Parents Are Obsessed with Jellycats. It’s Totally Not a Furry Thing, We Swear

Having trouble sleeping is just a part of adulthood, and those struggles get ramped up exponentially when you become a parent. You could try investing a few thousand dollars in a new mattress, but, if you’re interested in the low-buy-in, high-reward variety of solutions, the answer to your problems may come in the form… of a stuffed animal that will only cost you around $25?

At least, that’s according to a growing community of parents who have become obsessed with stuffed animals again.

Here’s the deal: Jellycats rock and they’re a worthy stuffed animal to own if you’re an adult who needs some nighttime snuggles. But the skyrocketing obsession leads us to ask: what’s going on here? Are parents okay? Here’s the goss behind the trend and why we totally get it.

Jellycats have become an unexpected trend in parental comfort, as the “coziest and cutest stuffies” sold by the British toy company are so soft and snuggly that a growing number of parents have discovered that these are the ideal bedtime partners. That’s not to say Jellycats are new — they’ve been around since 1999 — but the new trend in the Jellycat obsession seems to be.

But before you start thinking this is some furry thing of an explicit nature, don’t worry, as these parents who are obsessed with sleeping with Jellycats are actually, and seriously literally, talking about catching z’s. No funny business.

In a Romper story published over the weekend, Carla Ciccone plotted out parents’ obsessions with Jellycats (as well as admitting to her own) and spoke to some parents — like a parent named Andrea who said that they were soothed to sleep by their Jellycat like “a giant child.” If this past year hasn’t been a justification for getting a stuffed animal, no other year will be.

All we’re saying is, whomst among us doesn’t still sleep with a blankie or a stuffed bear from childhood? Maybe we should all consider letting our childhood stuffies live a life of retirement and replace them with something new… like a Jellycat. One for your kid, one for you! Friends admitted to Ciccone well into adulthood that they, too, were bringing back the childhood habit of sleeping with a stuffed animal at night.

One parent said that she eventually got separate Jellycats for her and her daughter, and another parent admitted to buying her kid 18 Jellycats. That’s definitely a lot, but we won’t yuck yums here.

The stuffed animals are just so damn comfortable that moms and dads around the world have come to rely on them as their most consistent snuggle buddies, with at least one mom admitting she has trouble sleeping without her stuffed elephant (who she aptly named Peanut).

However, it should be noted that you are entering the world of owning a personal Jellycat at your own risk, as it could become a full-blown addiction, and one with few drawbacks except a lighter wallet and maybe a few weird looks.

Romper writer Carla Ciccone confessed that she “had to walk away” after the amount she was spending on these impossibly soft animals “surpassed my monthly rent.”

That’s the type of investment that might have you going back to look at mattresses again, lest you open the door to an addiction that will consume you, and your wallet, all for some quality snugs. So maybe just get one or two that you find especially cute and get ready to have your sleep transformed forever.