THE RUG!

Yes, it needs a whole post of its own!

Cream.

Rectangular.

Twisted shag pile?

Complements W and J's sitting room beautifully.

Why the post of its own?

Alice detested it. Loathed it. Was terrified of it. Abject horror at the thought of touching it, sitting on or standing close to it.

I've never seen her react in that way before - it makes me think that it must be an association for life before Mummy. She consistently looked at it in horror. On Thursday she wouldn't go anywhere near it, on Friday morning she continued to react in horror - so I folded the rug back, she didn't object to the blue backing.

J has a sister, L, who lives quite close-by. L has the same sort of rug, except that hers is circular. We went to visit L's on Friday night. Alice reacted in exactly the same way.

Over the course of our visit we continued to show her the rug (while holding and reassuring her), then let her feel it, sit on it (while in her sleeping bag, so she couldn't feel as much as usual) and by Sunday Alice didn't mind the rug at all!

[No babies were harmed during the course of 'Rug Therapy']