Time off for hospital appointment ?

[S Stars]

Hi :)

My 6 yr old has hearing difficulties and I have been offered an appointment for the end of this month at the hospital ( been brought forward from feb) the thing is that I d got twins starting g the day before and due to come that day also ( would be their second day)

I am feeling really bad about having to cancel their second day what would you do!?
Was thinking I could try and rearrange the appointment of take them with me?, ??

Half of me is thinking the appointment will be a waste of time as they never do anything except re book him for another check in x amount of months

[sing-low]

I wouldn't take them with me! I had to take one new-to-me baby to the dentist for an emergency appointment for my DS and that wasn't good - couldn't look after her or DS properly.

How bad are the hearing difficulties? Is it something that can wait til February or does it need to be sorted? If the earlier appointment is better then I would explain to the parents what has happened and say you will be taking the morning/afternoon off. You're giving them quite a bit of time to make other arrangements. Realistically, with a cm, this is going to happen and in some ways it can be useful to get the first one done early on as then parents have thought a bit about arranging a back up if you are unexpectedly unavailable.

[moggy]

I have taken mindees to dr/dentist/minor hospital appointment with no problems. All depends on how you own child is (will he be needy? or is he used to it and generally independent?) and how happy you are with travel arrangements- is it a long journey? parking? pram access? etc etc. and if it is going to clash with lunch/naps etc and how if that is a problem. Could be worth a phone call to see if there is another appointment available you can change to, but depends if you want to cause more delay to your son getting seen.

[AliceK]

Is your son going to audiology for a hearing test? My DD has been under audiology all her life (she wears hearing aids) and when she has to have a hearing test it really does have to be very quiet in the room so for that reason I do not take any mindees with me for those appts. They come with me for most other things. As you will have 2 and you have no idea how they will behave I think you need to inform parents you will be taking the AM / PM off and explain why. They must understand that hospital appts come through with very little notice and it's not like a Dr's apt where you can just call and re-arrange, if it's anything like our hospitals you just get the apt card through and if you need to change it you go through to a call centre type number where they will cancel your apt but they cannot make another one you just have to wait for another card / letter to come through your door - all very inconvenient.

xxxx

[tulip0803]

Agree with Alice that unfortunately audiology tests are not an appointment that you can take mindees too due to the need for quiet.

Also I would rather my child was seen sooner than later so I would have to explain that I was very sorry but due to a hospital appointment I would not be able to have for the time that the appointment took. I would also explain that it is not something that I would need to attend every few weeks and explain that normally it would be ok to take them but because it is for a hearing test and quiet is needed it is not possible to take toddlers.

[loocyloo]

I do take mindees for dd audiology appt s ... It's not ideal but no other option as can't find cover for half hour in middle of day! And dh has kept being away else he takes her!

Dd usually goes with audiologist into sound proof room and I wait outside ( never suggested I went in even when I didn't have others with me ) then we chat to consultatant and if he needs to do other tests we are quiet or they go into sound proof room again. Dd is 8 so may be they think she is old enough to go alone but thinking about it-she has been going since just 6 yrs.

It might just be the team here are more helpful/used to other children being around. If I had a noisy mindee I would think about it but mine know how to be quiet and quite like chatting to everyone. It also meant that when mindee had hearing test recently he knew all about it.

[Taleasoldastime]

If you are happy to take them with you, then I would ask parents/cater what they would prefer, you to take them with you or find alternate childcare for that day :)

[gef918]

I recently took a 2yo mindee to my son's hearing test. The mindee was really good and sat quietly on my lap, but if he hadn't then I think it would have affected the test.

When considering whether to take mindees to appointments like that I always think first of my own child - will having the mindee there upset them? do they need to have my full attention? Then I consider the mindee - will they be safe and happy? Then I consider myself - do I need to be able to pay full attention to what the doctor is telling me? There is also the parent to consider, will they object to me taking their child to a hospital/clinic? I will only take mindees to appointments if everyone is happy with it.