Does everyone take their child out?

[Melisande]

I think everyone is different. I didn't take Donovan out pretty much the first year, except doctor appts, one trip to see family, and one to the mall to see Santa (as if there weren't germs there!). Since then, we started going out more regularly, at least one or twice a week, minimum. He starts at the Developmental Center in August. I don't think it hurt him the first year, but I think being at home, since he's an only child and there are very few other children around, has held him back somewhat developmentally. I am looking forward to seeing how he does around other children. I think it will motivate him much better than we, our nurses, or his therapists ever could!!! How do you "make" an almost 2 year old do therapy anyway? He sees them coming!

Anyway, he's thoroughly enjoyed traveling. He LOVES the van and going bye-bye. I don't want to treat him any different than any other child, sick or not. He is in awe of the world. I remember the first time we took him for a walk in our neighborhood when he got home from the hospital. He'd never seen trees before and he just looked and looked at them. He still LOVES the outdoors. Last night, I took him out, after he lead me to the door and grabbed the doorknob for the first time, and showed him the full moon. He just grinned and looked around in awe. I said, "it's night time, everyone has gone nite-nite. That's the moon, baby. Do you see the moon?" Then, I howled at the moon and he grinned at me. It's just amazing to see your child learning new things everyday.

I also agree with others that the world needs to see our kids too! I think you have to balance medical needs with what is "normal" for children. Lots of doctors and medical professionals don't understand that, but I think kids do and parents do too.

Don't feel bad for not taking your daughter out though. This is a good topic and when you live in isolation, like many of us do, you don't have much to measure by. We're all learning this anyway!

I'll tell you this though, Donovan would be a major couch potato if I didn't take him out! And I just about went crazy the first year with anxiety and depression. A definite contributing factor was not feeling like I was safe to do anything or take Donovan anywhere. It has helped me A LOT to get out more too.

Thanks for bringing this topic up.

[indiemum]

I swore from day one that I wanted Indie to have as normal a life as I possilby could, so we took her out all the time everywhere we went. I would leave her at home if she was sick but otherwise we always took her.

I used to be bothered by the way people stared but then one day I decided not to take on other people's "stuff". I have learned the fine art of looking past people and not caring one bit what they think. I don't think there is a right or wrong, you have to do what works for your life. My motto is.....if someone can figure out that I am suctioning, then they are staring too darn long. You are a great mum and I understand wanting to protect your baby. At the end of the day, we will all have wonderful well adjusted kids.

Kelly

[Judy]

It is not easy taking a child with a trach outside the house but we do it all the time. We are careful to avoid taking her out if it is too cold or even too hot. We have 4 others (2 of them are also in wheel chairs and 2 are 20 and 24 months who usually are in a double stroller). We avoid all smoking areas if at all posisble or hurry past them if they are unavoidable.

As difficult as it is to take her out, we want her to live as "typical" a life as she can. There is so little she can do and this is the least we can do for her. We have found that
for the most part she stays healthier than some of the others.
Maybe it is her oxygen. I threatened earlier this week to start sharing hers with her to help my allergies. (I finally got an allergy shot...ha!)

Take your little one out as often as you can. It will do the child and you a world of good. Of course you and the other girls need some time for each other too.

Good Luck and God Bless You.

Judy, Ken and the 5 very special Angels

[LeslieML]

We made a promise to ourselves before Chase came home, he was part of the family and would do what we did.
I think it was about a month and we were taking him to breakfast with us on Sunday's. We are lucky that down here in Florida there is a no smoking policy at restaurants so that helps big time.
Even in the beginning with the vent and the 24 hour feedings by pump we would do it. We even would wake up early during the week to move Chase outta his room as we didn't want the nurses to let him lay in there all day..he had had enough of that in the NICU as far as we were concerned.
Slowly Chase has "lost" some of his euipment and he goes everywhere we do now. We just make sure there is plenty of anti-bacterial wipes in the bag and wipe everything down. He gets excited to hear "wanna go bye bye". His favorite places are WalMart and Home Depot!
Don't get me wrong, on Saturday I do the grocery shopping and stuff WITHOUT Chase as that is MY escape. Dad does his whatever men do on Sunday without Chase but other than that we all do stuff together

[LeslieML]

forgot to say that one time while at the Japanese steakhouse we had to suction and a little girl about 8 years old was veeerrrryyy interested...when she saw that I was done out came the questions..when I explained he had a hard time breathing..she said "Oh, Asthma, I know about asthma" and we just left it at that! When she found out it was "asthma" she totally lost interest!

[Alethia]

We're planning on sending Angus to nursery soon. I've applied to the one Juliet went to and the manager said that was OK. I'm hoping that the Home Vent service can come to some arrangement with the ward and get him into nursery 2 days a week to start with then more days as his care team becomes complete. Ultimately he needs to be there full time while I'm at work. I don't plan on keeping him away from the rest of the world and germs until he's decannulated. I'm a novice though, so I may change my mind once he's been whacked with a few chest infections. I never was careful about stuff apart from basic hygiene with his sister, and I've been the same with him - just lots of handwashing. Other than that, if he drops his toy on the floor I just hand it right back to him. I don't stop him chewing things.

We take Angus out to the park or to a cafe at weekends, and the nurses take him out of hospital to the park or up the high street during the week in his buggy. He seems to enjoy it, and I think he'll LOVE nursery. He's never happier than when he's sitting in his Bumbo seat on the floor with his tray in front of him, and Juliet is playing with Anna and Sabeel (other residents in the ward) around him. His little face just lights up and he loves the attention.

Lots of love,

Kate

[Momi2AntnJadyn]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Jackie @ Mar. 13 2002,06:58)]I love taking my son (Jay- 20 months) out for shopping and etc. He loves being outside. At first, I was so worried about all the germs in the world. But as the time went by, I realize Jay needs to be exposed to the world and that I can't keep him under my wings forever. When the weather is nice, we take the stroller out for a walk around the neighborhood. We take him to McDonald's, to the park and to shopping center. All babies are curious about everything. They want to see, touch and taste (yuck!!) and just because they have trach, I don't think we need to limit them on what they should do *^^*

I completely agree with this... Jadyn goes everywhere with us, for the most part. She needs the vent while she sleeps, but usually she doesn't fall asleep during the day, so I just take it with and leave it in the car. I bring her KidKart, "go-bag", suction machine... which is a lot, yeah, but we manage. Just pile it all on the KidKart and go in wherever we're going. I used to just carry her and the suction machine in, but she's getting too big just to lay in a booth, or in an infant seat of a shopping cart like she is a baby. I am really not overly paranoid about germs, and I've never been too hesitant to take her out, and I can say that Jadyn has not been really sick very often. Most of the time she'll get sick with a cold or something, but get no worse than any of the rest of us. She has her times, yeah, but I think any kid with a trach, lung issues, etc. does.