New baby with Down's - any help re benifits?

Redcedar

We have just had a week old beautiful baby girl who unknown to us until birth has Down's. We love her to bits, she is amazing.

I understand she will possibly be entitled to some sort of benifits but we are so new to this we have no idea what and how/ who to apply to and when.

Can someone please point us in the direction of some help?

Thanks again
Helen x

Indie_Kid

Hi,

You can't claim any benefits (well, you can put a claim in; but won't get any until then) until she's at least 3 months old. You also need to prove that she has more care needs than the average 3 month old.

LittleTinker

Other than Child benefit, that is available to all children....what makes you think you can claim anything for a child with Downs?

You can try to claim all benefits available but unless your child fits the criteria (such as 'Unable to walk or virtually unable to walk' for DLA mobility) then there wont be anything else.

wornoutmumoftwo

Just Child Benefit and Child Tax credits/Working Tax.
Disability benefits are based on need, not diagnosis/condition and all newborns need a great deal of care.

Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful daughter.

kazzah60

LittleTinker wrote: »

Other than Child benefit, that is available to all children....what makes you think you can claim anything for a child with Downs?

You can try to claim all benefits available but unless your child fits the criteria (such as 'Unable to walk or virtually unable to walk' for DLA mobility) then there wont be anything else.

not strictly true - if a child has care needs over and above those of an average baby of the same age then they are eligible.
OP - i suggest you contact the downs syndrome association - they will be in a much better position to advise you of whether or not your lovely baby is likely to receive DLA
if you make a claim and are successful do notify the Child Tax credits people as you will get an enhanced rate of CTC for having a child with a disability.

also- many congratulations on your baby - I am sure she will bring you lots of pleasure over the coming years
KAren

LittleTinker

kazzah60 wrote: »

not strictly true - if a child has care needs over and above those of an average baby of the same age then they are eligible.
OP - i suggest you contact the downs syndrome association - they will be in a much better position to advise you of whether or not your lovely baby is likely to receive DLA
if you make a claim and are successful do notify the Child Tax credits people as you will get an enhanced rate of CTC for having a child with a disability.

also- many congratulations on your baby - I am sure she will bring you lots of pleasure over the coming years
KAren

It is perfectly correct.
If you read my post again you will see that I said "DLA MOBILITY", and did not mention care needs.

Also, DLA is paid for both care and mobility on need......NOT on the diagnosis.

gravitytolls

Congratulations. You may find you have no extra care needs now, but that will pobably change as she gets older. If she does have needs whilst young, you can apply for DLA, and if her needs increase, you reapply and they'll reassess, possibly giving you a higher rate.

In the meantime, enjoy your beautiful daughter, well done.
x

kazzah60

LittleTinker wrote: »

It is perfectly correct.
If you read my post again you will see that I said "DLA MOBILITY", and did not mention care needs.

Also, DLA is paid for both care and mobility on need......NOT on the diagnosis.

ok you are perfectly correct - however the OP is new to the benefits system and you talking about mobility needs is not necessarily helpful when discussing help for a week old baby-as mobility cannot be claimed for a child until the age of 3 years
and if you read my post I specified that care is paid for children who have CARE needs over and above those of a normal baby the same age - i mentioned nothing about the diagnosis

angelicmary85

Hiya,

I seen the title of your thread and had to stop by to post. Congratulations on the birth of your baby!

I have a wee boy with Down's and the first 3 months with him were like a living hell. Although I'm ashamed to say that, it's the truth.

It took between 1.5-2hrs to feed him everytime he needed milk and as he was fed every 3 hrs, we only had about an hour between each feed before it started again. Even through the night I sat up with him for an hour or so just to take one ounze of milk, I was reduced to tears through sheer exhustion. He also got 6 x 20 mins of physio a day but we were refused DLA.

My wee man did need alot of extra care back then but now, at nearly 17 months he can stand, he's trying to cruise, he can crawl at some speed and we don't need to do anything 'special' with him as he is doing so well.

We never really needed the services that were available to us so if you don't want to get involved with them just now you don't have to, we never seen the pead until DS was about 7months old.

My advice to you would be to ride out the difficult part just now as you may find that unless your beautiful wee girl has health probs, you won't get DLA anyway.

I would also like to say that your wee girl should get as much tummy time as possible, even if she doesn't like it very much - my wee man used to whimper but I let him get on with it. The peadiatritian (sp?!) told me that was the best thing I could have done for him as he wouldn't have advanced so quickly without my help at such a young age as it helped his trunk muscles develop.

The best piece of advice I could give you though is to enjoy your baby - she'll soon be up to all kinds of mischief and as children with Down's have slightly less awareness of danger than 'normal' kids, you'll soon not be able to let her out of your sight!

There is so much I could post here but I don't have the time just now but feel free to pm me of you need any advice.

All the best!

angelicmary85

I should have also mentioned this - Although you can claim for a new baby, they won't award you anything (if you get awarded anything) until she is 12 weeks old.

angelicmary85

LittleTinker wrote: »

what makes you think you can claim anything for a child with Downs?

Children with Down's are often more likey to have prolonged feeding times, need physio, appointments with doctors/specialists. They can quite often have heart problems (I think it's 40% of all kids with Down's have this) and bowel trouble. Reflux is often worse than that in normal children as the wee flap in the stomach doesn't close properly due to lower muscle tone.

Then there is the lower immunity to germs which prolongs fighting viruses, possible eye problems, hearing problems and slower reactions.

It also takes longer for gross and fine motor skills to develop.