Easy Sensory Space

Create an easy sensory space, quiet place, or time out hammock in your home by tying an old sheet in a (very) tight double/triple knot over the center of a sturdy table.  Make sure the sheet is tight enough to create an easy place to lay - but not swing -  for safety reasons.

Release Stress Hormones Naturally

Did you know, in laboratory tests, human stress  hormones were found in tears?  Stress hormones negatively affect every system and organ in the human body. Crying provides health by eliminating harmful stress hormones. Haven't you found that you feel relief after a good cry?  So go ahead Mommies of Miracles, and allow yourselves to cry it out as often as you need it so that you can refresh and renew for the special needs journey ahead.

End of Summer Savings = Safe Play Spaces

Have you exhaustively been looking for a way to finance a safe for an affordable play space, ball pit, sensory pit, transitional bed, or even a contained napping space for your child with special needs?  Sadly it is the end of summer, but with the end of summer comes BIG SAVINGS on items like inflatable pools, pool noodles, and beyond.   Inflatable pools make great, soft, contained spaces for children with various levels of ability to sleep, play, roll around, and even bounce without the added worry of injury or escape.  Make sure you get one large enough to hold your child safely and never leave them unattended.

Bedside Wheel-of-Care

Create a care notebook out of photo album sheets, binder rings, and a paper towel holder to keep in your child's room to use as references for daily care, routines, feeding schedules, medications, equipment checks and beyond.  This makes a GREAT companion reference for home health and home nurses, as well as supportive family members who aren't as involved on a daily basis.  This is also great for times of emergencies when you need a quick reference for EMTs, 911 operators, or beyond.  Include contact information for physicians and family, service providers and schools, and everything pertinent to your child's daily care/routine, and even play/sleep/hygiene  schedules.

Cochlear Doll

  Using your child's favorite color non-toxic puffy paint, simply apply it in the shape of a cochlear implant device to a doll with a smooth (hair free) head/ear area and your child can have a doll just like him/her.   Let it dry well before allowing your child to play with the doll.

DIY Ice/Cold Packs

Using a clean leftover feeding bag (from a mechanical feeding pump)
or thick freezer bag (small quart size) add the following ingredients:

2 cups water
1 cup rubbing alcohol
Food coloring for the blue tint (optional)

Place in the freezer until frozen or gelled.  Use in feeding
backpacks as cold packs or as swelling reduces/boo-boo
aids.

If using a feeding bag, you can tie off the extension line with a thick piece of twine or yarn, though it is not recommended to cut it off (which may cause significant leaks).

 

Banish Lint

Surgical tape makes a great lint remover without
leaving glue residue behind on dark clothing!

Inexpensive Wheelchair Coat/Blanket

Snuggie Brand or Slanket Brand - available online -
reverse blankets with sleeves make inexpensive,
quick, and cute solutions for keeping kiddos
in wheelchairs warm and comfortable in cold temps
or for transport from home to car.
They pack away easily in "Go Bags" too.

Save yourself the time and struggles trying to put a coat on your child in a wheelchair, and save some money too!   (Wheelchair coats start at $100 and up).

DIY Feeding Tube Pads

There are a lot of cute and rather expensive vendors
available for solving the eternal problem of a  leaky stoma.  An easy and inexpensive way of containing leaks is to buy make-up pads at your local pharmacy. Just split them halfway with scissors and tape closed with soft surgical tape around the stoma.

These pads come in LARGE quantities at LOW prices, and you are guaranteed every day (or several times a day) that your child always hasa clean and leak free stoma.

p.s. You can also do this with breast pads for children with larger leaks.

Quick Bib

Purchase a multi-pack of dental clips
(3pk around $8-10 dollars) from Amazon.com or online dental supplier
Create a bib out of washcloths, paper napkins, pillowcases, old t-shirts, chux pads, or use as a bib extender for the bibs your child has outgrown.  Throw one in your child's "go bag" to have one for impromptu restaurant visits, and beyond.

Reuse Old Teething Links

Don't throw away those old teething links your
child has lost interest in!  They make perfect line tamers, bag hangers, and an extra pair of "hands" for holding trash bags open.

EZ Wheelchair Cover

To keep your child's wheelchair clean while in use at home, simply throw a twin size sheet over it.  It fits most pediatric tilt-n-space wheelchairs easily and tucks in well allowing for harness and safety belt use.

Protects chair gears and surfaces from food particles/formula spills and minor "messes".

 

Pee Pee Squeezee...

So your child wears diapers and you need to collect a urine sample..ummm yeah, right?  But how??  Here is a quick trick taught to us by a Pediatric PICU nurse for an easy way to collect a small sterile urine sample.

Place a dry/clean diaper on your child and insert several sterile gauze pads (or sterile cotton balls) into the diaper - enough to absorb a moderate amount of urine.   Once your child has urinated, wash your hands, glove up, remove the gauze pads and gently place them into a NEW sterile 60ml bolus syringe (remove the plunger first).  Place the plunger into the syringe and SQUEEZE the urine out into the testing vile(s) or sterile receptacle.  Discard syringe and supplies.

 

Hang'em High to Dry

Drip dry your cleaned/washed feeding tube extension sets by draping
them over a plastic clothes hanger (kids size are the best and least bulky).  Hang on your microwave handle or kitchen cabinet handle overnight and let them drip dry.