The Secret To Ethan's Best Sleep Yet!

Ethan's story

Ethan was diagnosed as autistic at the age of three.

“We realised at the age of two that something wasn’t right”, explains his Dad. “Although he was an early walker, and was extremely active, he liked to play on his own, taking little interest in other children and place his toys into long lines”.

Following his diagnosis, Ethan received various treatments such as speech and language therapy which helped his development. However, he remained a very active child, finding it difficult to sit still for any length of time, and running up and down repetitively.

Sleeping

Sleeping was also a major issue for him. “He would only sleep for three to four hours at any one time, leaving the whole family exhausted”. The Occupational Therapist suggested the family try a weighted blanket. “The whole concept seemed strange at first but we were so desperate we would have tried anything”.

Ethan's best sleep yet!

“As soon as we put the blanket over him that night he appeared to love the weight and pressure. He settled much quicker than usual, and only woke up once that night. By the end of the week he was sleeping through the night. We were amazed! It really was quite incredible” recalls his Dad. “To start with we would wake up ourselves in the night and check on him to make sure he was OK!”

The weighted blanket very quickly became a part of Ethan’s bedtime routine and until his early teens Ethan relied on his weighted blanket, using it on top of his duvet to help him relax and sleep each night. He also benefitted from a weighted lap pad and weighted jacket when we were out and about. As he grew older he seemed to became less relaint on the weighted blanket and seemed to be able to self regulate, for example we could go on holiday without having to take a weighted blanket with us. That said he is now 24 and still has a weighted blanket on his bed every night!