Incontinence

I thought I'd start with something pleasant!

My daughter is partially continent.  When she is at home, that is.  She wears pull-ups, just in case, but mostly manages to indicate when she needs the loo, so that we can take her.  She has a specially adapted toilet seat which works pretty well.

Unfortunately, because of lifting regulations and because my daughter is not able to wait very long, school have asked that she goes back into nappies.   That way they can change her when there is enough staff available, rather than taking her to the toilet when she needs to go.

This, as you can imagine, is very upsetting and an insult to the progress she has made in this area.

However, it has meant that we are not in the uneviable position of liaising with the Incontinent Team in order to get nappies for free.  A child in this area is allocated FOUR nappies (or pull-ups, but four in total) per day.  It is just tough if you need more.  You cannot buy them from the shops, because they don't sell them big enough, so you just have to manage.

The nappies that my daughter has been assessed as needing are the adult size 'extra small'.  They are huge and bunch up underneath her, causing a rash.  We were sent a different one to try, on the strict understanding that this was the only alternative available, but they leak badly.

So what do we do?   I am honestly not sure.  We are limping along with the awful ones that cause a rash and bunch up and using highly expensive 'Dry Nites', which we buy ourselves, at home.    Her toiletting is not going to improve much when school have put her back in nappies - or 'pads' as they call them if you are still using them after infancy.

I guess we keep pressing the Incontinence Team to seek out alternatives that are comfortable and do the job.  Also keep pressing school to encourage toiletting skills, rather than discouraging them. 

Two more jobs for the list this week.  And neither of them will be solved overnight, I can tell you.