10 tips for taking a roadtrip with your child with disabilities
#1) Have a bag of things you will need while on the road (diapers wipes, change of clothes, food for the one day, any meds they get during the driving time, etc...). Keep this bag accessible.
#2) Pack the rest of the items by placing like objects together. So feeding and formula together, diapers and chux and enemas and caths together, clothes together, etc.
#3) Place these grouped items into clear bins with lids. They stack nicely in the hotel room. It is easier to find items in clear bins rather than in suitcases.
#4) Stop and get child out of wheelchair every hour and half to prevent bedsores. We carry
this yoga mat and can lay her down on the grass or a the top of a picnic table. Our rule of thumb is that she needs to be out of the wheelchair for at least 20 minutes every hour and a half.
#5) Get a EZ on vest if you have a bench seat. This allows the child to lay down and still be buckled up. Then you can alternate between the wheelchair or carseat and laying down. You can borrow one from the carseat clinic at Primary Children's Hospital and then if you like it you can buy it from them. Just call the main number 801-662-1000 and ask for the carseat clinic.
EZ-on modified M203 is for kids ages 2-5 and EZ on modified 101 M2 vest is for older kids.
Here is a brochure
http://ezon.impactfulmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/EZONvehicleCatalog_2005.pdf
And here is the website.
http://ezonpro.com/
#6) To protect her privacy while changing her brief (diaper) we lay her on the yoga mat listed in #4 and cover her up from the chest down with a flat sheet. Mom goes under the flat sheet and takes care of business. I'm sure it looks ridiculous from the outside...but it works. Or if we can find a corner...I can have 2 traveling companions hold the sheet up hiding us in the corner.
#7) If your room doesn't have a freezer...and your formula needs an icepack at night or you need to carry formula (and keep it cool) during the day use doubled up baggies. Use the hotel icemaker and do a baggie inside a baggie. (Only the inner baggie has ice).
#8) Do not get a disabled hotel room. They typically only have 1 bed.
#9) Bring extension cords and power strips to plug machines into.
#10) Bring garbage bags so you can take your stinky trash out of your hotel room to the dumpster without it smelling up your room. You may also want to bring some M9 or other air freshner.
Please comment below with other suggestions you have for packing for a roadtrip!
