We recently received a gift I need to tell you about. A wonderful company called Sensacalm offered
to give us a weighted blanket for the Boy in exchange for an honest
review. Donna and Sarah, who run the
company, are the grandmother and mom of children with specials needs. So, yes, they are on our team.
Donna walked me through the whole process of designing a
blanket that my son would like and would fit his sensory needs. Their website has a number of great designs
and patterns to choose from. Now, if you
follow my page you might know that my boy is obsessed with Phineas and
Ferb. Stores don’t carry Phineas and
Ferb anything anymore, but Donna managed to find Phineas and Ferb fabric! (As someone who has to shop for her kid on
eBay, I was impressed.)
When the blanket arrived, Big Bro and I oohed and aahed over
it for a while. So sturdy! So soft!
Oh, it’s hugging me! Meanwhile,
the Boy was standing there like, Um, that’s mine? So we reluctantly handed it over…
(Let me pause in the narrative to explain what Boy on the
Couch is usually like. He is a blanket
kid for real. When he comes home from
school, he drags the comforter off his bed, drapes it on the couch, and then
climbs underneath like it’s a tent. It’s
how he decompresses. He stims and
bounces and yells…all from under the comforter.
Eventually, when he’s jumped around enough to dislodge the couch
cushions, he throws the blanket off, stomps into the kitchen, and demands a
snack. That’s how it generally goes.)
So…first trial with the weighted blanket. He stretched out on the couch, I draped the
blanket on him, and…he sighed. It was so
cute. He sighed this, “Ah, yes” kind of
sigh, and ran his fingers over the Phineas and Ferb pattern. He sat quietly for a few minutes, pointed to
and named the characters, and rubbed his hands on the soft, minky fabric on the
other side. After a few minutes, he set
the blanket aside, walked into the
kitchen, and asked for a snack. It was nice.
The blankets are available in different sizes and are
weighted according to the weight of your child.
As you can see from the picture, the blanket doesn’t cover the whole
bed. This is because it’s meant to fit
the body; otherwise, it would slip off the bed.
We are very happy with how it looks, and even happier with how it feels.
So yes, the blanket is a hit. He’s almost 10 and we still struggle to get
him to go to sleep in his own bed. We
find that when we manage to get him in his own bed, he’s more likely to stay
there when he has the weighted blanket.
As the weather gets cooler, I think we’ll be using this more and
more. (We don’t have AC. I know, right?)
I like it, too.
Something about the deep pressure is really comforting. I occasionally deal with restless legs, and
the weight of the blanket helps. And
when Big Bro was overtired and stressed about schoolwork, he borrowed the
blanket, and loved the pressure, too.
“This blanket wants me to nap,” he said.
I know as autism parents, we have a lot of products pushed
on us. As a blogger, I get messages
asking me to push all sorts of vitamins and oils and crap on you, and I ignore
them. This is different. These blankets are not cheap, but they are
well-made and sturdy and comfy. I’d say
the Sensacalm blanket is definitely something to keep in mind, especially as
the holiday season is approaching. Maybe
instead of buying toys they won’t play with, you can get the aunts and uncles
to go in on a weighted blanket. (And if
it helps your kid sleep, it’s a gift for the whole family!)
