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Hospital stays

5 replies

lisa270988 · 23/11/2025 18:26

Advice for surviving a hospital stay with your child. To anyone that's had a few nights in the child ward in hospital with your child how do you manage? Do you get comfortable at night and change into pjs and get into bed or just stay in clothes and sleep in the chair ect do you shower there ect? What do you do about food.

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YellowGuido · 23/11/2025 18:30

Many, many trips to hospital when my eldest was going through cancer treatment. Honestly, it varies depending on how busy the ward is, what type of room you’re in, and the staff. Sometimes we would be able to have a camp bed in my son’s room, in which case I’d get changed. If not, stayed in clothes and “slept’ on chair - although again, depending on circumstances you may find it hard to sleep. Some staff would count parents in for food, others wouldn’t - seemed to depend on how busy they were and how long I was likely to be there. Take books, snacks & drinks, blanket, pillow, phone charger. If you can afford to, pay for the TV - days can be LONG…

YellowGuido · 23/11/2025 18:32

Oh - and generally wasn’t allowed to shower there so having someone to swap with for a little while is advisable, if you can. Hope you and your child get on okay, and that your stay is not too protracted x

Seawolves · 23/11/2025 18:36

Depends on the hospital I think, I spend quite a lot of time in with my little one, our children's ward provides chairs that pull out into a bed, they aren't the most comfortable beds in the world but they are better than sleeping in a chair. We also get fed and can shower (the hospital provide towels). We don't have TVs on our ward but we do have access to free wifi so take a device you can watch TV on if you want to, an extra long charging cable can be useful.

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OtterMummy2024 · 23/11/2025 18:40

Some hospitals have fold down camp beds next to the child. I stayed with DC when they had RSV as a baby. I slept in leggings and a comfy jumper but the mum next door was an old hand (asthmatic 4 year old) and came with a suitcase, pyjamas etc and shared her daughter's bed - not possible when your baby is in a medical cot that is propped up to help them breathe. I went home to shower because I was swapping with DP, but I think there was a shower for parents. Some hospitals are much better set up for parents than others.

However food wasn't provided except that they made a special effort for me because I was breastfeeding & treated baby as though they would eat full meals & we ate the rest (but still did a lot of runs to M&S and Costa).

Hope your child is better soon.

skkyelark · 23/11/2025 23:37

Is this for a planned stay? If so, ask some of these beforehand, as it seems to vary so much. We are very lucky – every bay has a camp bed, they provide bedding and towels for parents, and also feed one parent. I tend to sleep in leggings and t-shirt rather than actual pyjamas, but that's personal preference. Be prepared to be woken when they come in to do obs (and meds, if required overnight). They try to be quiet, keep it dark, etc., but certainly I wake anyhow, too tuned in to any noise coming from the direction of my child.

Be prepared either to entertain your child constantly or attempt to distract yourself constantly, or anywhere in between. DD2 wants to play even when she's very ill, so I turn up with colouring, jigsaws, busy books, picture books, peel-and-stick type crafting, sticker books, small plastic animals, etc. On the flip side, many of the children we've shared a room with have slept a lot or just wanted to zone out and watch a film, and then it's a lot of time to sit and worry.

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