Milestones Magazine - Summer 2019

Another option you may have heard of is weighted blankets. I’m pleased to
introduce Amy Tufano-Moran, the mother of a child with Sensory Processing
Disorder, who made a weighted blanket for her child and turned it into a business
called Caim Comfort Company.
“As Susie stated above, a good night’s sleep is essential to a person’s health and
development. Unfortunately, when a family has a child with special needs, quite
often, everyone is struggling to get the sleep they need. My husband and I are
pretty convinced our daughter rarely slept when she was younger. After she was
born, I was working full time as a teacher. I would try to creep out of the house
early to get work done, so that I could pick her up right away after school. It
didn’t matter how early I got up, as soon as she heard me, she was up too. On
weekends, we’d lay her in between us to try and get her to nap — often times,
my husband or I would get a nap, but our daughter would rarely sleep.
As much as it dismayed me, because my husband and I love our sleep, I figured
this kid just didn’t need that much. Not really a huge problem until she got to
second grade. This is where life unraveled for all of us. Multiple factors led to her
Sensory Processing Disorder becoming a major disruptor in her life. At seven, she
was diagnosed with anxiety, ADHD inattentive, and borderline depression. She
would write on her papers that she hated life and wanted to kill herself.
We did everything we could to help her. Neuro psychologist evaluation,
psychologist, ADHD medications. On a whim, I asked my chiropractor if she
could help. The chiropractor gave us some really interesting suggestions
including using a weighted blanket. I had heard of them but didn’t really know
much. I was immediately put off by the cost and also thought — I need more
help with her during the day, not at night.
But, as parents do, I was willing to try anything to make my daughter feel better.
To get around the cost of the blanket, I thought “I can sew — I’ll just make one
myself”. A side note, this didn’t save me money or frustration. Eventually, I
made the blanket and we tried it.
The next morning, for the first time in my daughter’s life, we had to wake her up!
My husband and I stared at her and each other for a minute. It couldn’t possibly
be that easy … is she dead?! Luckily, she was fine, and the good sleep continued.
We also found that as she got better sleep, she was able to tolerate the rest of her
day better. We have tried a lot of different things to help our daughter, and most
things helped a bit. But the weighted blanket had the most immediate and
significant impact on her ability to tolerate the world around her.
When we saw how much this blanket helped her, and helped me with my own
sleep problems, I started making these blankets for family and friends who also
had sleep challenges. At first, I would be a bit hesitant saying “I hope this helps
you” but the feedback was so overwhelmingly positive that now I can say with
confidence that “I KNOW this will help you”.
For more information about my weighted blankets and the research that supports
their use, please check out my web page www.caimcomfort.com. You can also
visit my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/amysweightedblankets”
Caim Comfort Company is located in St. Charles IL, a far west suburb of Chicago.
Blankets are handmade by their sewing team. M
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