Do you still sleep with a teddy bear?

amother

Tue, Aug 12 2014, 10:02 pm

I slept with a stuffed dog from childhood. Since I have been married, I put it in the other bed when I am tahor. So my husband doesn't feel left out! When I am niddah, though, I love to cuddle with my dog! I am 27. My husband thought it was a little strange at first, but he actually loves the dog too, and cuddles it also if I am away.
PS I went back and changed all the times I said "him" to "it". I know its not real!!!

amother

Tue, Aug 12 2014, 10:51 pm

DH proposed with a very huggable 18 inch tall panda holding an "I love you" heart. Let me tell you how great it was to have something to hug at that moment. It was mostly for display and an occasional hug for awhile until I had a niddah night that I needed to hug something and I found, like FranticFrumie, that it made sleeping on my side really comfy and stable.

I used it for many years until one of my kids tried to give it a drink of juice and I didn't know until it dried all stiff and prickly. Now it is for display and I hug a balled up blanket. I stopped using it around when I turned 30. And I miss it. It was almost like hugging DH but with that innocent feeling of cool fake fur that takes me back to the comfort of my childhood sleep when I slept with a panda I was given at birth and left behind for seminary. And yes, total coincidence with the panda thing.

sequoia

Tue, Aug 12 2014, 11:11 pm

DrMom wrote:

I never slept with stuffed animals, even as a little girl.

Grown women sleeping with dolls? Really?

It's not a doll, it's a stuffed animal.

If you never did so even as a little girl, you obviously don't see the point of it.

I remember when my friends started getting married out of college, and flooding their new husbands' previously spartan apartments with stuffed animals of every kind...

Sherri

Tue, Aug 12 2014, 11:34 pm

amother wrote:

I have a cuddly toy panda that my sister got me. I absolutely love pandas (and polar bears), and it looks very real. Cuddly and soft.
I also have a teddy bear that is medium size, brown and very soft and cuddly. It is actually really nice to sleep with it next to me and cuddle while I sleep.
Ok I sound like a weirdo lol
Cute topic Smile

Have you ever watched this talk? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce-bhqQbjaQ

DrMom

Tue, Aug 12 2014, 11:34 pm

sequoia wrote:

Really? I believe you, but just can't picture this.

amother

Tue, Aug 12 2014, 11:44 pm

DrMom wrote:

I never slept with stuffed animals, even as a little girl.

Grown women sleeping with dolls? Really?

I'm the amother from first page who spoons with the pillow... and I'm over 50.

amother

Wed, Aug 13 2014, 1:29 am

superdanni wrote:

Why on earth would this not be permissible?

Not supposed to sleep with something of your husbands, so a gift to keep you cozy when nidda just sounds like a snails. Again, I'm sure it's allowed or you wouldn't do it. I wasn't judging. It's super cute!

DrMom

Wed, Aug 13 2014, 1:36 am

amother wrote:

I'm assuming the snails thing is a typo. What were you trying to say?

Anyhow, if your DH gives you a GIFT, isn't it now YOURS, not his? Why would this be a halachic issue?

amother

Wed, Aug 13 2014, 1:43 am

DrMom wrote:

I'm assuming the snails thing is a typo. What were you trying to say?

Anyhow, if your DH gives you a GIFT, isn't it now YOURS, not his? Why would this be a halachic issue?

Shaila***

Right it's most probably not a halachic issue, just one of those things that may appear like one.

freidasima

Wed, Aug 13 2014, 2:00 am

Ha! This thread is really cute.
I never slept with an animal even as a baby. I was told I had a baby blanket until I was around two and then would use it for my dolls and that was that. I can't remember any of my kids having any type of sleep doll although one of them had a pair of bears that she played with and gave funny names to. Otherwise nothing in that direction....

cinnamon

Wed, Aug 13 2014, 2:21 am

there was a blankie I had till I was like eighteen or nineteen which I slept with sometimes. Than my sister took it for one of her kids and lost it!
I still miss it...

Now I have a cute soft purple elephant my husband gave me after I had our second child. It is mostly displayed on a shelf but very rarely I'll give it a hug or sleep with it.

amother

Wed, Aug 13 2014, 5:10 am

superdanni wrote:

During Niddah I sleep with a Bear that my husband gave me......

me too! he gave it to me when he proposed, and its a little bear wearing a shirt that says "will you marry me" so I named him Willie Smile

I slept with him (willie, not dh) all through my engagement and then every time I was niddah. when I got pregnant I put him away, and then I became niddah during labor and asked dh to bring him to me. my doula was shock

pesek zman

Wed, Aug 13 2014, 11:46 am

amother wrote:

I think this sort of thing falls into the category of things not universally learned or accepted. Neither of us (my husband and I) ever learned of this. Besides, he gave me the bear when we were dating, and not at all with the intention my sleeping with it during Niddah, just as a gift.

mandr

Wed, Aug 13 2014, 12:32 pm

amother wrote:

me too! he gave it to me when he proposed, and its a little bear wearing a shirt that says "will you marry me" so I named him Willie Smile

Don't tell Dh you sleep with another man.