# When do they start liking stuffed animals?



## franklinmarxmom (Nov 29, 2007)

DS is almost 15 mos, and totally NOT into the overabundant collection of stuffed animals we have been given. Ignores them completely. When we pull them out to use them to entertain him, it lasts 5 minutes, tops, and he shoves them away.

At the same time, he loves our cats, any other live animal, pictures of animals in books, and the Fisher Price Little People animals for Noah's Ark.

When do they start to engage with stuffed animals? Or should I just assume he won't and pack them away?


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## MotheringHeart (Dec 18, 2005)

Ummm...it depends on the kid? Ours have gone through like 'em/leave 'em stages. Right now my 12mth old loooooves the stuffed animals because she likes to pick them up and give them hugs. My 4 yo son could totally leave 'em most of the time. They aren't anything that gets a lot of play (in my house), so my guess is that you could trim (or pack) the herd almost entirely.


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## kibba (Oct 11, 2005)

Honestly I would just get rid of some, no point in having a huge amount of them. We have a few and my daughter is just now starting to like them, not play with them but she will grab and hug them, she's the same as as your son.


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## AugustLia23 (Mar 18, 2004)

My almost 4 yo and 2.5 yo love them, and create complicated fantasy worlds with them.


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## Bridie's Mama (Mar 15, 2006)

You've given him so much love he prefers people to the toys!







Our dd was the same way. She's just over 2 1/2 yrs old now & she just started maybe 1-2 months ago to like little stuffed animals. Now babies are a different story...she's loved babies for a long time & nursed them etc...from about maybe 18-19 months old.


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## carmenvg (May 30, 2007)

DD is almost 21 months old and is in love with her stuff animals but this is something that started about 1 month ago. As time has gone by I have packed and donated some because they just get to be too many. She now has started to act out daily life things with them, for example she feeds them, gives them water puts them down to sleep and has long coversations with them asking them how they are doing and sings to them. She calls the toys and everyday she packs them in her crib and can sit there playing for about a 1/2 hour. Before a month ago she had absolutely no interest in them.


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## kwilki8 (May 24, 2005)

Dd became fascinated with her stuffed animals about the same time that she started to engage in pretending, at about 30 months. We had trimmed her collection because she had way too many and showed no interest in them, but all of a sudden she started playing with the ones we had kept. She also got attached to a couple in particular at that same time as nighttime pals that sleep with her.


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## snhbfpin2006 (Jun 13, 2006)

My DS is 18 mos and he just started really liking SOME of his animals about 3 or 4 months ago. He absolutely loves monkeys, so his monkey stuffed animals are his favorites and he has names for them and asks for specific ones. He also has a particular bear he asks for.

We got a little cot that hangs from the ceiling and I keep all the stuffed toys up in it so they're out of the way, and we just occasionally rotate out a couple of them. It helps keep his interest if it's something "new."


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## mchalehm (Feb 5, 2007)

I'd say get rid of some, too! All kids are different and he might fall in love with them tomorrow, but why have a bazillion of them if he's not into it? My daughter loves hers and has since about 9 months.


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## AllisonR (May 5, 2006)

Totally depends on the kid. DS did not do any pretend play until almost 3 years. Now he pretends with tractors and cars, and baby dolls, but not at all into stuffed animals. One exception is his lion he sleeps with every night.
DD has been hugging and cuddling stuffed animals since 14 months, and has a stuffed bear she can't part with.

Ugh - that sounds so stereotypical male-female. Didn't mean it to be.

I'd keep 3 or 4 of the best and rotate the rest. I'd keep ones with saturated colors and lots of contrast.


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## CallMeKelly (May 8, 2007)

First, I've been lusting after this forever http://www.booninc.com/AnimalBag_oval.html
but not yet managed to splurge on it...

But my kids pay as much attention to the animals as I spend time "creating" the character for them... The dinosaur gets attention because I've made it roar and rampage and tickle so they do the same... the baby dolls get attention and put to sleep, diapers change and etc. because I showed them that is how I play with the doll... and that I fully expect dolls to be treated politely and carefully (in anticipation of being around babies) and cows moo and eat grass... whatever strikes a chord with a book we've read, something seen on the tube or some behavior mimicked... if they haven't seen it they don't really come up with something other than, what a great pillow as of yet... although my four year old (almost) is beginning to develop a whopper of an imagination... soon I imagine.


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## Erinz (Mar 1, 2006)

Reading the responses has been very enlighening!

My 20 month old wants *nothing* nothing nothing to do with stuffed animals. I don't "play" with him and his toys (ok a little with the one cool truck) so maybe that makes a difference. I leave the playing up to him. Whatever he shows interest in is what we do. I've tried play babies, etc -- no interest. Show him a TRUCK or SPARKLY GIRLY SHOES and he is all over them! So, we do those instead.

Anyone else's son loving sparkly shoes? haha (I don't really care, that was just asking to be funny!







)


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## blue butterfly (Nov 28, 2005)

dd is nearly 17 months and while she occassionaly plays with the stuffed animals, they're not nearly as intrigueing to her as her babydolls. dd1 & 2 do like to set them around and play tea party with them!


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## Smalls181 (May 12, 2006)

My daughter has loved them since about a year. Her favorite changes on almost a daily basis, though. One day she wants the chicken, the next day its all about the horses. But, she loves animals in general. Seriously, its an obsession with her.


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## MissMommyNiceNice (May 1, 2007)

Well, I have the same "overabundance" and we just donated a bunch to the local Helping Hands for the Homeless along w/ some of his plastic toys.

As I was gathering up the toys, I had this little kittie I was going to put in the bag, but then I came into the room and saw DS (15 mos) hopping the little kittie up and down around him and going "mew, mew, mew".








: I had to keep that one!









Anyway, get rid of them all except the very best most special ones. It's not like people are going to stop giving them to you anytime soon!


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## KBinSATX (Jan 17, 2006)

DS is 22 months old now and he only started liking them about 2-3 months ago. Now he loves his baby doll and his bunny. We have a couple more but he likes to have those two.
I agree: don't have too many around. I am sure 3 or 4 would be plenty.
In regards to what previous poster said about children not needing toys when they feel loved, etc. Right now DS is not being comforted by teh stuffed animals. What he likes about them is to take care of them, feed them, diaper them, wear them in a sling, etc. so I don't think they are a love substitute. Maybe this type of play is why most kids start liking them not until they are at least 1 1/2 years old themselves and develop those care taking desires/skills?


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## georgiegirl1974 (Sep 20, 2006)

Maybe 15-18 months or so. DD (2) started liking them last summer, and she would line up all of her stuffed animals on the stairs. She is more into her babies than her stuffed animals though. She does like the Elmo stuffed animal, and recently the bunny one (because of Easter). But she prefers her babies because they are more human-like and she can pretend to put diapers on them and put them to sleep.


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## lmkirche (Jun 7, 2006)

My son has a special bear friend since about 1 year old. He began becoming interested in the other stuffed animals and dolls around 20 months. We have tea parties with them and sometimes he wants to sleep with them. He changes the babies diapers and feeds them and rocks them. But none are as special as "Bear".


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## katheek77 (Mar 13, 2007)

My daughter is almost 21 mos, and she's really gotten into her stuffed animals in the past 2-3 months...dressing them (in doll clothes), taking them for rides in a doll stroller, singing to them, feeding them, etc. There are a couple special ones, but, she cycles through most of them.


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## AddysMom (Nov 24, 2007)

Mine didnt really like them until about 3...


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## Sylith (Apr 15, 2002)

DS1 never really did care about stuffed animals. When I was pregnant and when DS2 was tiny, he did do a lot of pretend play with his "baby."

DS2 fixed on two stuffed animals when he was about 18 months old. He likes to carry them around, play with them, and have them near him when he sleeps. I am a little surprised, as he's had all that AP stuff just like DS1, but whatever


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## GracesMama (Oct 24, 2006)

DD didn't play with hers until recently and she's 2 1/2. Now she loves acting out make believe scenes with them and even nursing some of them!


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## zulupetalz (Jun 17, 2006)

My son was 18 mos when he started liking them.


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## LuckyMommaToo (Aug 14, 2003)

DS is four and still couldn't care less. He was invited to a party at Build-a- Bear, and even that animal has been tossed aside. He does pretend play, but only with smaller guys and cars.

At 22 months, DD likes her stuffed animals, but I try not to keep too many around. The dust they hold is yucky, IMO!
-e


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## ecoteat (Mar 3, 2006)

My 22 mo dd has just started really playing with them. I was just commenting to dh today about how she has to have an entouage when she snuggles in for a book or nursing.


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## Sungold17 (Jan 31, 2004)

My son started getting into stuffed animals and his dinosaurs around 3.5 years old. We help him name his new "Friends" (or help him remember the name he picked.) He likes to make them talk and act stuff out. He likes to sleep with them too but he is not obsessed with them. He started getting attached to blankets around this age as well.

I think since he nursed until 3 yrs old and always has gone to bed with us he didn't seek attachments to stuffed animals and other cuddly stuff. But he seems to like them more so because he can imagine with them.


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## heatherweh (Nov 29, 2007)

DS (21 mos) has never displayed any interest in any of his stuffed animals or dolls. I tried to get him attached to one by sticking it between us when we'd nurse but he'd always throw it and when he woke up next to it he'd become enraged, so I gave up on that endeavor. I'm thinking we'll do as you said and just get rid of them because they take up lots of space.

He does play make believe or pretend in his play-kitchen and also with cars and trucks, but that's where his interests are.


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## Liquesce (Nov 4, 2006)

This thread is so surprising to me! My son enjoyed them from before he could roll over -- he loved looking at/feeling their faces. And once he hit crawling age, they inevitably started being toted along with him. I just assumed it was usual.


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## lizabird (Jan 19, 2004)

My 4 yr old still has pretty much zero interest in stuffed animals. THe only one he has ever played with is a little kitten that he'll carry around and say it's his kitten. The kitten comes on car rides with us, on adventures, to the playground, but he won't sleep with it or use it in any way to be a "lovey", as he'd much rather have me. I remember having a lot of stuffed animals as a kid, and I liked them, but I don't think I ever actually "played" with them. They just sat on my bed and looked cute.


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## lucyem (Apr 30, 2005)

We encouraged my DS1 to like them and he never did. When we discovered his severe dust mite allergy he did not bat an eye when I packed them all up. He has 1 teddy bear we made a big deal about that is allowed in his room. I think he was about 4 before he started to have much interest. That bear comes on vacations but if he is missing from the bed at night my son does not mind.

DS2 on the other hand carries them around with him. Presently he has a tiger, a bear & a plastic baby doll. Every night they have to be with him in bed and tucked in with him. They are like a security trio. It had been 2 but my mother showed up with the tiger.


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