Weighted blanket help

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Weighted blanket help
8
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 1:39am

I've been searching on my own & finding nothing :( I basically need a sewing/creation plan for a weighted blanket for my son. There's no way I can afford one of the many sites that sell them, even with my son's paltry 40lbs. I'm sure I can make one for cheaper buying the fabric & whatever I use for the weight from Walmart, but I'm totally unsure where to begin with putting this together. help, please!

Love and Light, Joelle

Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.




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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 10:47am

Joelle,

We had many, many discussions on this topic on the SID board a couple of years ago. I have posted some of the links.

I do want to warn that a weighted blanket is a therapy tool, and should be used with the advice of a therapist, particularly if you are planning to allow your child to sleep with it.

I advise starting with a heavy blanket firstoff (like a cotton counterpane folded a couple of times); -especially with such a lightweight kid, and see how you do from there.

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-pssensoryint&msg=168.1

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-pssensoryint&msg=521.1

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-pssensoryint&msg=627.1

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-pssensoryint&msg=646.1

You may want to post this question on the Sensory Integration board, too.

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 11:19am

I have made a couple, and though they work, I am not completely thrilled with what I came up with.

The best one I have made was with cotton on one side and heavy fleece on the other. Then I made bean bags out of the fleece and you can put whatever you want in them for weight and sewed them inside. If I was doing it again I would likely make pockets on the outside that I could easily access to change the weight or take the weights out for washing.

For inside the beanbags I put sand triple bagged in ziploc baggies and then sewn into the bean bag things. I did sand becuase I didn't want to put rice or beans through the laundry. Plus bugs like rice and beans.

Renee

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Registered: 12-24-2004
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 5:40pm

I have seen some that are a better price on Ebay. You might try checking there.

Suzi

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Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 8:05pm

thanks for the links.


yes, I've been working with just heavy blankets. I'm not planning to introduce the weighted blanket just yet, since as you point out, it is a therapy tool. by the end of the month, I'll be working to get a full evalutation & hopefully will have an OT that we're working with.


We have been having some success with the heavy blankets tho, but not enough to really help us, which is why I'm so interested in the weighted blankets.


I don't think I'd allow Finn to sleep with the weighted blanket, especially if I manage to get it made before I have an OT's advice. a friend of mine, a special education teacher with her master's in autism, is advising me some until we get a diagnosis & some helps set up

Love and Light, Joelle

Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.




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Avatar for finian
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Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 8:07pm
that's one thing I've really been confused on, the removal part. like if you need to remove a weight in the middle of a 40" by 32" blanket, how do you reach it? do you not really sew down the edges of the blanket? how does that work?

Love and Light, Joelle

Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.




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Avatar for finian
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Registered: 03-25-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 8:10pm
yeah I've been watching there. still would have to save up for one from ebay, but I could afford them sooner.

Love and Light, Joelle

Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.




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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 08-07-2005 - 11:33pm

Actually, that is why I have made it with sand for weights. I leave them in when I wash it. I just wash on handwash delicate and hang it to dry.

If I were to do it again, I think I would make pockets throughout the blanket that velcro closed and would take them out and put them in as neccessary. Mike has a weighted vest like this. It is a fishing vest I got at Target and I added some pockets on the back so he would have even weight. The OT gave us weights for that and he has one for school and one for home. He is weird about it though. He will wear the vest, even obsess on it but doesn't want the weights in it. The pockets bulge or something. I don't get it.

Renee

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Registered: 03-25-2003
Mon, 08-08-2005 - 7:03am

I can see my son feeling weird about the bulging pockets in the vest, I was thinking that shouldn't be as much of an issue with the blanket.


One site I looked at said they use something like poly-beads. would those be something you could get on your own, like from a craft store or something?


the velcro pockets do sound like a good idea, although I'd be a bit nervous that my son would want to play with them at first

Love and Light, Joelle

Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.




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