How can I possibly hate the hearing aids that give my son the “normal” hearing that he deserves? The hearing that will help him to learn speech, hear the world around him and learn the word “no”! And yet there are days where I have chased Zack’s hearing aids at least 100 times (no exaggeration), wiped them clean and check the batteries. At the end of those days I’m so happy to lock them up in their little container and not see them for another 12 hours. Some days, I just let them rest in their container all day and never put them on.
Let me explain that my days are also filled with going to therapy, physio exercises to practise, gtube feeds, naptime, making time for Zack’s twin Jayden, making meals, laundry, maybe taking a shower, driving my oldest son to and from school and following up with doctors and specialist appointments via email or phone. The hearing aid chase seems to be the “straw” that breaks this mommy’s back. And yet, as any good mommy would- I feel immense guilt for denying him his right to hear.
My son was diagnosed with a moderate to severe hearing loss at 4 months of age. March 26th is his 2 year “hearing aid” anniversary. From the beginning, the golden rule in the non-hearing world is that aids should be worn every waking minute. I must not be the only mommy who feels this is a huge goal to start with or to expect from any child or parent.
Here are some tips to help make this more manageable in your busy day;
- One mom-preneur designs and sells hats for children with Cochlear Implants or Hearing Aids. I’ve ordered Zack a blue camoflage hat that ties under his chin and has mesh at each side, allowing sound and speech to be heared clearly. It also eliminates the ability to pull the aids out therefore making wearing hearing aids a more pleasant and positive experience for everyone. Check out http://www.silkawear.com/ for these unique hats that eliminate the “chase”.
- Our wise and wonderfully understanding Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) understood how I was feeling and helped me to come up with more reasonable goal in our very crazy life. Twenty aided minutes per day is a great starting goal. Work your way up to two 20 minute “aided” sessions doing different activities (ie. meal time for one, playtime for another). Work your way up to longer sessions.
- Don’t feel guilty…but be patient and hang in there! By staying committed to building up time from a reasonable goal and keeping your cool when you have to put the aids in several times, your child will learn after 6-8 weeks that you mean business and the game of throwing them is a thing of the past!
I have to say that after one week of our new routine, I love the hearing aids again! I choose a 20 minute part of our day when I can sit beside Zack and discourage him from taking out his aids. We play, sing, he can ride his care, we do exercises and when it is time to remove the aids…its my choice, not his. This empowering new schedule is embraced by me and my husband and we are committed to working our way up to two 20 minute segments, then longer segments until Zack keeps the aids in and the chase is over!
Let me know if you have any ideas that worked for you!!!!