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HI Parent Leah’s – Parental Tips for Hospital Admissions

My wonderful but wilful three-year old, recently had an 18-hour safety fast at GOSH. I had been dreading the fast, worried that this would worsen Peggy’s already tricky relationship with hospitals and clinical staff. I wish I had spent less time worrying – the fast was a success, and Peggy remained fairly unfazed!

Some tips:

Contact the Giggle Doctors – charity based, they sent tailored video messages to Peggy to break up her fast. These broke up our stay beautifully, and Peggy found them hilarious!

If able, treat yourself to a lovely lunch before the admission – Peggy loves pizza so we had a big lunch beforehand. I was grateful we fitted this in – Peggy wasn’t so impressed with the NHS dinner offerings (!!), which was a little worrying given she was fasting following this meal. This also meant I wasn’t particularly hungry for an evening meal and could settle on bite-size snacks that I could sneak in without a hungry girly noticing.
Bring back up food for dinner time – see above! There’s a patient fridge on the ward.

Make the most of the wonderful play specialists – they have tonnes of toys that they can select based on your children’s interests. We had a sackful of little gifts and activities wrapped up for every hour, worried Peggy would become bored – but we didn’t unwrap one! There was plenty to entertain Peggy with on the ward.

Succumb to the tablet – if ever there was a time to indulge your kids in endless TV/ films, an 18 hour fast is probably it! Download beforehand!

A later bedtime… looking back, I was grateful that Peggy didn’t fall asleep until much later than her usual routine. This meant she woke later in the morning, leaving fewer hours to get through. We also kept her in her pyjamas for longer, as to signal the day hadn’t officially begun – this helped to limit questions around breakfast time.

Avoid breakfast time on the ward and walking past restaurants/ shops – our lovely bay neighbours consciously didn’t eat breakfast in the bay, which was super kind and thoughtful. However, we made the mistake of heading down to the Lagoon play area at GOSH which happened to be right by the large hospital restaurant. This triggered Peggy’s requests for food.

We loved Chloe the Rabbit storybook, but actually read it afterwards to Peggy (using our own words). Peggy was thrilled to find a character who she could relate to and subsequently showed all of her family! (I was anxious to show her beforehand in fear that talk of cannulas and fasts would cause more distress)

Thank you so much for sending our pack full of downloadable resources from the website. 

Peggy  also has her HI hero certificate proudly displayed on her mantelpiece! Best of luck for any imminent fasts!! – HI Mum Leah

Charity Tips!
1 Support Group – our support group can give great practical advice and tips on hospital stays; some families like to ask on the support group to see if anyone is in at the same time to meet up.
2. Charity Website – is full of downloadable resources to manage medical anxiety, well-being, sensory processing and reward certificates.
3. Parent/Carers – see our website for well-being information