Child attacked by face eating bear

This is my son. Not, as it may appear to an alarmed parent in the middle of the night, being suffocated by a wild brown animal, but voluntarily, softly rubbing his face up against his FLATOUTbear.

Apparently FLATOUTbears are already pretty well known to many parents, but there may be a few of you still unfamiliar with these teddy bears, or, like me before, were aware but not especially enamored with them — at least not with any more affection than for your average cuddly bear.  Now, however, I totally get why flat is good.

You can’t rub a normal bear on your face like that. Nor, most likely, would you want to — the snout and belly and all those other curves would make it not quite as pleasant.  There’s nothing wrong with curvy bears, I’m sure they’re good for lots of things, but being plastered against baby’s head, well, that’s where FLATOUTbears really come into their own.

When I first found little N asleep with the bear seemingly maliciously attacking him in this manner, I assumed it had made its way there accidentally.  Then I saw Little N pulling the bear to his face himself, and snuggling his nose into the fur, which happens to be super soft and lovely 100% natural Australian wool.  I also realised the bears are very light, so I have no concern about it blocking his breathing.  The bear had been loitering in his cot for the first five months barely noticed, but it has very quickly begun to play an important role in calming him to sleep. Unlike a dummy, I don’t need to be on call to restore the bear to his place.  As long as it’s in reach somewhere and he can touch it, he’s happy.

The other great thing is that the bears have a distinct natural wool smell.  There is a theory — as yet empirically untested — that you can have two of these little guys, and they will be interchangeable as both will have the same familiar wool smell.  Some friends have confirmed to me that this has absolutely worked for them; if they lose Bear 1, Bear2 takes the call to action and steps right on in.  Little N has a second FLATOUTbear (a white one) who we’ve assigned to day care duty.  N doesn’t do a lot of sleeping there as he’s only there a few hours a day, but when he has slept he has apparently reached for his Bear No. 2 and snuggled into it just as with his trusty friend at home.  Admittedly, he’s not at the stage yet where he can’t live without his one toy, but the bear body-double plan is looking good for when he does.

As if you needed more reasons to be fans of FLATOUTbears, the company is run and owned by two Australian sisters from Balmain who are genuinely passionate about their product.  When I first received my FLATOUTbears as a gift I couldn’t find an infant safe notification on the label so I emailed the company just to check.  I was emailed back by one of the owners, Prue, who responded immediately with a very informative and personal message — no automated response or standard text — which was really refreshing.  AND the company donates and does some admirable work with a charity in Cambodia.  It’s a pretty soft and cuddly story all ’round really.  I feel good.  We should do these nice review stories more often. Let’s.

FLATOUTbear in 'latte', one of five available colours

Links: http://www.flatout.com.au/