1) Put Lovie on a leash!
"So sad - been seeing so many posts on this. [One poster]'s idea about putting a leash on the lovey is great."
2) Make a home-made collar with your name & number
"Also there are many many companies that sell labels for this sort of thing. We home-made a collar for our lovey and put our name and number on it"
3) Leave Lovie at home!
"I finally realized, that "Cubby" should stay home and "take a nap" when we go out an about bc of the fear of losing him! Not to overstep bounds here, but maybe there is a way for parents to suggest that lovey could get lost and he's much safer at home? Just trying to head off the heartbreak!"
4) Have 2 Lovies (a secret extra one)
"TWO lovies is the answer. We have had two very special bowwows ever since my son dropped one (so these are #2 and #3) on the street on the way home from school. I rotate them in and out regularly enough that they are both equally worn and loved. It's been a lifesaver a couple of times. (we've never lost another but have left it at grandparents' etc.) Perhaps he will be furious in later life when he finds out but for now it works great!"
5) Have an Outdoor Lovie that you tether your Lovie to a stroller
"I had a friend who insisted on her daughter having an "Inside George" and an "Outside George" (Curious George). Inside George never went outside, not only because they feared he would get lost, but because my friend didn't want a dirty lovey that had ridden the subway and been dropped on the sidewalk sleeping in her kid's bed. (Her own personal feelings, not mine.) Outside George was also always tethered to the stroller with a sippy cup tether like this one: http://www.amazon.com/No-Throw-Bottle-Sippy-Tether/dp/B000GUTRWG I still think the idea is a good one, though, because there's always a back-up lovey that your child knows about, instead of your having to have hidden back-ups that you then have to rip/wash/fade so they look like the original.
6) Have a set time & place for a Lovie (after you've ordered a secret stash!):
As soon as my boys got attached to a particular 'lovie', which happened to be a teddy-blankie I received at my baby shower, I went online and ordered 4 more. Turns out that designs get retired quickly and even though ours were made by Carter, they were retired a year later! I had to order them from a 3rd party baby shower site. This helps when one gets dirty, such as last night when one lovie got unexpectedly barfed on. Its nice to whip out a clean one. I also insist that lovies and binkies "are for night night" and must be left at home. This is non-negotiable. As they've gotten older they seem to attach their own logic to rules like this and if one boys is slacking, the other will remind him "lovie for night -night!"
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