A bit of cheeky ask! Weighted blankets.

[morethanyoubargainfor]

does anybody here make or made a weighted blanket? I am looking for one for my DS 8. He has ASD and other SPLD, including a sleep disorder.

We have been reccommended a weighted blanket, but i have looked at some and the cheapest i have found is £109.00 .

I just can't affod to purchase one for him. .

Any help gratfully recieved.

Could you make something and weight it yourself? I don't know exactly how they work, but possibly the idea of putting curtain weights in the hem might work? I used to do this to short skirts to stop them blowing up in the wind. How "weighted" does the blanket need to be, and how does the weight need to be distributed?

You need Purplepidjin (sp?) she is on the blanket threads - she makes weighted blankets and may be able to help you with how to make on yourself or look up MimaPants on FB.

thanks alot, they need weight throughout them rather than just the corners.

weight should be 10% of ds body weight plus 1Lb.

i cannot make anything, i don't know one end of a needle from the other!

I have just bought one from a lady named Penny Austin (runs a business called Mimapants) and would highly recomend her. The one she has made is lovely, embroidered with my son's name, made from fleece so is lovely and soft and looks great!

If you give her your child's weight she custom makes it to the weight you need.

Go on Facebook and search Mimapants to find her, I will also point her towards this thread s she can message you direct.

Here is the link to Mimapants for you :)

www.facebook.com/mimapants

Make sure whoever is making them uses pollypellets they are safe and washable and don't mould.
I can make one but depends how quickly you need one.

thank you for the recommendations!

For your average 4st child the total weight of the blanket needs to be 6lb8oz with the weight distributed evenly. I use marbles sewn into individual pockets with a double layer of stitching around the edge, then the fleece goes over the top with a cotton binding. Another way to do it is to put polypellets in the pockets, although i've been thinking about experimenting with something like pearl barley and lavender 9not sure on the washability, so I'll have a play when I get a chance)

You need to be very careful with them because there have been cases of people suffocating and overheating under blankets that are too heavy. That's one reason the commercial ones are so expensive - they also have industrial safety testing equipment that i haven't got a clue about! I'd rather lose the sale than take the risk, so it's up to you whether you'd like me to make one or you'd prefer to save up

purplepidjin I love the idea of using pearl barley and lavender! Could you make it with a cover which is removable, so that you could wash that bit, while protecting the inside?

OP, have you tried melatonin for his sleep? Ds1 has ADHD and ASD and Melatonin has almost given me my evening back.

PS the problem with pearl barley is that if anything spills on the blanket, the pearl barly will sprout - they are seeds.

My ds didn't likr the one I got for him and I gave it away to someone on mumsnet special needs board-have no recollection who though. Maybe you could ask on there if anyone has one they're not using they'd bve prepared to sell?

Needle, yes like a giant wheatie bag! Ok, thanks colditz, maybe not pb then. How about chick peas?

In the meantime, OP, how about the "caterpillar" game where you wrap him in a blanket/duvet and cuddle him tight? DNiece (5 with ASD) loves it if you sit on the sofa cushions when she's under them (not a game we play very often) and I often give her whole body hugs, wrapping my legs round hers and bear hugging with my arms or tickling

Look on youtube for tutorials on brushing and joint compression, you might have to put up with patronising americans but the science is sound!

Ikea do a hanging chair and i know a lot of parents have bought them for their ASD children, because they don't take up much space and the swing/twirl beautifully, providing a lot of the necessary sensory input

loads of here about what weighs are safe www.weightedblanket.net/weightedblanketsize.htm

I wonder what they use for those wheat bag, I would guess wheat, but surely that would rot?

That's what I thought, Lisa, but I'm sure I've seen a tutorial for maiking them somewhere

Looks like rice, lentils, split peas are all good. Corn not so much, I've found a nice anecdote where the maker ended up with popcorn...

Cherry stones are apparently good, but the only one I've found on ebay is £15 for 3.2kg with £3 postage which is cheaper than the poly pellets, but still not going to give you much profit if you sell them.

Bear in mind that when I do them, I hand applique the front with DC name and something they're interested in. That takes a couple hours, then there's sewing it together which takes several needles and a lot of swearing so I need somethign I can get in my local supermarket. To do it with marbles, which i get for 99p per 11 5/8ths oz ( i weighed a bag ) costs about £8.

I think if it was me (for my dd's) i would only want to use the plastic pellets as they are the safest option, i would be worried about rice, wheat or barley as its likely to get thing spilt on it (of nappy leaking on it) which could cause it to rot (also being a chef i know what nasty bacterea can bread in rice). Surely its worth paying a few extra £ for the correct pellets (they are washable and too small to choke on if the child managed to pick the blanket open), marbles may be ok for an older child but i would worry about a younger child, my dd would try and pick it open and remove them (we have already been to a&e for surgery after dd stuck an small object up her nose).

We have tried a weighted blanket through OT which was made of a weighted material (not sure what) but it didn't look as comfy ans the ones with the pellets in.

thanks everybody.

purple, We have a similar thing where DS loves DH to lay on him, yes all 17 stone of him . (dh is 17 stone not DS!) DS is very tiny for age.

I asked him what he thought about a weighted blanket fro night time and he said it sounded good but only if it was as heavy aas daddy, as no other weight works right!!! i told him he would not be having a 17 stone blanket and he wasn't impressed .

I love the idea of a swinging chair but DS would hate it, as he can't even sit on the toilet or a dining chair without having his feet on solid ground. (will often see him stand rather than sit at tables etc). So no point there.

From a private point of view, it's definitely worth getting the plastic pellets. If I bought them to sell on, I'd make about thruppence ha'penny profit! Or, I'd have to charge more than the "professional" ones but without any safety testing apart from maybe getting chucked in the washing machine...

Any waterproof material (like the stuff you make coats from) would crinkle and probably be uncomfortable.

I will find a solution!!

Fair enough, more than. Not all strategies work for all people. I just chuck them out there in case it helps