It became apparent very early on that David would need a comfort blanket of some description; from just a few days old he would manoeuvre himself into a position while feeding that enabled him to rest his cheek on my fluffy dressing gown. I bought him this Little Taggie comforter in the January sales last year, paying just £5.99 - and the peace of mind it's given David over the past twelve months makes this a possible contender for bargain of the century.

It's a very simple idea; a sheet of soft fabric to which short colourful ribbons (or taggies) have been stitched around all edges. Taggie comforters are available in lots of different designs, this Sweet Swirls one is predominantly a cerise colour with large orange 'splodges' to add contrast - the ribbons are all different bright colours, these are varied on the Taggie blankets so if you're looking for a specific selection of colours you might need to have a rummage in the shop.

Despite the Taggie being made from 100% polyester, it has a soft fleece-like feel which would appeal to any baby - and most adults actually, I can certainly see the appeal of stroking this against my face in times of crisis! It's been washed numerous times and although the Taggie is starting to look a bit faded now there are no rips, holes or pulling to any of the stitches. It's suitable for machine washing on a 'warm wash' cycle, although I admit to occasionally using a hotter wash than this when David was much smaller as thanks to a severe case of reflux it was covered in lumpy white sick several times!

Suitable from newborn, this Little Taggie has appeal to older babies too - David has a regular OCD happening where he has to touch each tag in turn, sometimes he'll do this for fifteen minutes or more which might not sound much but for a VERY boisterous and inquisitive baby that's an incredible length of time for a small sheet of fabric to keep him entertained! Part of the excitement is that the ribbons are all slightly different; that could be because some have a bumpy texture or simply because some of them are different widths, the main thing is that the Taggie has something to interest babies despite it appearing to be a dull toy.

The main use for David's Taggie is for taking to bed with him; it's actually not my favourite comfort blankie for him, that honour goes to a Boots Bertie comforter as that one has a plush 'Bertie head' attached and is therefore easier for David to find himself in his cot in the dark - whenever he takes the Taggie to bed he wakes up wailing for it and I have to get out of bed and pat around until I put my hand on it.

The Taggie is extremely well made, in a year of use none of the ribbons have become detached and (despite the fading I mentioned earlier) the comforter is still in perfect condition. The fading isn't a biggie anyway as it has faded uniformly so unless you'd seen it when brand new you probably wouldn't even notice! The Taggie measures approximately 11.5" square, which in my opinion is the perfect size for both babies and young toddlers. Even this small size looks huge next to a newborn, but the slightly-larger-than-flannel size is just right for David now and not so big that it catches under his knees as he crawls around, it still gets mankily grubby when he's crawling with it though so I try to 'accidentally' leave this in his cot if possible in the mornings and bring it down only if he's got a cobby on during the day and needs his comforter.