Prism99

Verna, Hobbs wool batting would not shrink more than cotton batting and would provide the softness your grandson is looking for. It is more expensive, but in my opinion one of the very best battings on the market. I'm not sure how it would react to a hot dryer; some people prefer to lay out wool batting quilts to dry.

Quilter's Dream cotton is softer than Warm and Natural, but is also thinner (unless perhaps you go with their thickest cotton batting -- anyone know which version that is and how it compares to W&N?). Warm and Natural is needlepunched through scrim, making it very stable, but that is also why it has a stiffer drape. It does soften up with use, but that can take many trips through the washing machine and dryer over the years. Quilter's Dream cotton is needlepunched, but not through scrim. This makes it very stable, but softer than W&N because there is no scrim. However, the regular weight of Quilter's Dream would be a lot thinner than W&N which is why, if you want to use QD, you would probably need to go to its heavier weight in order to get the thickness and weight of W&N.

The above is not necessary, however. I think your grandson would be very happy with Hobbs 80/20 batting. This is 80% cotton and 20% polyester. It combines all the good traits of cotton with enough polyester so that the batting is soft and cuddly, with higher loft than W&N.

This is probably more information than you need. Bottom line is I would suggest Hobbs 80/20.

Edit: Hobbs Poly-Down is another option. It is even softer than Hobbs 80/20. However, it is all polyester and therefore does not "breathe" as well as the 80/20. Also, I find that it is harder to quilt because its loft is higher than Hobbs 80/20. Hobbs 80/20 is easier to quilt, in my experience, and still has enough loft to look and feel soft.