A childhood belief about belly buttons

When I was young (perhaps four or five) I had heard a reference to "belly button lint." For some unbeknownst reason, this phenomenon terrified me more than I can possibly say. I was horrified of the thought of having lint in my belly button, and became convinced that if I NEVER let my belly button be uncovered, the lint would have no way of sneaking in. All of my night-shirts were streched out on the bottoms because I would draw my knees up to my chest and pin the bottom of the shirts to the floor with my hands. I even attempted to tape over my belly button when bathing, but after several unsuccessful tries, I concluded that the flowing water would scare away any renegade lint. I'm not entirely sure when I grew out of this practice, but to this day just the thought of belly button lint makes me shiver. Ick!