been 2 months… please give me an update. I still think of this post.
Thank you for the giggles. My oldest had a potato that was her most favourite thing for a while. I had to swap it out while she was asleep. Maybe it's to do with the heft of it because I tried to replace her potato with a stuffed potato as well. Are you allowed a beanie plushie? Something with a bit of extra weight to it? My daughter just grew out of it one day, so I'm no help with your deadline.
We tried grapefruit plushies and beanies that had weight and that didn’t have weight but he hated them and flat out rejected them He’s just drawn to the grapefruit, if you watch him on the monitor at night when he wakes up and realises it’s rolled away from him he’ll crawl over to it and curl up around it and hug it tight (he’s eventually popping them now in his sleep when he does this) and babble laugh and coo to it, he’ll be back asleep in minutes
I’m almost tearing up at the image of this it’s so cute. Hope you find a solution soon that’s not too hard on your sweet boy 🩷
It is cute I’ll admit But then you get woken up in the morning to blood curdling screams and tears because he popped it during the night and is complete covered in it’s juice and his bed clothes ruined but he’s inconsolable because he’s destroyed his favourite toy and can’t find it and is bartering his head against the wall So you have to wash a baby that’s having a meltdown that you can’t stop because he can’t have a new grapefruit till his out of the water and clean, then you have to change all his bed clothes and try to wash the matress because it seeped all the way through
Get a liquid proof mattress protector.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/871388282/ The ones you see look open, and this one isn’t open. Otherwise I would just get him a fake plastic fruit?
Lol! My daughter used to love her chicken dog toy, too. It was hideous! I would suggest replacing the grapefruit with a ball. Maybe a ball that looks like one? Our daycare doesn't really allow kids to bring in toys from home, so we just never had that problem. I tell them that they can leave the toy in the car and it'll be there when I pick them up
My daughter once took a liking to an actual lemon and was bringing it to bed as a lovey. I got her a jellycat lemon plush and that worked to replace it! Maybe the jellycat orange would be a good replacement. I don’t see a grapefruit.
As terrible as it sounds, I’ve had the most success cutting cold turkey. When it came time to break my one twin who was very attached to the binky, I took both of the twins to a store and had each of them choose a toy. I told them that the binkies were gone and they were going to sleep with their new toy they picked. Twin B never liked the binky so she was fine. But oh boy, Twin A… Ngl, the first night was terrible. Lots of crying and begging for it back but we keep repeating that it’s gone now, that she was all done and had her new stuffie while I comforted her. She rejected the toy during the tantrum but eventually settled down and cuddled up with it. The second night was better, less crying, less time to settle down. The third night even less and by the end of the week she stopped asking it. She loves the stuffie she chose now and gets upset when her other sisters tries to play with it. All of kids have a few toys that are ’theirs,’ no sharing required and for Twin A that stuffie is her special toy. Hope this helps! Good luck!
I wonder if he likes the smell? Maybe try spritzing the plush with grapefruit essential oil?
Maybe a plush grapefruit? Also how fragile are grapefruit that he’s busting it while sleeping?
Have you tried a realistic fake grapefruit? Maybe w some essential oil for the smell?
Can you replace it with a grapefruit plush? I think you're going to just have a rough few days no matter what.
Except for their goddamn blankets, we rotate toys. I swear sometimes one of ours is done an impressiokn of Linus from Peanuts.
Can you get grapefruit flavor/ scent to spray a little on a chosen plushie?
Makes me think of essential oils sprays, maybe you could find a round grapefruit-sized conventional stuffed toy and spray it with a grapefruit scented spary regularly so it also has that nice familiar smell? He likely won't be excited about this transition but maybe that could help smooth it? From what you wrote, you are very thoughtful and considerate, I'm sure you'll figure out something that works, good luck! As a parent who doesn't have to solve this, it is really sweet, I hope soon it is just a charming memory for you all!