Putting stuffed animal in mouth

My son, who is 15 1/2 months, sleeps with a stuffed bear (with no loose parts).  (It's the PJ Bear by Ty Baby- www.ty.com/BabyTy_home) He puts the feet, hands, and other parts in his mouth when he falls asleep.  I wash the bear as often as I can, but there is redness around his mouth from him sleeping with it like that.  It occasionally goes away and comes back. I try to pull it out of his mouth at night when he is already asleep, but he just puts it back in later on.  

I have tried to take it away from him after he has fallen asleep, but he wakes up and get extremely upset when it is not there.  I've tried not giving it to him to begin with and he won't go to sleep.  I also tried attaching it to the side of the crib (held by a bib) so he couldn't sleep with it in his mouth, but he missed his morning nap because he wouldn't go to sleep.  Then when he finally did fall asleep at his second nap, he then woke up a half hour later and was extremely upset.  I finally gave in and gave it back to him, and he then went to sleep.  

He only gets this bear when he naps and at nighttime.  Is it okay to let him have it for now and just try to pull it out of his mouth after he falls asleep?  He loves that bear so much.  What should I do?  Hope you can help.

[Trialanderror]

I would not take away any attachment toy, especially not at that age unless the redness around his mouth is really really serious. He will always be upset if the toy is gone during his sleep and it seems he would not accept any substitute. You could try to introduce one but the bear seems to be it. His attachment sounds very cute. It is nice that he has a way to fall asleep on his own.

Is the redness around his mouth just a temporary symptom that goes away after a short while each day? Or is it contact dermatitis that remains for weeks? I have seen some dermatitis caused by pacifiers. Did he get the redness before you ever washed the bear or could it be traces of laundry detergent that irritate his mouth? My son used to get irritated skin easily when I used regular laundry detergents, not the scentless "baby" type. Maybe you can figure something out that could take the redness away but not his toy.