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A Hard Habit to Break
Part Four Baby Blanket Bingo
By April E. Clark
For parents seeking creative ways to wean their children from their blankets, they can look no further than man's best friend.
Apart from rewarding the behavior you want, as opposed to punishing the behavior you don't want, some families have also found it useful when the child is ready to give up the blanket to 'give the blanket to someone,'" says Dr. Julie Lumeng, of the University of Michigan's Center for Human Growth and Development in Ann Arbor, Mich. "For example, maybe the family has just gotten a new puppy, and the puppy needs a blanket."
If the family's new bundle of joy is an infant, rather than a puppy, Dr. Lumeng does not suggest the above blanket-ridding method. "I generally wouldn't recommend giving the blanket to a new baby in the family," she says. "It is already difficult enough for a child to adapt to a new baby in the family without giving his security object to the new baby that is already 'threatening.'"
Dr. Lumeng also offers the following advice for parents when approaching the subject of "no more blankie" without causing too much distress for the child:
- Slowly removing is best. For example, the first step is reducing to just "falling asleep time." Short of giving the child other tools to calm him down before removing the only tool he has – the "blankie" – the next intervention would be to institute a reward system.
- Punishment is not the way to go. Reward works much better. For example, to begin with, a parent could give a child a reward if they can successfully "leave the blanket on the counter" for one hour (or shorter if needed). The time can be progressively increased as the child succeeds. Eventually, the child can "leave the blanket in your cubby" for the morning.
- Occasionally, the child, when upset, may need to go back and get the blanket to calm him for a short while. But then, after the child is calmed and engaged in another activity, the child should be encouraged to put the blanket back in his cubby and given praise for doing so. Eventually, the child should be able to progress to using the blanket less, and the child will forget about the rewards and just use it less automatically.
