how to keep 16mo still for ultrasound?

[ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts]

my ds has a vsd and needs yearly heart scans. his first was when he was about 3mo and now we have his second one next week. how will i keep him still? last time it took about 20mins to complete the scan and at his young age he didn't move and it was easy. at 8mo he had to have a scan on his hips and it was a nightmare to keep him still and i had to pin him down and he was screaming

now he needs another and he's so much older and so much more mobile. i can't occupy him for more than a couple of mins before he dashes off to find something more interesting to play with. he is a big boy (91st centile) and very strong and if i have to hold him still he will scream and the Dr won't be able to hear the beats that he needs to.

if anyone has any recommendations or advice it'll be much appreciated. im at a loss really. he won't lay still long enough for even a nappy change just lately.

excuse poor grammar im on my phone.

The staff will be very experienced with scanning kids his age and may well have a play specialist and /or distraction theraphies to help

last time it was just the Dr in a small room. im really nervous about distressing him as it is something he needs to get used to. i don't want to put him off iyswim.

Dd has 6 mOnthly heart scans, up until 18 months it was a breeze, since then a nightmare... She's 2.6 now. Bribery sort of worked last time (as did peppa pug in the tv they have in the scan room).

Dd is at royal brompton for her scans and they are very good but sometimes it's all a bit too much for dd to handle and remain calm. It must be scary fir them.

I dont think there is much you can do ither than be loving, reassuring, distract and bribe. Oh - just remembered, when they put those sticky things on to monitor the heart before the ultrasound she was very good (we called it a sticker game).

Play specialists can help, dd has to have regular tests of various sorts, and sometimes when all else fails medazilan works a treat x

we didn't have those last time so not sure if we will this time. im.hoping nothing has changed and we can keep to yearly. i hope your dd is ok. we are with GOSH but they come up to my local hospital once a month which im thankful for.

bribery won't work he is too young. he doesn't watch tv all he wants to do is run and climb (such a boy!)

what is.medazilan?

Its a pre med (my spelling might be off a bit) which leaves them sleepy & calm but not totally out of it. Obviously that would be a last option not a first option.

Ask for a play specialist from the childrens ward to come down (assuming they see you in a clinic type thing)

We're under john radcliffe, sheffield childrens hosp & GOSH (neuro issues) and our neuro consultant also comes to our local hospital which is useful & saves the long trips for the more important tests x

yes it is a clinic thing over from the children's ward. i will ask if there is someone to help Thank you

DS2 had 2 heart scans done at 16 months...one in our local hospital which quite honestly was an absolute nightmare and involved 3 packets of chocolate buttons to keep him still and Elmo on DH's phone. However we then got sent to GOSH and I said that after the last experience there was no way he would be able to keep still and he laid there perfectly without moving which for him is nothing short of a miracle.

The only difference was the person doing it-he was amazing and so completely calm with him that DS2 was almost mesmorised. They had 2 Cardiology Fellows in there as well as they wanted to see if DS2 had what they though he had and they had some bubbles which they were blowing for him as well which really helped so might be worth taking some of those with you. He didn't need to be quiet as such but it was a rather long scan and was quite uncomfortable for him because of where they had to put the scanner (right into his neck).

So I think as long as they have experience with children then you should be ok-our local hospital hasn't got a peadiatric cardiology dept so they very rarely do Echo's.

well this is in special children's bit so im hopeful there'll be something to distract him. bubbles is a brilliant idea thanks!

hi just to update... scan went well he cried through the whole thing but he laid still so it was still fine to do it. it only took 5 minutes as luckily the hole in his heart has closed by itself so brilliant news all round thanks to everyone for your advice bubbles were a welcome distraction when he had to have his BP done but we peaked too soon and he wasn't interested when it came to doing the scan... typical