We’ve hit an unexpected, but not all too surprising bump in the road with Mr Emmett. I’ve shared many times how sensory processing disorder impacts his life on a daily basis. 

Here are a few examples. 

Emmett hasn’t worn shoes and socks in over a year. He’s worn socks temporarily on a few occasions over the last year but that’s all. He will only wear crocs, but not just any crocs. His crocs have to have a smooth insole. There can’t be any texture to it, or else he won’t wear it. 

His shirts have to come exactly to his waist. Any more and it’s too big. Any less and it’s too small. 

He will only wear pants that don’t button or snap. He can’t do buttons or snaps on his pants and certainly doesn’t want anyone to help him. His pants have to be just above his waist line, and tight, so they don’t move up or down from that spot. His pants legs must end where his crocs begin, or he won’t wear them. 

For the record, they don’t make pants like this. We’ve looked everywhere. 

The other major sensory issues relate to food, and I’ve talked about that enough, so I’m not going to go into it again. 

We’re facing a new challenge that I need to focus on for a minute. This hasn’t happened before and it began a few days ago. In short, Emmett can no longer tolerate a blanket on his skin at night. This certainly out of nowhere and it’s created a significant disruption in our already difficult bedtime routine. 

It’s important to understand that he’s not trying to be difficult. He literally can’t stand any of the blankets we have in our house. We have several weighted blankets that he’s loved until recently. Now he can’t stand the stitching. 

For the last few nights, I’ve had to snuggle him in our bed. He does okay with Lizze’s super soft blanket, but only because he’s snuggling me while I sing to him. The poor kid is so tired but his body isn’t processing sensation properly and it prevents him from getting comfortable enough to fall asleep. 

Once he falls asleep snuggling me, I can remove myself, and cover him up very carefully. Once he’s been asleep for a couple hours, we can move him back to his bed and cover him with his ex-favorite blanket. As long as he’s not fully awake, he seems to do okay. If he wakes up too much, we’re out of luck. 

I have no idea what to do. You’d have to see the look on his face when he tries to get comfortable under a blanket. He’s truly in distress and it’s horrible to witness. 

We’ve tried every blanket we have in the house and they’re all pretty much the same. We’ve tried sheets as well but to no avail. 

I’m at a loss here and I’m not sure how to help him work through this. I can snuggle him to sleep, and honestly, I don’t mind that at all. It reminds when he was younger. 

At the same time, we have to figure out something that works better or help him work through this new challenge. 

Have any of you seen this with your kids?