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A combination soother-toy device includes a soothing device such as a pacifier, a toy such as a plush animal character, and a coupling that removably attaches them together. In some embodiments, the coupling includes a transverse tab and a transverse opening that couple and decouple by a transverse

A combination soother-toy device includes a soothing device such as a pacifier, a toy such as a plush animal character, and a coupling that removably attaches them together. In some embodiments, the coupling includes a transverse tab and a transverse opening that couple and decouple by a transverse motion. In this way, the axial pulling motion and forces that babies often apply to the toy when holding the pacifier in its mouth do not cause the components to separate. In some embodiments, the tab (transverse or not) is retained on the toy by a primary attachment such as stitching and a secondary retainer for redundancy as a safety feature. For example, the secondary retainer can be a tether attaching the tab extension arm to the toy, or wings extending from the tab extension arm laterally beyond the toy opening through which the extension arm extends.

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1. An infant-comfort device, comprising: a soothing device having a longitudinal axis;a toy; anda coupling that detachably connects the toy to the soothing device, wherein the coupling includes a tab that extends transverse to the soothing device longitudinal axis and a slot that extends transverse

1. An infant-comfort device, comprising: a soothing device having a longitudinal axis;a toy; anda coupling that detachably connects the toy to the soothing device, wherein the coupling includes a tab that extends transverse to the soothing device longitudinal axis and a slot that extends transverse to the soothing device longitudinal axis and receives the transverse tab in a coupled position, and wherein the tab extends from one of the toy and the soothing device and the slot is formed in the other one of the toy and the soothing device,wherein the tab includes a retaining head and a transverse connecting arm from which the head extends, the coupling further includes a tab extension arm from which the tab connecting arm extends and a slot extension arm in which the slot is formed, the tab retaining head is larger than the slot, the tab retaining head and the slot extension arm are made of a resiliently deformable material, wherein the transverse tab inserts through and withdraws from the transverse slot by a transverse motion to couple and decouple the toy and the soothing device. 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the soothing device is a pacifier including a nipple extending along the longitudinal axis and a flange from which the nipple extends. 3. The device of claim 1, wherein the toy is a plush animal character. 4. The device of claim 1, wherein the retaining head is generally rectangular with two squared corners except for a curved front edge and two front rounded corners, and wherein the slot is generally rectangular with two squared corners except for a curved front edge and two front rounded corners. 5. The device of claim 4, wherein the toy attaches to the soothing device by transversely inserting one of the head squared corners into the slot adjacent one of the slot squared corners, then transversely inserting the other one of the head squared corners into the slot adjacent the other one of the slot squared corners, and then pivoting the retaining head until the two head rounded corners are transversely inserted through the slot past the two slot rounded corners. 6. The device of claim 1, wherein the tab extension arm has a length of less than 1¼ inches and has a durometer of about 5 Shore A to about 70 Shore A. 7. The device of claim 1, wherein the tab and the tab extension arm have a durometer of about 5 Shore A to about 70 Shore A, the slot extension arm has a durometer of about 5 Shore A to about 70 Shore A, and a net pull-away force required to axially separate the toy from the soothing device is about 0.1 lbs. to about 10.0 lbs. 8. The device of claim 1, wherein a net pull-away force applied to the toy, the soothing device, or both, required to axially separate the toy from the soothing device is greater than a net transverse force applied to the tab, the slot extension arm, or both, required to transversely separate the toy from the soothing device. 9. The device of claim 1, wherein the slot extension arm extends axially from a back side of the soothing device and is parallel to but offset from the longitudinal axis of the soothing device. 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the coupling is adapted so that in use a longitudinal axis of the toy does not drop down relative to the longitudinal axis of the soothing device by more than about 30 degrees. 11. The device of claim 1, wherein the coupling includes an extension arm that extends from the toy and that extends from or defines the tab or the slot, further comprising a primary attachment that fixedly attaches the extension arm to the toy and a secondary retainer that retains the extension arm from separating from the toy if the primary attachment fails. 12. The device of claim 11, wherein in normal use the primary attachment bears all axial detachment forces applied to the toy and the secondary retainer bears none of the axial detachment forces, wherein the secondary retainer includes extra length so that the extension arm will move axially forward under the axial detachment forces until the secondary retainer stops the extension arm from further axially forward movement, and wherein the secondary retainer is a tether attached between the extension arm and the toy or the secondary retainer is a wing extending laterally from the extension arm beyond an opening in the toy through which the extension arm axially extends. 13. An infant-comfort device, comprising: a pacifier including a nipple with a longitudinal axis and a flange from which the nipple extends;a toy; anda coupling that detachably connects the toy to the pacifier, wherein the coupling includes a tab that extends transverse to the pacifier longitudinal axis and a slot that extends transverse to the pacifier longitudinal axis and receives the transverse tab in a coupled position, wherein the tab extends from the toy and the slot is formed in the pacifier, wherein the transverse tab inserts through and withdraws from the transverse slot by a transverse motion to couple and decouple the toy and the pacifier, wherein the tab includes a retaining head and a transverse connecting arm from which the retaining head extends, wherein the coupling further includes a tab extension arm from which the tab connecting arm extends and a slot extension arm in which the slot is formed, wherein the tab retaining head is larger than the slot, wherein the tab retaining head and the slot extension arm are made of a resiliently deformable material, wherein a net pull-away force applied to the toy, the pacifier, or both, required to axially separate the toy from the pacifier is greater than a net transverse force applied to the tab, the slot extension arm, or both, required to transversely separate the toy from the pacifier. 14. The device of claim 13, wherein the toy is a plush animal character having a body and a head. 15. The device of claim 13, wherein the retaining head is generally rectangular with two squared corners except for a curved front edge and two front rounded corners, and wherein the slot is generally rectangular with two squared corners except for a curved front edge and two front rounded corners. 16. The device of claim 15, wherein the toy attaches to the soothing device by transversely inserting one of the head squared corners into the slot adjacent one of the slot squared corners, then transversely inserting the other one of the head squared corners into the slot adjacent the other one of the slot squared corners, and then pivoting the head until the two head rounded corners are transversely inserted through the slot past the two slot rounded corners. 17. The device of claim 13, wherein the tab extension arm has a length of less than 1¼ inches and has a durometer of about 5 Shore A to about 70 Shore A. 18. The device of claim 13, wherein the tab and the tab extension arm have a durometer of about 5 Shore A to about 70 Shore A, the slot extension arm has a durometer of about 5 Shore A to about 70 Shore A, and a net pull-away force required to axially separate the toy from the soothing device is about 0.1 lbs. to about 10.0 lbs.