Weighted blanket help
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Weighted blanket help
| 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!

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
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
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
I have seen some that are a better price on Ebay. You might try checking there.
Suzi
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
blessed be
Joelle
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Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.
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blessed be
Joelle
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-bcwritinglif
Love and Light, Joelle
Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.
Follow me to these boards:
blessed be
Joelle
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-bcwritinglif
Love and Light, Joelle
Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.
Follow me to these boards:
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
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
blessed be
Joelle
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-bcwritinglif
Love and Light, Joelle
Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.
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