Talking Allergies

I bought the non logo standard children's size, and they wear it on the smaller end of adjustable belt, and I can wear it on the larger end. Two epipens fit in the pouch,plus I put two Benadryl meltaways, and a folded up piece of paper with symptoms and what to do. The epipens do stretch the pouch a little in order to fit.

I have ordered from them three times and I remember the shipping being a couple of weeks? I think they use US postal service, which is slower than couriers, but cheaper, so they can offer free shipping even to Canada.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

Thanks for the information Allison's mom! My daughter is 10 - should I buy her the adult size or the children's size? However, if you can wear the children's size and it is non logo I would prefer that. I guess with our dollar being close to par, the extra exchange rate won't be very much.
Thanks for your help,
Kate

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Hi Kate,

I believe I read somewhere on the spibelt.com website that the kids belts are designed for age 8 and under. We purchased the adult size belts and they fit our entire family (our kids are age 9 & 12). For my husband, son and I, I purchased the all black belts (black fabric + black zipper) so they would be less noticeable, and for my daughter, she wanted the black fabric + turquoise zipper. (personally, I prefer the all-black as it is less noticeable. The turquoise zipper is quite bright, but my daughter likes that!) The logo is very subtle on both. We purchased the 8.9" pocket, and I don't think they are available with the non-logo design. Here is a link to the black fabric + black zipper:
http://store.spibelt.com/PhotoGallery.a ... 01%2D8%2E9

The codes for the products we bought are:
8.9" Pocket SPIbelt, black with black zipper 7BL-A001-001-8.9
8.9" Pocket SPIbelt, black with turquoise zipper 7BL-A001-008-8.9

In addition, we also purchased the Solo-pocket for $11.95 for extra "stuff" we need to carry; product code: 7PB-A001-001. It can slip onto the belt if you need it. Because we wanted these for more than just Epipens (phones/money/credit cards) I thought one extra pocket might come in handy. I also ordered the 3-pack of LOKSAK Waterproof bags; product code 314-P $9.95 (in the accessory tab) for the days we are at a large Waterpark or beach. We haven't tried these out yet, so I can't vouch for them.

The 8.9" Pocket styles appear on page 2 of the Spibelt tab. I see the price is listed as $22.95. Sorry, that is what I paid, not $19.99. The $19.99 was for the standard belt, but we bought the 8.9" pocket based on the recommendation from the customer service rep as it was intended to carry an Epipen. We intend to use these on a more occassional use and my son is wearing the waistpal belt on a daily basis... a product we love, but is not providing good customer service AT ALL.

The Spibelts took about 2 - 2.5 weeks to arrive.

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses

If she's an average sized ten yr old, I think she would fit the kids size. Also look at the clearance section for deals.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

If you are looking for the actual size in numbers, I have several adult SPIbelts and my waist is 25". The adult SPIbelt, with the straps tightened as far as they go, barely fits snug enough to go running without bouncing. If your child's waist is any smaller than 25", and they want a snug fit, I would order the child size!

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anaphylaxis to tree nuts and peanuts; asthmatic, dairy intolerant, vegan
other family members allergic to to dairy, egg, peanut, peach, banana, sesame, environmentals

Thanks so much everyone. Your information will really help me with our order! I really appreciate your help! I will measure my daughter's waist and perhaps order a child and adult size belt and probably a water proof one as well.
I'm glad to hear that the logo is not very noticeable. From the pictures on the website it seems to really stand out.

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11 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema
9 year old son - no allergies

Just wanted to mention that our son has always worn his Epibelt more at hip/mid-abdomen level... just his personal preference. The rest of us seem to be wearing our Spibelts at hip/mid-abdomen level as well, so make sure you know where you think you/your child would wear it. My daughter is very small for her age, and my son is big for his age, and the adult size fits well at the hip/mid-abdomen height. I guess with everything, I try to buy things that last, so going straight to the adult size will work well for the long term. But if you absolutely want to wear it at waist height, and you plan to jog with it on, that is something to consider. Like I said, my son is big for his age... he will be 10 soon, and his feet are size 7!! So maybe he's not a good guage for this. But my daughter is quite slight (some of the kids her age are bigger than me!), so it sure doesn't take long for kids to hit their growth spurt in and around this age.

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses

Just ordered one for my four year old son thanks to your recommendations here. As an FYI, I called and spoke to the woman who said she makes them (small company?). I told her what it was for and she recommended the 8.9 as you said Julie, but she also said to put in a comment asking her to custom make it with a kids' sized belt. So nice to have such good service! Looking forward to it so my son can wear ski season. I don't know that we'll have him wear it yet when we're not around (right now preschool teacher keeps it herself). When did you all start letting your kids wear it at school?

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Heather

DS, 4, allergic to PN, TN, sesame, chick pea and lentil, EA, dog, cat, asthma
DS, 16 mo, former multiple food intolerances, asthma

Yes, they do have good service, and as far as I know, it's a small company started by a woman in Austin TX and they still make everything there.

I just received my water resistant spibelt for my 5yr old DS, and while the neoprene is not as thick as I had imagined it would be, it'll do the trick to keep the epipens dry.

Regarding how old the kids were when they started wearing them. . . At preschool, I felt OK with my DD not wearing it as there were three teachers, and kept one epipen in the first aid kit and one in the classroom. If they went anywhere, the first aid kit went with them. I knew that by Kindergarten, the class would be moving around the school a lot (gym, library, etc) and I couldn't expect the teacher to remember to bring it everywhere, especially if there was a substitute teacher, so I got her to wear her epipen after Spring Break in preschool to get used to wearing it in Kindergarten. We also keep one spare for each child in the office in case they come back from recess and have lost their spibelt, etc.

My DS, who is two years younger, wanted to be like his sister and have his epipens in a belt, so started wearing his as soon as he started preschool.

My kids are the only ones in the elementary school that wear their epipens. Everyone else keeps one in the office and I think one in the child's backpack. I've had teachers say they like our system much better as they always know where the epipen is.

I also have had the teachers do a short presentation with the rest of the class to explain what the epipen is for, so there aren't constant questions to the child carrying them: what is what? Why are you wearing that? etc

When we go out as a family, I generally will carry them for the kids, or DH and I each carry two epipens, unless it's a situation where there are more than two adults and we are likely to split up, like the fair with the grandparents, and in this case, they would wear their spibelts.

Just wanted to mention also the Kozy Epi has great customer service as well. I had asked if they made elastic waist belts, and the woman sewed me two and sent them to me for free.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

I found the customer service was GREAT at Spi-belt!! And, great info Alison's mom! Our son started wearing his when he was 3.5 the summer before he started pre-school. He never fiddled with it, but I often say it's a good thing it wasn't our daughter wearing it because I can guarantee she would have played with it (well, obviously we wouldn't have let her, given her personality at that age, and her natural curiousity with everything!) Anyway, we took great comfort in knowing our son was wearing his Epipen at school. Because he got so used to wearing it, it became just the way he did things... we would hang his Epipen holder on the door handle (we still do this, and our son is nearly 10!) and as soon as he was heading out the door ANYWHERE, he would have to put his Epipen on. It has never bothered him because he just wears it all the time. Sometimes when he's gotten himself ready for bed and has his pajamas on in bed reading, we go in there and he's still wearing his Epipen!! He likes to wear his fairly loose, so I guess it must be really comfortable

heathermum, I hope your daughter will be comfortable wearing the Spibelt. It's certainly very flexible and can grow with your child. Good luck!

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses

Both kids' spibelts are getting holes in them now, DD's spandex one after about 2 yrs, and DS's slightly thicker neoprene water resistant one after one year, but he's the 'rough kid' who is hard on his shoes, clothes, etc. And, it's really really thin neoprene, not squishy at all. I was going to order another two neoprene as they *are* sturdier than the spandex ones, but I had ordered custom in the past to get neoprene with a kid sized belt, and they no longer make custom. I do like them, but wanted somethng in a sturdier fabric. I searched around and found this company http://www.ifitnessinc.com/neoprene-single-pouch.html. Theirs are thicker neoprene and still an elastic adjustable waist band. They don't do custom either, but I ordered two of the adult size and will get someone to alter the length of the waist strap to fit my kids. The rep said it sized down to about 25 inches. I will post a review when we get them.

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

My teenager used the spi-belt on a school trip and it fit her epipens, blackberry and passport

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me: allergic to crustaceans plus environmental
teenager: allergic to hazelnuts, some other foods and environmental

We still like the Spibelt. Our son has been wearing his for about a year now, and no holes (yet). My husband, daughter and I have found them convienient and carry the Epipen, etc. as needed. Our son's has received the most use/abuse. Worn daily for just over a year now, and so far, so good. The zipper seems to twist around a bit, but I can straighten it. He ONLY ever has the Epipen in it, nothing else. He's too young for a phone (he's still only 10). He's not that hard on things, so that could be part of the reason it's still in good shape. Now, if it was our daughter, that's a whole different story. Everyone always thinks boys are harder on things, but in our household, the opposite is true

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses

I find that as long as I kept my EpiPens in a zip top bag it protected the thin spandex fabric from rubbing against the sharp hinges of the EpiPen case. I was starting to get wear spots on my reflective SPIbelt and ever since I started using the zip top bags I have only seen minimal wear. (I wouldn't consider myself gentle on the thing either...) Still a thumbs up from me. Bonus points that I can put my phone and inhaler in it too!

Alison's Mom - Let us know how the iFitness belts compare to SPIbelt!

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anaphylaxis to tree nuts and peanuts; asthmatic, dairy intolerant, vegan
other family members allergic to to dairy, egg, peanut, peach, banana, sesame, environmentals

Ok, the ifitness belts arrived today. The elastic belts are quite a bit thicker, like maybe double the thickness of spibelt, so therefore stretchier and stronger. The neoprene fabric is nice and sturdy.

I knew it would be a tight fit based on the measurements the rep gave me, but figured the neoprene would stretch. Well, it's a *really* tight squeeze, and I'm concerned I will break the zipper by pulling so hard to get two units in there. Even one unit is tight as it's the length, not the width that is the issue. So I'm not totally sure what I want to do. It's not like the epipens will be taken out all the time, but at the same time, I don't want it to be hard to get the units out when needed.

They are made in China vs spibelt that are made in USA, also, and more expensive at around $23 vs spibelt at $16 or so?

I thought about cutting the elastic waistbands off the old spibelts and sewing them onto our kozy epi pouches. . .

FWIW, I was in a running store over the weekend and was checking out their spibelts as there are different types. Turns out the 'endurance' belt is made of a thicker material, in addition to it having stretchy loops in the belt part to put energy gels etc for long distance runs.http://www.spibelt.com/products/special ... nce-series

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema