We love our Firefly Playpak!

Our physio kindly allowed us to borrow the playpak for a week as a try before we buy and we used it so much in that week. We took it out 4 times, to a friends house, to nanna and poppas and twice to the park. We also used it at home a lot, it was so nice to get Mikey off his back sitting up supported.

We decided to buy the playpak. At $900 AUD it is not a decision to take lightly. It took around 4 weeks from ordering to arrive. To be honest my only regret is not buying it sooner, as Mikey could have been using this for quite some time and he probably wont be in it for that long since his sitting is getting better every week.

The playpak is a very clever design. It folds up into an over the shoulder bag that is large but super lightweight. I can easily carry Mikey, his jam-packed nappy bag and the playpak from the car to the park. It also has a few pockets to throw your extra bits and pieces in.

The bag unzips and fold out into a mat that has soft colourful suede fabric and a soft velcro area that the foam pieces stick to. The playpak comes with a large horseshoe, small horseshoe, long roll, short roll, tummy/headrest and a strap. It also has a positioning guide which has pictures of all the different set-ups you can do with the different pieces.

The velcro is really soft and well positioned on the foam pieces so it doesn’t irritate your child’s skin. It is super sticky so once in position they rarely move – it is a pretty good arm workout moving the pieces around! It takes a bit of practice to pack away so it all fits in.

We have found that we mainly use the playpak for Mikey to sit up, it just gives him that bit of support he still needs without restricting him. We use both horseshoes and the long roll for his back and place the short roll between his legs so he can’t wriggle down as he loves to kick. Sometimes we use the strap around his waist but he can sit quite nicely without it. In sitting we use a couple of items to keep him entertained. Firstly I made a frame out of PVC pipe to hang toys and encourage him to reach, you can read about that here. Secondly I found a little bamboo breakfast tray table at Thingz for $20. It is slightly too high so we are going to cut the legs down but it works really well. I put a bit of anti-slip mat on the tray so his toys don’t fly off when he whacks them. I use this stuff on everything!

We also like to spin him around and put him in a kneeling position. This works really well as it’s nice and snug for his legs so they can’t splay out. In this supported position he likes to play with toys like his little drum and anything else he can bang. This position encourages Mikey to put some weight through his arms which is something he is working very hard on at the moment.

Firefly equipment has been developed by a very clever mum in Ireland who has a little boy with CP. So much thought has gone into the items so they are not only supportive for kids with different abilities but also practical for parents.Check out their website www.fireflyfriends.com as they have some other great products.