Treatments/CPT/Breathing

[Rodney]

My son was diagnoised with CF at 8 months, he is now 16 months. He is doing well and holding his own. The little fellow is growing like a "weed". My fear or concern is the older he gets the less he stays still for his breathing and CPT treatments. Somtimes we can't finish due to him "pitching a fit". Yes, we have tried holding him down but we learned quickly this is not a good thing to do, so we give in. I don't want this to become a habbit of his or ours. So far he has stayed clear from infections (since his hospitaliztion) and I don't want to do anything that could make him more sick. Such as slacking on the treatments.

Do any of you have any advise and has anyone else battled the same issue.

It is ok to miss treatments when he becomes too hard to handle?

Thanks,

Rodney, son Coleman w/CF...

 

[anonymous]

the main problem i can see is if you give in whenever he has a "fit", he will quickly learn that the way to get out of doing physio is simple, throw a fit and physio stops! maybe the best thing to do is carry on through the crying? i am sure everyone with cf has skipped physio before but its not a good thing to get into practice doing, or a good thing to encourage.
i am not a parent by the way, but a pwcf, so i just want to say i have every respect for you and i can imagine this is extremely difficult. i read another thread like this on a different board i use, and several of the parents were told that continuing through the crying was a good idea for 2 reasons, one, the child will learn that its going to happen whether they make a fuss or not, so will give up throwing a fit, and two, the crying inflates the lungs really well so is probably helping in the meantime! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">
maybe give it a go for a while (apparently it takes a child 2 weeks to change their "belief system" about something, so i dont know that might be a good time scale) and if there is no improvement then maybe consider other options. im sorry i cant be of more help, hang on in there you are doing a great job <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[seasprite]

Hi Rodney,

We had exactly the same problem when our son was about 2. What I would do was stop the physio when he started to cry, explain why it was important that we do it every day ("I know you don't like this, but..."), and then continue. Sometimes it would take a very long time to complete a treatment, but we always finished. It was a real pain for a few weeks, but then he settled down, and he has never complained since. I agree with the previous poster that it's important for a child to understand that physio is a routine part of his life; once it becomes habitual, he is more likely to carry on with it when you are no longer in charge.

Another thing you might try is to make the time you spend doing physio more inviting for him. When our son was very little, I would sing to him. Later, although we avoided regular TV, we would let him watch children's videos during the physio (check out "Baby Songs" by Hap Palmer). Also, we had a big old recliner in which I made a kind of "nest" for the physio with a comforter and pillows, and I positioned him on a long, king-sized pillow. Next to the recliner was a small table, and when Jordan got older, I always read to him during the whole treatment. As he learned to read himself, I would pick something a little above his usual reading level; often he would get so involved that he would would want to continue reading on his own when the physio was over. Actually, that turned out to be one of the unanticipated benefits of having to do physio: it was a time of closeness when we could talk or read together, and he became a phenomenal reader and writer himself.

Best of luck

Jordan's mom

 

[anonymous]

Have you tried Baby Einstein? When our daughter, now 4 was about 1 1/2, she kicked and screamed. I would let her calm down a little and then start again, but it was always a fight. I then put in a Baby Einstein video and IMMEDIATELY she calmed down and her eyes were glued to the TV. She never put another fight for the next year or so. We now ask her what she wants to watch during her "pat pats". She now only puts up a fight every now and then <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

Best of luck to you!

 

[anonymous]

Just like the other parents I really recommend not giving in.
I had a fighter for a few weeks and sometimes when he is extra tired he will battle me on it but 98% of the time he is good and the other day I was a bit late to do his physio in the morning so he dragged the wedge over to me and told me it was time!
I was shocked as I thought I would never see the day!
I do know how you feel though it is really stressful having to fight them especially when you know that it's important for it to be done.

Best of luck to you!
Rebekah mother to Matt 20mths w/cf and baby on the way wo/cf

 

[anonymous]

Have you tried to "reward" him? It doesn't have to be w/ toys, but like others mentioned, watching a special video during that time, promising to play their favorite game w/ them afterwards if they are good, etc. I remember w/ my daughter, she loved Barbies, so after I would ask her to do something that she really didn't want to do, and she did it w/o crying, throwing a fit, etc, then I would play 15 minutes of Barbies w/ her and after awhile there was no fighting, she looked forward to the task. Different things work for different people. Try some & see how it goes.
Good Luck<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">