Plugging his trach with his finger to talk!

[Baby1107]

I suppose this is good, but where do I draw the line?

Background, we just moved to SoCal so we have No ENT right now to consult with. Austin loves to remove his HME. We replace it constantly. One day last week before I replaced it he put his little finger over the hole and started "singing". WOW! I know this is good, but I was flabbergasted that he figured that out on his own and seemed to really enjoy him self doing it. I figured this was a good sign and placed his PMV on...he held his breath! I had to remove it and GASP! a huge amount of air came out, not good. I waited a day and tried it again, same thing he will not vocalize with it and holds his breath or chokes on his secretions. He looks at me with this what do I do now face...but will not open his mouth until i tickle him after a few seconds and then it is a HUGE GASP! He has been using it since April so this is not a new attachment. He much prefers to go without the HME and use his finger to plug & voaclize and suddenly will not tolerate the PMV. HELP!!! He does take in air then plug & vocalize Is this safe for him? I am afraid he doesn't really know how much air to take in before he plugs and will suffocate. (Well you know what I mean).

What should I do? I want to let him explore and use his finger but I am worried about him 1. not getting enough moisture & 2. doing this while he is not supervised ie: in the morning when he quietly wakes in his crib - we have no nursing.

ETA: He is just under a year old his 1st B-day is next week.

[T-bone]

Abby did the same thing. She is 7 and will still plug her trach with her finger.
I am not a good trach parent, because I just gave up on the HME. I couldn't get her to leave it on EVER. So she went without. She sleeps with a vent and I just turned her humidity up.

I am sure that this didn't help you out at all. I hope you get some advice. I know that this question has been asked hundreds of times, since we have all been there.

Good luck.
Tess

[saywhatyouwill]

that is really clever, especially since not even 1 yet!
i hope you don't think this is a stupid answer, but if he's smart enough to be doing that then i reckon he's smart enough to take his finger away when he needs to.

[Louise D]

Hi and welcome to So. Cal.
Angelo started out using his finger but now has learned to use his chin to cover his trach when he's not wairing his PMV. We just have a 40 min "rest" time in the middle of the day to do cool mist. That seems to help with moisture during the day.

If you need the name of some doctors let me know. We are 15 min from CHOC.

Louise D

[suzanne2545]

Two thoughts. First of all, maybe try experimenting with how long he can go without the HME. THere are plenty of kids who can go quite a while.

Second, I think you want to encourage language exploration as much as you can. What I would be concerned with is getting a little aggressive and having an accidental decan. Watch for that.

[drct1245]

Wow.. that's a smart kid you have!!! Ayden didn't do that until he was about 18-20mo old. I think Austin just wants control and that is why he will allow himself to plug the trach and not the PMV. (Ayden did the same thing until we downsized the trach) My personal opinion was as long as we weren't out and about and just around the house, I would let Ayden plug his trach. And as long as his hands were relatively clean... but he is a boy.
Hope that helps a little...

[JWorthington]

That's pretty clever. Sam has only just started to put his chin down to cover his trach. i would let him carry on doing what he seems happy with, just make sure his hands are clean and keep a close eye on him (not that you don't do that anyway )

julie