Why as a 45-year-old mother I STILL sleep with my childhood teddy – while my husband is in the spare room By Antonia Hoyle Published: 07:04 EDT, 10 June 2024 | Updated: 07:04 EDT, 10 June 2024 e-mail 9 View comments Drifting off, I cuddle a creature whose presence makes me feel comforted and safe. He'll be here in the morning, and tomorrow night, too, soothing and calming me without saying a word. No, not my husband Chris, who has upped sticks to the spare bedroom so he doesn't have my fidgeting to contend with, nor our labrador Herbie (who isn't allowed upstairs at all), but my teddy bear, Sam.
I might be 45, a mother of two with a full-time job and a never-ending pile of laundry, but despite – or because of – my adult responsibilities, I still sleep with the stuffed animal I have loved since I was a baby. Antonia Hoyle with her childhood teddy, Sam, whom she still sleeps with at night That he has lost his fur and smile, that his nose is skewered and his lurid orange (and probably highly flammable) 1970s stuffing pokes through his threadbare tummy only adds to his appeal. Which might make me sound unhinged, but I'm far from alone.
One study found 34 per cent of British adults sleep with a soft toy every night (even if they're not daft enough to openly admit it). The 75-year-old King still travels with a childhood teddy bear according to his biographer Christopher Andersen, while actress Margot Robbie said in 2021: 'Please no one psychoanalyse the fact that I'm 30, and .
