Here - Health Promotion Agency

Illness and accidents
C HILDREN
IN HOSPITAL
Hospitals can be strange, frightening
places for children. Being ill or in
pain is frightening too. There’s no
parent who isn’t anxious to do all
they can to help their child.
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Prepare your child as best you
can. You could play ‘doctors and
nurses’ or ‘operations’ with
teddies and dolls and read story
books about being in hospital.
It’s worth doing this even if you
don’t know your child is going
into hospital. Quite a large
number of under fives do have
to go into hospital at some stage,
and many go in as emergencies.
Be with your child in hospital
as much as possible. It’s
extremely important for you to
be with your child in hospital as
much as possible and, with young
children especially, to sleep there.
Do all you can to arrange this.
All hospital children’s departments
now have some provision for
parents to stay overnight with
their children. Talk to hospital
staff beforehand and be clear
about arrangements, what will
happen, and so on. You may then
be able to explain at least a part of
it to your child.
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Talk with hospital staff about
anything that will be important
for your child. You may need to
explain cultural differences. Staff
should know, for example, if
hospital food is going to seem
very strange to your child. Try to
discuss ways of getting over
problems like this. Also tell staff
about any special words your
child uses (such as for needing to
go to the lavatory), any special
ways of comforting, and so on.
Make sure something like a
favourite teddy bear or
comforter goes into hospital
with your child.
Be prepared for your child to
be upset by the experience, and
maybe to show it in one way or
another for some time afterwards.
Reassure as much as you can.
You can get a lot of helpful information
and advice on how best to cope when
your child is in hospital from Action for
Sick Children (address on page 148).
C OMMON
COMPLAINTS
SMOKING AND
CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES
Children who live in a smoky
atmosphere are more likely to get:
90
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Explain as much as possible to
your child. Even quite young
children need to know about
what is happening to them, so
explaining as much as possible is
important. What children imagine
is often worse than reality. Be
truthful, too. Don’t, for example,
say something won’t hurt when it
will. Some hospitals will arrange
visits for children and their families
before the child is admitted for a
planned treatment or operation.
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coughs and colds;
chest infections (temperature
with a bad cough);
asthma attacks;
ear infections and glue ear.
Every year 17,000 children are
admitted to hospital because their
parents smoke. If you can’t stop