United Brachial Plexus Network

Hi All,

My James has robp. I am having trouble first of all, finding mittens for boys, and second, how to get his hand in, and how to keep it on. His hand and wrist are small, and fairly flacid.
I know this is late in the season, but I know I'll need them again next year.
thanks

We didn't really have this problem, but here's some suggestions.

Try attaching a piece of yarn to each of the mittens and then threading it throught the arms of the coat so that the mittens are attached to each other and don't get lost or fall off if you have the right length of yarn.

I've seen clips in stores (like Walmart) that attach to gloves on one end and the coat sleeve on the other end. This could prevent the glove from coming off possibly.

I don't know how old your son is, but we used gloves from Old Navy for Amber. They had an elastic band in them and also a piece of velcro in them so I could snug them up well around her wrist. You could always cut the wrist of the glove and sew in velcro yourself so you can snug it up better (that is if you are talented in sewing unlike myself...ha, ha).

Wish you the best.

Tanya in NY

Tammie, have you ever seen those "magic gloves" ? These gloves are really cheap - you can get them for a buck or piece or even cheaper. I buy half dozen at a time. They are tiny gloves but they stretch to fit a full hand. It's perfect for smaller bpi hands and there's not a lot of tension in the glove for flacid fingers, etc. I bought ours at k-mart.

She is LOBPI so the right hand helps put the glove on the left hand. Then she puts the right glove down on a hard surface and just inches her hand into it.

When we go in the snow, I have to get creative. I put one pair of magic gloves on, then I put a hand warmer on the top of the hand, then I put another glove on top of it. And I also put an arm warmer on her whole arm and on really cold days a hand warmer in the shoulder area, too.

Every time we go out in the snow, her arm and hand get purple and pained and when she comes in we have to immediately get into a hot bath to defrost. (even with the warmers... can't imagine what it would be like for her without the warmers though)

I bought my son some a few years ago. I will try to explain them. They are like gloves with the finger tips off. Then they have a flap to cover those exposed little finger tips. It looks like a mitten when its on but it sure beats trying to get those fingers into a closed end glove. I found my at Target, then found some more at WALMART. They are usually THINSULATE so they are warm and thin. They are about 6 dollars a pair unless you can find them end of season. He loves them because now that he is a big boy he can get them on himself and his teacher thinks they are pretty handy. FYI, years ago they called the SMOKING MITTENS !!!!

I just bought my daughter a great pair of ski mittens at our local ski shop. They are made by Kombi, and they open with velcro all the way up the middle of back of hand to fingers. It is very easy for me to get my 3 year old's little lefty into the mitten and I know all is where it should be. They do have little clips on them to keep together or attach to ski suit.

The tag reads: Kombi Kidz Easy on Mitt
"Baby it's cold outside! Kombi is known for our innovative and cozy children's handwear designs. We make Winter dressing fun and easy for parents and kidz!"

I paid $12.99 and as a parent who has struggled with mittens/gloves in the past I feel they are worth every penny.

The tag also reads, www.kombisports.com, although I have not been to their website.

Hope this helps.

Brenda in Burlington WA

One Step Ahead makes a mitten with velcro that looks very easy to get on and off. I haven't actually tried these, but I'm considering ordering some for next winter. Here's the link: http://www.onestepahead.com/jump.jsp?lG ... change=117

Crystal

I found mittens for my 6 year old at Target. Mittens and gloves are just not an easy thing period. We have lived in Utah for 5 out of Tyler's 6 years so we have had to use gloves and mittens every winter. Tyler just recently told me that one of his really sweet classmates helps him put on his mittens and helps him zip up his coat too. I thought that was so sweet! Anyway, good luck with the mittens!

Laura

Tammie, how old is your son? I used to have a hard time putting on my daughter's mitten. This year, she has been able to put it on herself and can do a better job than I can b/c she knows where everything is. I struggle trying to figure out where the thumb is, etc., but of course, she knows, so it's actually easier for her to do it herself (she's a month away from being 6). Then, she uses her mouth to help get the right glove on.

Thought I'd mention also that at Walmart I amazingly found a blue irridescent thinsulate pair of mittens size 6x and a matching pair of gloves size 7-14 (I'm quoting sizes from memory and could be off a bit). From a distance, you wouldn't even know that one is a glove and one is a mitten. It's ideal b/c the mittens are too small for her right hand and the gloves are too big for her left hand (plus gloves are too hard to put on the BPI hand). Anyway, I still have the right mitten and the left glove. If anyone has a daughter with a RBPI who would like the pair, I'll be glad to send them. They'll go to the first person who emails me with their address. :O)

~Tina, bpmom@comcast.net