My baby sister (who now has babies of her own) came into the world when I was almost 10 years old. Since it was before the era of ultrasounds, no one actually knew if she’d be a SHE or a HE, but it was practically guaranteed by local townspeople, especially the midwife’s intuition, that she would be a BOY!

During the months of waiting I saved every penny of my allowance to buy a present for my little brother.

The Sunday before the arrival of the new addition, I went secretly to the local market to select a gift for my little brother. I looked through baskets of plush toys, was offered the latest cartoon bearing baby bottles and bibs, pondered over the packages of white cloth baby diapers and was bewildered by the tininess of a myriad little baby undershirts. But I wanted something special, and I finally found it at the little old lady’s stall at the back of the market. She had the most marvelous handmade baby blankets I had ever seen. There were dozens of blankets for babies, even organic baby blankets before organic was popular, and knitted baby blankets, and embroidered baby blankets and…

I selected a very large baby blanket (because I refused to believe my brother would fit in one of those cute, tiny ones), actually it was a huge, thick cotton baby blanket in pale BLUE! Very satisfied with myself, I went home, wrapped it up and waited.

When the little bundle emerged from the midwife’s delivery room a week later I was not at all prepared to hear the verdict.

My baby brother was a GIRL!

But everyone was so terribly thrilled about my brother being a sister that practically the whole town arrived with delightful PINK presents, pink baby blankets, pink frilly dresses, tiny pink satin slippers and pink lacy bonnets. I was quite devastated.

There was no way I could present my sister with my brother’s BLUE baby blanket as a gift!

So I hid it in my closet and never said a peep to my mother or anyone.
As the weeks passed, I grew to adore my little sister, and helped with her care as much as a 10 year old could. I learnt to change her diapers, bathe her, powder her tiny bottom and swaddle her in the teeny tiny pink receiving blankets.

One day she became ill, allergic to the formula she’d been drinking, and this caused her to soil or vomit upon every single baby blanket she’d been given. When at last, several vomity hours later, her little stomach had been calmed with goats’ milk (and she had been bathed and powdered), my mother turned to me exhausted, almost in tears, and said, “I have nothing to wrap her in…go find a small sheet or a towel or something…anything….!”

And that was when I ran to my closet, unwrapped my brother’s special blanket and returned to swaddle my little sister in the soft folds of the huge BLUE baby blanket. I cradled her in my arms until she fell asleep… all swathed in blue.

It was a piece of a larger baby blanket, I think, nothing too special, but I slept with it, rubbed it against my cheek when I sucked my thumb and cuddled it when I felt sad. I also dragged it around my dad’s coffee and sugar cane plantations, used it to wrap baby rabbits, sat on it when I needed a picnic blanket for my dolls and tossed it on the beach as a cloth at pretend seaside tea parties. I also wiped my nose on it, mopped up spills with it, and dried my pet monkey with it. (Yes I grew up in the tropics and had a monkey to whom I fed bananas and bathed once a week.) I imagine my security blanket had to be disinfected fairly often, but I can’t remember a day between ages 3 to 5.5 when Banky wasn’t with me.

I can’t remember much about my first banana boat trip to Livingston Island except that I held my security blanket real tight! And sailing in the Caribbean with my dad, sometimes in hurricanes and storms, would have been un-survivable without soft baby blankets to wipe the salty sea spray from my eyes. When I climbed an active volcano for the first time at age 4.5, with my parents of course, I remember the lava spewing out from the carter only half as well as I remember hugging my baby blanket as I crouched behind a tree.

I understand that the baby security blankets you might be wishing to purchase for your newborn baby or as a gift for someone special may not end up in such places, providing comfort to freshly bathed monkeys, being wipes for salty-eyed sail-boating toddlers, or being cuddled by volcano climbing children, but frankly you never know.

Baby security blankets have come a long way since 1966 when I was born. I’ve noticed, at friend’s baby showers, that there are the most extraordinary security blankets. They make me want to burrow my face in them and suck my thumb! Okay I’m a strange 43 year old woman with 3 cats (no monkey, now), but my inner child is alive and well.

When my sister had her two children, naturally I made sure they each had baby security blankets of their own, and that’s how I know where to find some very snug-able, tote-able, disinfect-able baby blankets that will make any newborn feel comfy, cozy and secure at sea, on mountains and islands or in their most exotic dreams.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Bear Security Blanket -personalized teddy bear– embroidered bear blankie/about – $29
• Aurora Tech Giggles Giraffe Plush Pink Giraffe Baby Security Comfort Blanket/ about- $8
• Plush Golden Retriever Lil’ Snuggler Baby Security Blanket by Douglas – about $14
• Personalized Lamb Blankies – extra huggable blankies/ about – $30
• Kiddopotamus Huggacub -luxe baby security blanket/ about – $11
• HuggaCub – luxe baby security blankets – soft microfiber fabric with satin trim – $19.99
• Spot the Dog Security Blanket – $19.95

• Kidsline Tiddliwinks Froggie Security Blanket – embroidered/ machine washable/ about- $10
• White Comfort Silkie- Designed by Mother of Comfort- /White Flannel /about – $18
• International Playthings I Play ChiChi Blankie – blue pastel baby tab blanket/ about $10
• Spunky Buddyluvs by Gund Baby from BabySakes – puppy security blanket/ about -$20
• Micro-cozie Puppy Security Blanket – a Micro Cozy Blankie/blue/ from Amazon /about – $31
• Chenille Giraffe Baby Security Blanket – super light cashmere/machine washable/ about -$11
• Lovie Jack Terrier Blanket – ideal for newborns/ breathable fabric / about – $23
• North American Bear Dog Baby Cozies Blanket – great for travel/machine washable/ about – $8