Product supplied for review. Opinions are 300% mine.
Sometimes Curly says his room is scary. Other times he says he just wants cuddles. So I’m not sure which is true, perhaps both. So we have become OK with him sleeping in between us when he wakes up in the night.
When he’s in bed with us, though, Curly wants to be so close to our bodies, like close-close, leech close, sucking up to the point where you might just want to nudge him off your body. So I figured maybe he’s got some security issue.
One night in January 2013 I was bored and decided to see what’s on ABC’s Catch-Up TV, and then Louis Theroux happened. I caught one of Theroux’ documentaries Louis Theroux: Extreme Love – Autism and started watching, because you know, my son has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and so I tend to be interested in those documentaries.
Anyway, Theroux visits a mother whose autistic son would often throw explosive tantrums, and she is at the point where she’s about to exhaust all the different solutions and nothing seems to be working. One of the tricks that works involves her making him lie on a mattress or cushions and then she would apply pressure on his body by lying on top of him. It works. At least in the documentary it works.
So I thought hard about this and said to my husband maybe that’s what Curly needs and that we should probably let him snuggle between us in bed. From my searches online, many parents have found that adding pressure on and around the middle of their autistic child’s body would help stimulate the release of melatonin in the body and then calming the body! Well, we took that approach by letting Curly sleep next to us if he comes to our bed and he sleeps through. Well, what do you know? Hmm.
And then Ultimate Sleep contacted me.
They were looking for parents with children with special needs to have a go using their Fossflakes COMFORT U Body Support Pillow (Junior) ($255) which is a giant U-shaped pillow designed for children aged five and above. It’s also available in a bigger size for adults. This special pillow helps apply that pressure to Curly’s body while also providing extra support so that he can have a better sleep.
It came in this storage bag which appears to be waterproof:
The package comes with full instructions on how to use and how to clean/wash. There was also a few diagrams to show how to shape it for the best comfort.
I didn’t mind the white pillowcase that came with it and have been told that that Ultimate Sleep provides covers in other colours. It took less than 60 seconds for the Scientist to pull the case onto the pillow.
The pillow is easily folded to fit back into the storage bag for when traveling or when your child doesn’t need it anymore.
This Junior version of the Comfort U pillow is quite suitable for an adult if you don’t need full-body support all at once. I quite enjoyed using it (don’t tell Curly!).
The COMFORT U Body Support Pillow can be folded in a U-shape or be shaped into a bean-bag position and used during the day for reading time. Curly likes to sit in it when playing on his iPad.
Check out a few recommendations from the distributor:
And there you have it, sleep solution that’s helping us retrain our little boy to sleep in his own bed. Fingers crossed all works in our favour so we can get our bed back! I will update once we’ve ‘won’! Could be weeks, could take months.
Makes a great…
- Support for pregnant mums and new mums to help hold their bump before and after birth
- Nursing and bed pillow. I so needed one of these for lumbar support when I was nursing my son, Instead I had to use one of those v-shaped pillows
- Neck support for adult when reading
- Support for achy body parts, especially broken legs
- Baby shower gift
Any whinges?
- The pillow is huge but I won’t complain because the whole point of having such pillow is to provide weight on my child and enough pillow surface to help apply pressure on him. So to me it’s not a minus.
- At $255 I don’t think I would’ve bought the pillow myself unless I was pregnant. I remember how annoying it was not to have a proper pillow like this to help support my bump. I think $255 is a tad expensive but knowing that it’s washable and can be put in the tumble dryer is also a big win. And obviously it’s going to be useful for my son and maybe myself if I get pregnant again.
Notes
- Hypoallergenic and odourless
- Filled with FossFlakes, which has a down-like feel to it
- Completely safe for washing machines and tumble dryers (<60 degrees cel. max.)
- Designed to support the whole body (head, neck, bump and back)
- Flexible shape to accommodate your needs
- Weighted but light enough for a short pre-schooler to drag around the house (not recommended but!)
- Great for cushioning and sleeping in a position that promotes proper spinal alignment
- Made in Denmark
Visit UltimateSleep.com.au for further information.
