Has anyone taken a 2 year old for a test

[lancslass17]

My son has an operation booked in a few weeks we have been told to get a test 3 days before then self isolate until operation day.

I can't get my head round how I do it
I'm sat in drivers seat
He sits behind passenger in his car seat with a window that doesn't open
I can't get out of the car ( I assume)
Never mind the fact I can't get him to open his mouth to brush his teeth!!

Anyone been what did you do?

I took my just turned 3 year old with my husband.

We put his car seat (rear facing) on the passenger seat and I sat in the back.

When we got to the venue my husband held our son’s arms and head still whilst I leant forwards into the front of the car and did the test.

For children who won’t reliably open their mouth and comply you only have to do the nasal swabs.

If an oral swab is attempted and the tip touches the tongue/gums/cheek etc then it invalidates the test - hence why we were told to do nasal swabs only because there’s no way our son was going to cooperate with an oral swab.

Ive done it twice to my (now) 22 month old - not at the same time - once he had a temp at nursery, once he just had a bit of a grim cold just before visiting my bro and pregnant gf.

I rolled the passenger seat forward and climbed through into the back with him to do it after doing it on myself first so he knew what the deal was.

It is not easy keeping a cotton bud up a toddlers nose/ poking his toncils for 10 seconds but it seemed to work.

They dont like it. Be prepared for tears. I'd highly reccomend providing a reward or treat afterwards.

Either you move car seat to be in front beside you for the trip to test site, or you need to climb through to the back. You do it on him. Not pretty, but DH just pinned our 2yr old and did it pretty quick. Had sweeties ready for straight after. You do need to stay in there a while to make sure you get a clear result. Also take phone/tablet/entertainment to give you time to read instructions in peace. Good luck!

Did my 2 year old earlier - he's rear facing but the seat spins so I spun him round just before we got there (pulled over in a field), then pulled the passenger seat forwards when we got there to reach him in the back. As others said, it was nose only - 10 seconds per nostril, didn't have to be continuous. 2 chocolate biscuits as a reward! Honestly way less stressful than I thought it would be. Did show him a YouTube video of someone doing it before we went so he knew vaguely what to expect. He thought it was hilarious that the man wanted his bogies on a special stick!

Thanks, his car seat won't go in front and I am not comfortable doing it on myself, so ideally would get someone to do it for me.
Just going to be some clambering around a tiny car

his car seat won't go in front and I am not comfortable doing it on myself, so ideally would get someone to do it for me.

Then that person just sits in the back with him

Yes climbed into the back from front seat. You can do both nostrils at that age if you cannot get them to open their mouth. That's what I had to do.

Do you mean not comfortable doing it on him yourself? Parents do it on all under 12s.

And to my knowledge if it’s you getting a test too, it’s self test on yourself when he’s getting a self test, we’ve had a few and we only got it done by a healthcare person when it was only 2 adults getting tested, we had to do it ourselves when kids were getting tested. Tbh it was much more pleasant doing it myself!

Yes I have had a test and can't do it again to myself so would need someone to do it for me ( to us both)

Yes I have had a test and can't do it again to myself so would need someone to do it for me ( to us both)

I don’t think that’s an option.

Who is going to climb into a confined car and take samples from potentially Covid positive people when they probably haven’t even been trained to do it.

It was my understanding that unless in a clinical setting all tests had to be done by the individual themselves and the parents do it for the children?

Very happy to be told differently though just just in case any of my children require another one.

I agree it’s not an option to get someone to do him, as far as I can tell. When we tested alongside kids, we all got self tests, but when just adults getting tested, they had ppe on and had us roll down the window. Kids were in back tho.

I think in your circumstances you should phone 111 for advice. And to reiterate - having it done on me was far more forceful and unpleasant than doing it myself.