.....to ask for all you know about weighted blankets for a 3 year old without SEN, and recommendations?

[thesoftblueone]

I have looked at lots of other threads on mumsnet but doesn’t seem to be information I’m looking for....

I have a 3 year old DS, he’s never been a good sleeper. Taking ages to settle, night terrors, waking every 20 mins, sitting up whimpering. We have always left him to settle himself and implemented good sleep ‘hygiene’ , however we have been given some advice from a sleep specialist who has given us other things to try.

We sometimes get up 10 times a night. I wondered if a weighted blanket would help him? He doesn’t have SEN that I know of and also he’s young, but wanted to ask your personal experience of them and also recommendations of where to buy them from?
I’ve done my own research but nothing like hearing testimonials from real people!

We know they are expensive but are willing to pay the money if it might help him and us get a good nights sleep!

I've been meaning to make one for years as they're so expensive.

Basic rules are they must not weigh more than 10% of the child's body weight and they must not be used overnight (risk of over heating and suffocating).

Oh! I haven’t read anywhere they can’t be used overnight so thanks for the info. Do they just settle with it and then remove when they are asleep? Although that’s when our problems start!

They are expensive, and fiddly to make, so you might want to see if you could maybe borrow one.

Other thing to consider - does he show any other signs of responding well to pressure or weight on him? My son, who is diagnosed autistic, used to like having cushions on him, rolling himself up in a heavy rug , being squeezed, etc.

I can’t say we have tried, apart from even in summer he wants a heavy duvet on and not a light sheet.

I wonder where I could borrow one from to try it out first

We use one for my 3yo. Hes been using it for a year and it really helps. It does help him get into a deeper sleep once he has it on. I'm pretty sure you can use it overnight otherwise what would be the purpose of it.

@GiveMeHope103 could I ask where you got it from? And what were your reasons for buying it? Similar to us?

Hardas is correct, weighted blankets must not be used overnight.

Given the expense of the item op, I would recommend to try different deep pressure exercises first to see how your lo responds to it before such a big outlay.

I looked into one for a relative and there is a company who hire them out. I can’t remember what they were called, but I just googled weighted blanket hire.

Thanks for all the info, very helpful and something to think about.

Does anyone else have any info of using it with their poor sleepers?!

My son as asd. When we went to occupational theropy they said compression blankets works better and are safe over night. I haven't tried our selves but heard from others they are good. You can also get weighted toys. The thing that put me off weighted blankets is that you have to calculate it for their weight so you will be buying again as they grow bigger

Thank you @bookwormnerd

A weighted blanket helped my oldest (5) settle at bedtime, but it was very warm. We found one of the sensory compression sheets (a thin stretchy sheet that goes around the mattress) worked better as it wasn’t so hot - much cheaper too

Look up compression blankets on sensory scout.