Really want to support baby nephew & sister help please!

[Paige2207]

Hi

My baby nephew took really ill (x3 viruses in his lungs) after his first birthday and to the point he stopped breathing and lost oxygen to the brain for 20 minutes and now has brain damage. It’s been sad to watch a happy, curious about the world little boy go from pulling himself up to now crying constantly in pain, unable to see and has little movement and needs 24 hr care.
He’s had his weekend passes and is due to be discharged soon. I want to be around to help as much as I can and help lighten the load. Does anyone know how I can interact with him, like I try singing songs..reading books etc but something / anything to take his mind off the pain?
I’ll try anything, or maybe a link / page where it could be useful?
Thanks for reading x

I'm so sorry this has happened to your nephew. I have no direct advice but there are two charities I know of that work with children with brain injuries and they may be a good place to start:

The Children's Trust:
www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk

Cerebra:
cerebra.org.uk

The best thing you can do is to educate yourself about brain damage, so you know what to expect. The link in the above pp is very useful. Other than that, talk to the parents and find out what they are doing to help the little fellow. Good for you, wanting to help.

How awful for your nephew and family

I’ve no experience either but I would guess that sensory play is going to be very important. Stimulating particular senses may distract from pain in other areas? Or may in general be enjoyable for him.

Hopefully you can get some good advice from the charities.

It’s great that you want to help and be hands on. His parents will need a lot of support.

Thank you all for reading and replying. @livpotter I’ll have a look at the links you suggested, really helpful!
@stellabelle and @openupmyeagereyes thank you both for your advice. I’ll do more research and speak to my sis & brother in law, luckily we have a large family and the love and support they will get will be immense.

Thank you for your kind words, they’ll get there x