Any advice for surviving a week in hospital with DD 2.5?

[thelittlestkiwi]

After 18 months of investigations my DD's Dr has decided she needs an operation to clear an obstruction in the tube between her bladder and kidney. She will be in for 5 days and have a catheter for that time but otherwise should be fairly well.

It's all a bit scary and I wondered if anyone had any advice on how to manage things while we are there? My OH should get parental leave. We're in NZ and one of us will be staying with her the whole time. (For the kiwi's, she'll be in Starship.) She had a test under general this week and cope well but has been quite hard to manage since- lots of tantrums and says the Dr hurt her :(

take books, magazines, puzzles with you and any speical cuddle yoy she may have. Do they have a play room? How about clown doctors? Also they often have colouring in for th hospital radio and you might be able to take her down to see what they do.
Good luck and don't forget to drink lots of water, and have fruit with you. I found grapes, watermelon any juicy fruit really good.

Here the play specialists on each ward are great at keeping the children entertained so if you have them make the most of them

iPod/portable DVD player are always useful as is a good stash of snack, magazines etc.

Perhaps by a small new toy for her each day as something new and exciting?

Stick to your home routine as much as possible, get up and dressed, don't sit in bed all day unless she is unable to get up, keep bedtime routine.

My DD was in for 15 days aged 2yr 10mo and the play specialist emphasised this. Talk about what is happening, get the docs to speak to her not just you. Get her agreement to do things (is it OK if nurse takes your temp now?). Staff on children's wards are ususally excellent at this sort of thing.

Thanks all. She coped well with her day stay this week but has been very difficult since.

She's a very active kid so I'll take your advice mama!

My DD who is 3.5 was in hospital for over 10 days in November as she had pneumonia. As mama said, keep as much to her usual routine as you can. Use the play room or bring the toys to her bed if she can't get there. Have a word with the play specialist and tell her what she enjoys...she'll sort stuff out for her.

I took in all favourite toys, her fluffy fleece that sits on her bed, books, favourite food. In fact, everything I could that was familiar to her. By the time we went home we needed a lot of bags to shift it all! However, she really took the stay in her stride.

Have presents for her to open incising a special hospital bear to look after her and some new books. Also have things to keep you entertained - mags etc, and fed as you'll be hungry. Take advantage of people offering to visit - it'll make time go quicker. Good luck.