Quiet occupations

My little boy will be having some surgery soon. It is supposed to be fairly routine, one day in hospital for preparation, blood-work, meetings with the surgeon and the anaesthetist etc. and then one full day in hospital for the surgery itself; I should be able to go home with him in the evening. We have been told to keep him quiet for a week after surgery. I am really nervous about this and what to be as prepared as possible. I also feel guilty of making such a fuss because I know so many children have to go through much worse.

I am not sure what to take with us to keep him as happy and distracted as possible in hospital. He is very wary of strangers and strange environments and at the initial appointments just sat in my lap and buried his face in my shirt, close to tears but being very brave as long as he was on my lap. The doctors were great and even examined him there.

I am even more uncertain what to do with him at home to keep him quiet for a whole week, especially as he will probably be pain-free after 2-3 days. He is a very active little guy, running and climbing and jumping ...

I have hidden new books and some of new toys and have a good supply of crafts stuff. Unfortunately (at least in this situation), he is not interested at all in TV.

I am sure some of you have experience with surgery for the little kids. Do you have any tips? Anything special to ask for at the hospital or to take with us to the hospital or to get for that week at home? Anything we should have at home post-surgery that I might not think of? Thanks for any help.

 

Hi - My son had surgery and here are some suggestions. There was a lot of waiting around so I would recommend having a few new toys that he has never seen before to play with. Nothing fancy - just maybe a little car or new books, stickers or whatever. You can then give these out over time. You said he's not interested in tv so this may not help but I had a portable DVD player that was great for keeping attention for a little while. Mine was young so I just had Sesame Street videos. Bring stuff that is easy to move around as for me we moved a lot and I was by myself with my little guy having to try to carry everything. Which reminds me - try to bring someone with you to help! I found it helpful to have a small toy that fit in my child's hand that he could hold when he was scared..

At home: try to find some fun crafts to do, games, movies (if he will watch them.) Not sure how old your child is - but we took trips to the mall with him in a stroller. Maybe set up a tent or something for him to pretend to camp in. Lots of books and toys inside to play quietly with (keeps him contained but is fun and new.) Plus lots of special treats to eat and make him feel special. A couple games that are to be played only on the couch or bed would be good (you can make them up....matching games or cars or whatever.)

Hopefully your hospital will be as wonderful as the one we were at. The nurses and doctors were amazing and gave my little guy toys and then a teddy to take home and he was actually quite spoiled.

Good luck, it is natural to be nervous and I know I felt like a wreck that day....but I'm sure it will go well and soon he will be running all over again!

 

Keeping a toddler quiet is going to be challenging. I don't have any fool proof methods though. But as far as new, simple toys I did just buy my 25 month old boys these B Wheeee-ls Cars from our local Target and so far my guys LOVE them! You just pull them back and then they lurch forward, no batteries required. We took the boys to the pediatric development specialist the other week and they had these cars in the waiting room which was a big hit, so I knew I wanted to get a set for home. Another idea is to get a LARGE dry erase board that they can color/draw on. I say large because I made the mistake of letting our boys draw on our small 4 x 6 in or so board yesterday with dry erase markers...and within 60 seconds they had got the dry erase markers on the couch (I don't think that stuff stains though, will find out soon). So tonight we bought a very large dry erase board from Big Lots for only $7 (way cheaper than a large board at Target), and I bought some Crayola crayons that are for dry/erase boards. Tomorrow I plan to let them draw/color to their hearts content on that dry erase board, and if some crayons get on the hardwoods then they should wipe right off.

Good luck to your son, and you!

 

I know you said he's not into TV but would he like a video game thing? You could get him a leapster explorer or something similar, or if you have an tablet/smartphone get some apps that he could play with (they have lots of things designed for kids). If that's not in budget or you don't think he'd like it then maybe something like the LeapFrog book pal/junior book pal. If he likes books he would probably enjoy it, it reads books out but also has sound effects and things for the pictures.

Good luck, I hope his surgery and recovery go as well as possible.

 

Our kids are very interested when we play DVD's of the family. They like seeing themselves as babies, and we talk about what was happening at the time. We also have pictures on our computer of them at different events, and it will hold their attention for a while. Good luck!!

 

I found it easier to take mine out when I had to keep him quiet. He'd be strapped in the carseat, then the stroller, then back to the carseat and home to nap.

It was tough, but you might be surprised about TV- before Orion's surgery he only really liked Elmo. After his 24 hour pH test in the hospital he has a newfound love for the Hot Dog song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Laurie Berkner videos...

 

One of my girls fractured her leg when she was 17 months old, ended up needing a thigh high cast. I really didn't believe the orthopedic doc when he said give her a couple of days, and she'd be up walking on it, so I stocked up on a bunch of quiet things to do... Well, she really was up and about after a couple of days!

But the biggest hit that I found for those couple of days she really was hanging out on the couch was a Magna-Doodle. I got them the larger ones so plenty of room to scribble. The thing *I* loved best about it was the drawing stylus is attached, so no constant retrieving and that they could just clear the screen and start over. They're still really big hits here!

Good luck and hope he recovers quickly.

 

Thank you for all your ideas.

The Magna-Doodle is a good idea. I have seen online that there also is a portable version, maybe a nice investment for future car trips too.

The book pal idea is interesting - I never noticed them before but it sounds like something he would enjoy. I will have to go and have a look at our book store.

The family DVD recommendation reminded me that they love looking at family photos, both of themselves and the extended family, pointing out who is who and talking about them.