Weighted Blankets

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I want some feed back on weighted blankets. My child has a hard time falling asleep and I've been hearing good things about them and told him that I would look into them and talk to his doctor and see if she thinks they would be good for him next time we go in.

He's pretty attached to his current blanket and is only able to use one at a time. (He has freaked before when I felt the need to wash the thing after his little brother peed on it.)

He has agreed to try one if I buy it but he is VERY picky. It must be 100% cotton and must feel "cold" to the touch. ( cold here as in a texture, not a temperature, it's how he describes the one he has now, I think it has to do with thread count of the cotton.)

Any recommendations on brands or where you went to have it made? I am looking for quality and ease of care, am planning to go with the hypo-allergenic plastic filler, and want it as all one piece. I see a couple on-line that I have found, but am reluctant to just give out my credit card number to anyone.

ALSO; my child always covers ALL the way up, in a little ball and is totally under the blanket. No feet or head sticking out. Would these still be safe for him? Like I said, he will only use ONE blanket at a time (no sheets, no afghan on top) so I will need one that is decently warmish as well.

Well, what about piling the blankets, if he likes the blanket he has now, then why not just place the weighted blanket on top, so that he only has contact with the blanket the that he likes, and if he likes the texture of the blanket on top to be "cold" then just get an approved blanket to put on top so that the weight is in between the blankets. Personally I pile blankets, and I sleep the way that you said your son does, I don't have a weighted blanket, but I have like eight blankets I sleep with. The only problem I have at times is if some blankets shift and the weight isn't uniform or if some blankets shift off during the night, but I still can't sleep any other way so I can't complain to much.

as far as i know, weighted blankets are NOT reccomended to be used to totally cover anyone.......my hubby & son have them & both love them- definitely calms them....haven't decided whether or not to get one for daughter.......i've heard that they have directions on how to make them yourself-that might be the way to go for you. then you could have your son hand-select the fabric that you use.

Personally, I find it REALLY hard to sleep when I don't feel like I have a lot of weight on me, especially in my legs. It's really hard, especially in the summer when the parents refuse to put on the air conditioning. In the winter, though, I sleep like a baby with all of those blankets.

Have you tried wrapping instead? Tucking the blankets in at his sides so it has a more swaddled feel?

Also none of us in this house can sleep without lots of white noise. My son has 2 fans in his room going, and it seems very loud, but it helps him sleep like nothing else.

Thanks for the replies.

Mage: I am going to try the wrapping tonight, he used to like it when he was tiny and I would swadle him (I call it the Jelly bean stage, where they moosh themselves up and look like jelly beans, especially in onesies! It comes right before the froggy stage where they flip their little legs out. haha)

As for the piling of blankets, he will only use ONE blanket at a time. He has one that his great grandma made and it is HIS blanket. It is the only one he will cover up with. I am thinking about talking to her and seeing if she could sew some sort of heavier material onto the back of it (or into the center) It's not quite but close to a log cabin design quilt. Heavier batting perhaps? Some sort of velcro to put it on maybe with the same materials? (but that would be too warm in the summer. Welcome to Ohio...)

As for the white noise, that would most likely drive him batty. I watched a little boy for a night over the summer so his mom could do something and he HAD to sleep with a white noise maker, it was waves or something and it was driving him CRAZY. The one boy couldn't sleep without it and mine couldn't sleep WITH it. He ended up opting for the couch after everyone else was asleep.

I think you have the best idea of converting his favorite blanket into a weighted one. Since your mother in law made it, she might be able to find a similar fabric and sew on pockets to hold the weights. I know you're looking for ease of use with all one piece, but it sounds like you're going to need removable weights until you can get the weight just right, to ensure it will be an all-season blanket, and to be able to convert back if he doesn't like the weights. You could make adjustable, removable weights out of ziplock bags filled with rolled out clay, fish tank gravel, dried peas or beans.

To make the weighted part totally removable, so he doesn't think his blanket is destroyed, what if a weighted blanket is attached to the regular blanket with buttons (that are sewed onto his blanket)?

My son will use every single blanket in the house to cover up with if I allow it. That said, he will take the flat sheet off of his bed completely and refuses to use it (once he even ripped it apart so I couldn't put it back on his bed....but we fixed that issue fast. ). He'll even sleep in his sleeping bag rather than sleep in the bed at times. I used to fight him on all of it, but I've given up because even though I think it's unnecessary to use EVERY blanket in the house (there are 4 others of us that wouldn't mind a blanket once in a while...ha ha!), for whatever reason it makes my son feel good to have them. He'll even put a window fan in the window so it's super cold in his room so that way he can snuggle in. I also know that he needs that white noise of the fan to help him sleep.

I've never thought about getting a weighted blanket for him because I think in his case, he just likes being wrapped up or snuggled in that way - but at least if you converted a regular blanket to a weighted one - you'd have control over just how weighted it would be so that it would be safe? (if that's the concern)

I sewed a weighted blanket for my 10 year old because they were so expensive online.

I found instructions online on how to make it.

We are in a hot climate so it needed to be cool. I used some old sheets, velcro, and aquarium gravel to make the weights.

My son loves it and has been sleeping really well. Now my 8 year old one wants one so it's back to the sewing machine for me.

Regards
Helen

My son sleeps in a mummy type sleeping bag. Works wonders..

edited

Last edited by User1 on 15 Feb 2009, 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

We went to the Neurologist's office and every other time we go we see the nurse practitioner type person and ever OTHER time we see the neurologist.

We saw the nurse practitioner this last time and she is going to talk to the neurologist for us and see if at his next visit we could touch and try one for a couple minutes before we leave to find out if he likes it. Also the same with a weighted lap pad thing. So, we'll see how that goes.

Also, we went to Wal-Mart's craft/fabric department yesterday and felt some fleece fabric. He said "I think it feels okay." We went back and felt it 3 times before we left, but it's one of those things if we got it home he might just not like it anymore (I think he might have been saying he liked the way it felt because it was his favorite color. He's a green freak!)

Well, a little story here, he's off of his ADD medication for a little while while we wait for a pre-auth on the next one we are to try and we had a seriously ADD day. After we felt the fleece he decided he wanted to feel everything. I was like "okay, as long as you don't knock things off the shelf." (once he fell off the cart. one of those for 2 kids with the side by side seats...oops) We were walking by some people and without thinking he reached out and felt this guys coat, I am soooo glad the guy didn't notice, he had pretty much grabbed the guy's butt!

I'm sure I would have gotten some strange looks for that, and you know that they would have looked right at ME. haha. Oh my, it was a day.

I used to have this sleeping bag the texture was seriously soft and I loved it. The inside left much to be desired though, and the feel of it made me cringe. I loved the thing though I had to sleep with it inside out with the top folded down so I didn't have to touch the other fabric.

That might be a good idea as well. Strangely enough for the last couple days he's been off of Vyvanse he has been sleeping like a rock. It's really weird, I'm also wondering if it is because he just got over being sick. It's strange that he's going to bed pretty much on-time and waking up after a full night's sleep. I might have to send in a vanderbilt thing to the school, but he is soooo distractable without anything. I remember him not sleeping this well before the meds too though. Something weird going on!