sensory surprises

heaven sent: weighted blanket

so… quick back story.  the kidbot has always been this strange combination of being an AWESOME sleeper, and a HORRIBLE sleeper - both at the same time.

my kid is famous for once putting himself down for a nap when his grandpa was babysitting.  he just grabbed his blanket and went to his room.  he has never cried at bedtime.  he, to this day, has been known to take luxurious 3 hour naps in the middle of the day.  all of these things = awesome sleeper.  i know parents who would KILL for many of these qualities.

now for the dark side.

once in bed (doesn’t matter if it was day or night), the kidbot would often wake up within the first 40-50 minutes, and then about every hour after that for the next two (spilling into adult sleep time).  sometimes he could get himself back to sleep.  sometimes he would scream and cry inconsolably and kick the wall.  it was an event 3-4 times a week.

you could NEVER wake him up early from naptime unless you wanted an hour long tantrum and a devil of a kid the rest of the day.

and… the one that nearly killed me… it was an 80% likelihood that he would be up by 5:30am regardless of bedtime, lack of or shortened nap, etc.  although we had some luck getting him to stay in bed a bit longer thanks to a good night lite, it wasn’t the fix we really needed.  so while my kid would go to sleep (a gift) we never felt like a well rested family.  we were always in massive sleep deficit.

the happy ending?  once we had even a suspected SPD diagnosis, I started researching sleep and bought a 7lb weighted blanket from cozy calm.

while we do not have a perfect track record - we have 7am wake ups twice a week now.  he wakes up in the middle of the night only if i’m talking on the phone loudly (bad mom), or if he has a bad dream (which is later in the night, not the pre-midnight episodes).  also of note - he LOVES it.  sometimes when you put it on him, the kidbot will just close his eyes for a second.

the weighted blanket’s use coincides with his therapy (pre-bed brush & squish for example) - so I’m not 100% sure it’s the just the blanket that is responsible for the change… but boy howdy do i believe it is playing a part.

and more than anything, never underestimate the value of sleep as a key ingredient to a healthy, happy family.