My son has only slept in his bed, less than 10 times since I found out I was pregnant with my second child nearly 4 years ago.

His anxiety around bedtime is quite high, and for as long as I can remember he has picked his fingernails and the skin around his fingernails as a soothing method to put himself to sleep, every single night.

This habit has left him with bleeding fingertips and cracked nails. As parents we have found it easier to lay with him to put him to sleep or for him to lay in bed with us (no judgement). As you could imagine the sound of someone picking there fingernails right next to you for 20 minutes continuously would drive you a little insane. Similar reaction to someone scratching a chalk board.

Anyway recently I saw a DIY video on how to make a Weighted Blanket. This looked super easy and I had access to my Aunts sewing machine so I gave it a go. (it is actually alot harder than it looked in the video).

A weighted blanket has benefits of being grounding, help soothe anxiety, reduce stress and insomnia. I’ve heard amazing results from children who have ADHD and Sensory disorders. What have I got to lose, right!

I recorded the results for the first 10 days of introducing the weighted blanket for my son’s nighttime routine.

Night 1 – Fell asleep within 5 minutes, no finger picking

Night 2- Asleep within 5 minutes, no finger picking

(At this point I was laying next to him in absolute joy, tears streaming down my face)

Night 3- Slight finger picking for 1 minute, 5 minutes to fall asleep

Night 4- Early bedtime, 5:30pm. Fell asleep within 5 minutes, no finger picking

Night 5- New bed, 10 minutes to get to sleep, 2-3 minutes of picking

Night 6- Late night, 7:30pm. 5 minutes to get to sleep, no finger picking

Night 7- 7pm sleep, 1 minute of picking

Night 8 – 10 minutes talking, no picking

Night 9 – 10 minutes tossing, no picking

Night 10- 5 minutes to sleep, no picking

 

Blown away by these results! proud mumma for giving this ago.