Can i claim DLA for my son with a Prolapsed Bowel??

Indie_Kid

kate252 wrote: »

so you cant leave hikm alone for a second,

You can't leave 1 years old on their own at all.

We go through about 8-10 nappies a day now as oppose to the 15 he was going through a day but this is still excessive

I think many 1 year olds go through that many too.

Lauzxx

Hi guys

thanx 4 the feedback.

His prolapsed bowel initially occured whilst he was at nursery one day back in November....we were back and forth from a&e 5 times in the space of two weeks...there was an occasion where I didn't have to call an ambulance as I had succeeded in gettin the bowel back in. I asked what could be done about it and the soca had told me that it shall settle down on it's own so it could potentially last til he is 3 or 4yrs old, surgery would be out of the question due to age. After starting the movicol the bowel didn't come out (for about a month) and then the other day it came out and I dealt with it and a week after it came out....it just randomly comes out...the only signs I get is the tone of the cry that my son does as it indicates a lot of pain and he has to lay on all fours to releive the pain.

I believe he had a higher level of care needs than other kids his age as he now doesn't want to eat and fills his nappy in excess of 6-8 times a day... Sorry to be descriptive but the smell is not normal either. The surgeon suggested lactose free milk so I did, came off the movicol, so I did but yet the bowel has still come out!!

As advised by the nursery I have contacted our health visitor who then made an appointment for him to be seen by the doctor and when we did and explained tbd situation, he turned round and said he didn't understand why I was there because he can only refer him back to the original surgeon we saw first, he said he has no knowledge of what to do?! Shocking!

At the best of time ( when the bowel isn't out) his mobility is fine, but when it happens he cannot move.

I will now contact the cab because I feel that I have enough ground to appeal.

Thanx

lauzxx

Lauzxx

For those who commented on him improving due to him using 8-10 nappies a day ad oppose to the 10-15 I stated, each nappy is soiled, out of 8 a day there would be one wet nappy and the others heavily soiled which doesn't add up with the amount of food he now eats.

Aswel ad this, we had a 3 month follow up where the surgeon suggested we try changing milk and stopping medication. That wad on 1st march.... He had another app on 27th april...the condition has been ongoing for 5 months now.

Indie_Kid

Just because he doesn't want to eat, doesn't mean he has higher care needs. Not all children eat the same amount of food.

Indie_Kid

Under 1s – the guidance in the Disability Handbook essentially rests on the incidence of non-standard interventions or actions which the child requires because of his/her disability. For example, all babies require feeding, but if your baby has severe feeding problems or requires feeding by tube into the stomach or vein, s/he would be likely to qualify for the care component.
Babies with disabilities which involve or require the following types of actions or interventions are also likely to qualify: regular mechanical suction, regular administration of oxygen, tracheotomy; dealing with a gastrostomy, ileostomy, jejunostomy, colostomy, or nephrostomy. Babies are likely to qualify who are: severely hearing or vision-impaired; babies with severe multiple disabilities; frequent losses of consciousness; fits which are secondary to asphyxia at birth or to a rare metabolic disease; babies with renal failure, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy, asthma, or who are extremely premature.

Under 2s – further examples are given of children whose care needs may increase from age 1. Likely to qualify are children with brittle bones or haemophilia at risk of fractures or haemorrhage from bumps and falls; mobile children with hearing or visual problems who cannot respond to a warning shout or see a potential danger; children with cerebral palsy with impeded mobility who need their parents to change their position frequently to reduce the risk of postural deformity; children with severe learning disabilities who need extra stimulation to maximise their potential, or who eat undesirable substances or mutilate themselves.
Developmental delay may mean that a child needs a continued level of attention more appropriate to a younger child. The guidance gives a chart of normal development in children up to age 6 as a comparison.
The guidance stresses that this is not an exhaustive list. For example, it does not mention the care needs created by severe eczema/ichthyosiform erythroderma and similar skin conditions. These can often involve a substantial amount of extra care, eg frequent bathing, nappy changing, applying preparations and dressings, comforting a child whose sleep is disturbed.
If your child qualifies for the care component and it seems that the condition(s) giving rise to a need for help are likely to continue, the decision maker may well make an award until the 6th birthday. This is to avoid undue stress on parents and to enable the child’s care needs to be re-assessed after the end of the first year at school. An award for a very severely disabled child with considerable and lasting care needs can be indefinite.

https://www.covlaw.org.uk/welfare/leaflets/dla_child-1.doc

kingfisherblue

With the fuller picture, it doesn't sound as though you would get DLA for your son. My understanding is that he would need higher care needs for at least five days a week and this doesn't seem to be the case. You would regularly be changing a nappy anyway, soiled or otherwise. Also, as sh1305 said, not all children eat the same amount of food - many parents have had difficulty in persuading a toddler to eat anything, never mind something nutritious!

I would also reiterate my earlier point about the fact that you are not trained to push his bowel back into his anus - personally, I would take him to A&E every time this happens and I would also be asking for further support from the medical profession. You may want to contact the PALS service at your local hospital for help in getting the appropriate treatment for your son if you feel that his current level of care is inadequate.

Indie_Kid

kingfisherblue wrote: »

With the fuller picture, it doesn't sound as though you would get DLA for your son.

Yeah. It needs to be reasonably expected that the care would be required for at least 5 days a week.

Aputsiaq

You dont need training to push a bit of bowel back into the passage. Besides which, any "training" given as a Nurse or Doctor is a description of the procedure and then a practice at it every time a case comes along. You have probable done it more times than most Nurses.

The bowel does not need to be surgically clean either, so scrubbing up with masses of sterile gloves, solutions and pads is ridiculous.

It is no more tiring, time consuming or taxing than a Mum/Dad having to give insulin injections to a child.

I doubt very very much that you will get DLA for your son, even when he is old enough.

Lauzxx

Aputsiaq,

unless you have a 20mnth yr old baby who has had this problem then you cannot tell me that 1) u don't need training...how silly is that? Of course there is a skill required to push it back in, bearing in mind the length of which it comes out, the bowel doesn't look like an intestine, it is thick and knobbly, sensitive and bloody. It is thick therefore shoving that back through the anus the unnatural way, as tight as it is and on a baby surely needs training. I've sat in a&e for ages whatching the doctors trying to push it in so don't come with that! And an injection cannot compare sorry, that's straightforward and anybody after being shown can do that....the bowel is likely to rupture or b more suceptible to catching infection.

And secondly, read what ur writing as that isn't informative to me, sounds like ur tryin to gave a go, which ain't helping.

Lauzxx

Sh1305

I've been a mother fir a while now and am fully aware that not all kids eat when they are told etc...I know that. What I am saying is before this problem he was a good eater...since it's happened he has become more aware and surgeon specifically told me that this is because he understands that having to eat will mean he has to go to pass stools, which for him is painful. The surgeon says that babies do have an excellent memory like that.