Any advice on weighted blankets?

maman

A friend is thinking of one as a Christmas gift. I know nothing about them. Any advice?

I posted on here as the shopping thread is mainly about groceries. Hope this is the best place.

monnagran

The only thing I know about them is that they were tested on one of the health programmes and found to give people a better nights sleep than any of the other things they tested.

I'll be watching this thread with interest because I'm half thinking of getting one myself.

C_J

My younger daughter is a primary school teacher, and she has a couple of children in her class who are on the autism spectrum. I made two weighted blankets for her to keep in her classroom, and she reports that draping a blanket around a child’s shoulders is an incredibly effective way to calm them down.

maman

Thanks for the info. I was asked to do some research into which brands. I'll read up on Amazon et, but would love to hear from anyone who has a favourite.:)

roombasgonewild

You should look at getting one from China. The markup on weighted blankets is very high (it is one of the most profitable products to dropship from China). Most of the ones you see on Amazon are going to come from AliExpress/AliBaba. The only issue might be delivery (it can take a few weeks to get here, I have had stuff under a week but it may not be that quick).

pattypan4

Thank you very much roomba, they are less than £30 from those two companies. I have bookmarked both sites for future purchases.

Wednesday2000

When I had fibromyalgia I was advised by my GP to try and improve my sleep as a priority so I bought a weighted blanket from Amazon. It was quite expensive, about £80, I think.

It did help to give me a good night's sleep the few times I used it but I was very weak back then and I found it almost too heavy to lift! I'm not sure if a healthy person would find it that heavy or maybe I bought the wrong weight and size?

ETA - This is the brand I bought - BUZIO Weighted Blanket (6.8kg for 56-97 kg Persons, Queen Size) | Heavy Blanket for Adults | Organic Cotton Material with Glass Beads, 150 x 200 cm, Grey.

After I got rid of the fibro I donated it to a local autism charity as I had hardly used it. They were very grateful for it.:)

DigForVictory

I'm going to presume you've tried a couple of wool blankets? For anyone used to duvet alone, the sheer heft can spare you time & money.

I was eyeing making my own, inserting tuppences along machine stitched channels, but a pal routed to me towards heavy plastic pellets on ebay. Lumpier, but easier to pour into channels & machine washable.

Another pal, eavesdropping, asked why not gravel, or pebbles from a beach - and got roasted on legality, plus the challenge of being sure the gravel is clean (plus what if it escaped mid wash?!)

Both ebay & Amazon have blankets at the £30 mark if that seems a reasonable entry level to try, but if you really benefit from the weight contact the autism folk for more advice?

Gers

Would an old-fashioned top quilt do the job just as well?

Perhaps one could be picked up at CS.

CAFCGirl

I am planning to attempt making on this year for DS who is suspected of a multitude of acronyms, and if he doesn't have any of those, I can just see it being helpful in exerting pressure to soothe frayed nerves/hyped up energy.

Lots of guides on Pinterest on making them. I plan on reusing some old flat sheets, sewing in columns and then the rows once a section is filled with the aforementioned pellets. The trick I believe is calculating the right weight, 10% of body weight I think is recommended. This will then be laid over a light summer weight duvet, tack the two together and put inside duvet cover.

maman

Thanks for all the comments and advice.:)

If it was for me then I'd certainly have a go at making one but this is a gift that someone else wants to buy so why I suggested the Amazon route even if it's more expensive.