A 4 yr old who is stubborn to do vest.

[trigueros79]

Hi I am a mom of a 4yr old girl who has been diagnosed with CF since a month after birth. She has been in the hospital four time in the last year and has recently begun doing the vest....She complains of stomach pain and not all the time but yells and screams kicks, basically throwing a tantrum so she doesnt have to do. She has understanding beyond her years and teaches me a few thins a time or two, but it has been stressful...

My question is...
At what point does a CF child become accustomed to the vest?
Any tips on how to cope?
What do you do you when you know it has to be done?

 

[wallflower]

I can imagine how flustrating that can be for you. Have you tried making it a "special" time where you two can do something together while she does it? Like reading her a story, watching a movie or playing a game?

If you can find a way to relate it to something she likes to do and can do while on the vest, or with other people so she doesn't feel left out while everyone else is doing other things.

 

[Anonymous1]

My son is also 4 and use's the vest.. he is usually pretty good about it but has his moments. my husband has a xbox and we bought my son a few games so he is aloud to play games when he does his vest. maybe something like that would work for you


Mel

 

[anonymous]

I don't know what kind of health your daughter is in, but all my life I resisted my therapy, so my parents put me in swimming and the rigor of that kept my lungs clear all through until adulthood, and they are still in good shape now though in my late 20's there is a difference. My point is, if she can, try rigorous exercise instead; it will clear out her lungs.

 

[anonymous]

My 4 year old fought the vest at first too complaining that his stomach hurt, he does the vest 2 times a day and the regular pounding 2 times a day. (4 total a day) I sometimes hold the vest away from his belly a little bit when he complains, he also has thrown fits and gets all sweaty and upset, I figure it has to be done, even though I hate him throwing the fits.

 

[anonymous]

I know exactly what you are going threw,my daughter is 13 yrs old diagnosised at 4years old,and after 9 years old she still fights with me every day about doing the vest.She does get on the computer while she does the vest this does help the time pass faster,but she also complains of her stomach hurting her during the vest.I was curious so one day i put the vest on and boy was i suprised,it really squeezed me hard and it takes my breath away.Anyway keep encouraging her to do it.My daughter also statred gymnastics at 4yrs old,she is on a competitive team and practices 12 hours a week 4 hours at a time this really has helped.Good luck

 

[anonymous]

My son 2 started the vest oh around March of this year . He has a G-Tube and they gave me a sponge with a whole in it to protect the Mickey button . That has helped having it and we only do the vest between his meal's like if he eat's at 9:00am I do breathing treatment's at 9:30 and will be done at 10:00am and it will be enough time usualy an hour for his food to have digested quit a bit so we never do it right after meals . HE eat's evey two hour's so timeing has to be sorta right on it . We do this in the morning and at night. I have to hold him on my lap during the 20 minute's and we play and watch cartoon's and I rock him .He doesn't fuss until the last five minute's but hardly ever give's dad a problem . We have to hold him because he has CP,CF, Brain damage and he is blind in one eye .Can't sit by his self yet but has head control . So we pretty much depend on the vest and manual chest pt's to clear lung's along with all the breathing treatment 's he does .

Sonya mom of Hunter 2/w/CF

 

[anonymous]

My son 2 started the vest oh around March of this year . He has a G-Tube and they gave me a sponge with a whole in it to protect the Mickey button . That has helped having it and we only do the vest between his meal's like if he eat's at 9:00am I do breathing treatment's at 9:30 and will be done at 10:00am and it will be enough time usualy an hour for his food to have digested quit a bit so we never do it right after meals . HE eat's evey two hour's so timeing has to be sorta right on it (time managment). We do this in the morning and at night. I have to hold him on my lap during the 20 minute's and we play and watch cartoon's and I rock him .He doesn't fuss until the last five minute's but hardly ever give's dad a problem . We have to hold him because he has CP,CF, Brain damage and he is blind in one eye .Can't sit by his self yet but has head control . So we pretty much depend on the vest and manual chest pt's to clear lung's along with all the breathing treatment 's he does .

Sonya mom of Hunter 2/w/CF

 

[anonymous]

Have you tried adjusting her settings? Maybe her pressure setting needs to be lowered a little?? I dunno, just a thought! My 2 year-okd has been doing 30 minutes (once a day) for 2 months now and she gets fidgety sometimes and has complained a few times when it rubs her skin but those are pretty easy to fix (adjusting clothes, playing with toys, etc). Also, there are different typles of vests (for example, the Vest co. has a full chest vest and a partial chest vest) so maybe swithcing would help??

HTH!

 

[anonymous]

How about trying the manual pounding instead of using the vest? I know that I never grew to tolerate the vest. I HATED it. Even when they came back with it when I was 20 years old I tried it, took it off and said never bring that thing near me again. I know when I was a child my mom and dad altnerated doing the pounding. Mom in the morning, Dad at night. Before school it was a great time for mom and I to do some last minute studying...she would ask me my multiplication tables or if i had a test would review some questions. At night with my Dad, I usually watched some movie or television show. I would try that until she at least gets a little older and maybe can tolerate the vest better.
Margaret
Double lung 11.11.04

 

[HollyCatheryn]

You can try a few things. You can lower the pressure gauge and/or fold a towel to put between her belly and the vest and/or do the vest for half the time and some other form of therapy the other half. If 30 minutes is prescribed, you can do vest for 15 and then play tickle and chase for 15. You can have her swim, jump on a trampoline (big or little, or the bed if that's ok at your house) run around, blow a pinwheel, dance, etc. Anything that gets her active and breathing hard is therapeutic. If you don't have a trampoline and the beds are too high to jump on safely, you can get an old mattress and put it on the floor especially for jumping. You can also have special things that are just for vest time. Perhaps a game, video, story, activity that you do together. You can combine things. You can have her blow a pinwheel intermittently while doing the vest so you know she's breathing deeply. Sometimes we play making sheep sounds (saying "Baa" at different pitches and on different settings). You can play singing and try to out-last each other sustaining a note. This makes the most of the time on the vest. If she's breathing really shallowly it won't help as much. Get creative!

 

[cfgirl2008]

I really don't know what to say about your four year old because when the vest came out I was only 8 eight years old.Sorry that I couldn't help.<img src="i/expressions/puppy_eyes.gif" border="0">


Tiffany 15 w/cf

 

[anonymous]

Hi, I'm Stacey and I have a 3 year old, Jonathan who has CF. He's been doing the Vest since he was about a year old, so he's used to it. But it's a battle every day and night when we do his therapy. He cries "no vest, no vest" until we get it on and then he's fine. We turn on the Wiggles, Bob the Builder or Blue's Clues and he sits patiently watching TV until almost the end. My question is how do you get extra calories into your child?

 

[HollyCatheryn]

Stacey, there are lots of ways to get extra calories. If your son can drink, do something like Reliv. My daughter loves both the Vanilla and Chocolate Kids NOW!, but she also asks for the adult shakes (NOW! and Innergize) that taste like Gatorade. I prefer these shakes over Scandishakes because Scandishakes and the like are mainly about calories, not nutrition. Reliv is mostly about nutrition. Those of us who need extra calories take them between meals as supplements in addition to our regular diet. Lots of people with CF have had great results with improved health because of the combination of nutrition and added calories. (<A href="http://www.geocities.com/MurrensNatureMama/Reliv">www.geocities.com/MurrensNatureMama/Reliv</A>) Also, we talked on another thread recently about getting calories from non-junk food. Lots of things are calorie-loaded. Avacadoes, whole wheat products, whole dairy products, flax oil and flax seeds, nuts, canned soups (high in sodium also, which tends to be good for most people with CF). Try making "ants on a log" - pieces of celery with the canal filled with peanut butter and raisins put on top of the peanut butter. Or apple slices with peaut butter (or almond or cashew butter). If your son has trouble eating a lot, how about juicing? You can throw apples, nuts, flax oil, grapes, spinach, honey, dates, etc. into a blender with a little water and ice and make a smoothie. LOTS of nutrition in just a small cup. Little boys like the green color the spinach makes because it is like army colors or bug guts or snot. Whatever appeals to your son. The younger he is when you start experimenting, the more things he will be open to trying. Give him a little plot in the back-yard and let him grow veggies or plant a few little lemon trees. Most kids are excited to eat things they have grown themselves. Or let him help in the preparation or foods. Anything they can help make or do is more appealing - especially at his age when helping equals playing.

 

[anonymous]

Where can you get those shakes? I have tried the Scandishakes but he really wouldn't drink them. I was even spending $7 per can for Peptamen and he would throw that up. Right now I'm doing half a cup of heavy whipping cream, half a cup of whole milk and three tablespoons of Hershey's syrup. He drinks one of those in the morning and one at night. But I will try anything. He doesn't really have lung complications, he's only had two colds and never had an ear infection. But he has pretty severe pancreatic issues. He takes five enzymes with one of those shakes I make. He just turned three on July 27 and weighs 35 pounds. Which is ok, but I'm always trying to get more! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[trigueros79]

Hi this is the 4yr old's mom, stubborn to do the vest. Thanks your input has been a wealth of information!
I definately feel... not alone.