Have you ever heard of ScratchSleeves? I hadn’t until I came across them when searching the web. Well let me tell you what they are. They are scratch mitts but in the form of a cardigan type garment….thus the name ‘ScratchSleeves’. They are perfect for preventing babies scratching themselves or for preventing eczema sufferers itching themselves and damaging their skin. They are made in the form of a cardigan so they are easy for parents to put on and off but hard for little ones to wriggle out of.
They cost £7.50 and £8.50 and are available in the following sizes:- 0-3 months (Wingspan (W)= 55-60cm), 3-6 months (W = 60-65cm), 6-9 months (W = 65-70cm), 9-12 months (W = 70-76cm), 12-18 months (W = 76-82cm), 18-21 months (W = 82-88cm), 21-24 months (W = 88-94cm) and 2-3 years (W = 94-100cm). Plus the lovely people at ScratchSleeves will also custom make some ScratchSleeves to your measurements at the cost of £11.50. The postage is only £2.00 within the UK and £4.00 to the rest of the world so they work out quite affordable. Click here to be taken to the ScratchSleeves shop.
Here is how they recommend you measure your child’s ‘wing span’:-
Measure the child’s ‘wing span’ from finger tip, across the back to finger tip. (Tip: It can be much easier to measure from the middle of the child’s back to finger tips and double the result, as shown below):
The body of the ScratchSleeves are made from 100% cotton interlock, the binding is 100% cotton and the outer mitts are made from 100% natural silk. The mitt part of the Scratchsleeves is double layered. The inner layer is made from a stretchy cotton to move with the fingers but the outer part is made from a soft silk that is cool on their skin and prevents their fingernails from scratching the skin. Each different size of ScratchSleeves is edged in a different coloured bias binding. For example 0-3 months are edged in White whereas 9-12 months are edged in Copper. The ScratchSleeves that were sent to me were sizes 0-3 months and 6-9 months. It looks like the coloured bias binding and the sticker on the cardboard outer is the only indication of size. Personally, I think an improvement would be to put the sizing on the garment itself as if you decided to keep these and use them for another child you would be able to tell what size your ScratchSleeves are, without having to refer back to the website. The ScratchSleeves can be machine washed at 40° and they recommend you use a non biological washing powder. They can also be tumble dried and ironed on a hot setting, if you wish. This is all great news because as a parent I now how annoying it is when you have to stand and hand wash items…there is just not enough hours in a day!
The ScratchSleeves website is easy to navigate and they have lots of photos of children wearing ScratchSleeves, so you can get an idea of what your child will look like whilst wearing them. They have useful page of information on eczema and a great list of eczema related links for you to click on.Jae and Mark (the creators of ScratchSleeves) originally developed the ScratchSleeves to stop their 4 month old baby son scratching his face. He had started to suffer from infantile eczema and the itching was making him scratch himself and he was then damaging the skin. They developed the ScratchSleeves as they found that conventional scratch mitts were not doing the trick. They worked so well with their son Max that a friend who had seen the results asked them to give a pair to another little girl who suffered from eczema that she knew. After lots of positive feedback they set about starting up their family business making the ScratchSleeves. Thankfully they did as I think it is great that there is now a product available that will hopefully help to prevent little ones scratching themselves from the effects of eczema. You can read lots of positive customer comments on their site if you click here.
If you would like to visit the ScratchSleeves site please click here.