Mary Kostka explains how weighted blankets work like a hug, calming your nervous system through deep pressure. For kids, the blanket should weigh no more than 10% of their body weight and be removable by the child. Glass-bead filling is best, and lap squares work if a full blanket feels like too much.
Mary Kostka
October 21, 2025
No more than 10% of the child's body weight.
Glass beads.
Foreign aloha, sensory heroes. We are on day 27 and talking about weighted blankets. Weighted blankets are such a great tool. And you can have like a little lap blanket, just like a little lap square or, or a whole full blanket. You never want the blanket to be more than 10% of, of the child's body weight. They need to be able to get it off easily. They need to use it with, with supervision. I prefer ones that are filled with glass beads because they are. You don't need a cover on them. They can just. The whole thing can get thrown in the wash and you want each section to be like a square. So some of them I've seen, Phil, they don't have it quilted enough. And then the stuff gets lumpy and moves all over the place. And so you definitely want to have like a soft material. You know, they're pretty easy to find on Amazon these days. It wasn't like that when I started. We used to have to make our own and, or have somebody make them, and now it's just easy. They've become more mainstream. They're super, just super comfortable. And so it's, it can be a safety concern if they're, if they're in a cover that zips. So I just prefer the ones that are just quilted. There's no cover and you just throw them in the wash. Those are the best kind. And so like I said, you don't want it to be any more than 10% of the child's body weight. They need to be able to get it off themselves. And then you want to. Want to use it with supervision as well. And what the reason that they work is they're providing like a very deep tactile pressure that's kind of like getting a hug. It's just very, very calming. So it can be really nice just to sit with it wrapped around you like this. So if you're sitting like a story time or something like that, you can have it on your lap, have it around you, or when you're just decompressing at home. My, my family really likes to use them. Adults love them too. They're just a wonderful, wonderful tool that are just really beneficial. It's just a nice, calming, calming input. Okay, see you in the next video.
