Trach vent stroller set-up
Disclaimer: This post is mostly targeted for parents of trach/vent babies. Feel free to keep reading if you are not a medically complex parent, but you probably won't find anything too interesting in this post :)
When Harper was getting ready to come home from the hospital, she was 9 lbs. Like the size of 0-3 month old baby. We had great experiences with the PT and OT services at the hospital, but their suggestion for a stroller set up was a $5,000 medical-grade stroller (paid for by insurance, but still). The stroller had a wheelchair seat on the top with a stroller base. Now, if Harper had multiple disabilities, or we had any indication that Harper's physical differences would extend far into childhood beyond the trach, we would probably have considered this option more seriously. But, a 9lb infant who could barely hold her own head up looked REALLY ridiculous when strapped in a wheelchair seat. Aside from the tube hanging out of her neck, Harper was (and is) a very normal baby. So, I felt like a traditional stroller with car-seat adaptation was the best fit for Harper... the only problem is that finding a stroller that can easily hold all of your medical equipment without tipping over, and figuring out how to configure it seemed like a challenge. I searched the internet high and wide for stroller options for trach/vent babies and found NOTHING! Maybe there are great posts out there, but I couldn't find anything, so a few months in to being home with Harper, and having figured out a few tricks to life at home with a trach/vent baby, I decided a post like this may be helpful.
Reasons we decided on a traditional stroller rather than a medical-grade stroller:
- The medical grade stroller can not be made adaptable to a carseat. If you are a trach/vent mom getting ready to take your sweet one home from the hospital, let me assure you a carseat adaptation is a GAME-CHANGER! You will be lugging, a ventilator, probably oxygen tanks, a go-bag, a suction machine, a pulse oximeter, and oh, don't forget your baby! It is a lot to manage especially at first. Keeping your little one in the carseat and being able to easily (I use that word lightly) transfer them from stroller to car is a huge time-saver, and will make your life a lot easier.
- A traditional stroller is easier for getting in and out of the car. The medical grade strollers most often used now is called the ZIPPIE Voyage. The base is actually made by Baby Jogger (We ended up choosing a baby jogger stroller which I will show you below). However, the wheelchair fitted seat must be taken apart before the stroller can be folded up. It is humungous, and clunky and a huge pain to get in and out of the car. Choosing a stroller that allows for one handed folding and un-folding will make your life a lot easier.
- The traditional stroller allowed us to have a stroller option that would work with future kids. Sure, a free stroller sounds great now, but having a large, $5,000 stroller that you'll never be able to use with future kids, or even when your kid outgrows the trach and vent seems like a waste to me.
How to choose your stroller:
What stroller you choose is very important. There are a few factors you must consider:
- Is your stroller sturdy enough to carry the weight of the ventilator on the back? I will show you later how we hooked our ventilator to the back of our stroller, but whatever stroller you choose needs to be able to handle a ventilator hanging on the back of it without tipping over.
- Is there enough room underneath the stroller for a go bag, oxygen tank and suction machine? Ultimately, you need to be able to fit all of these items underneath your stroller and also be able to access them quickly.
- Is there a forward-facing option? At least at first, you will want there to be a forward-facing option so that you can have eyes on your baby and keep and eye on their color at all times. When they get older, you will like that option for when they start pulling off their ventilator for attention (Yes, that will happen... No, its not as big of a deal as you think, trust me.)
- Does it adapt with your carseat? As mentioned before, this is a game-changer!
Stroller Set-up:
*I will provide links to all of these items at the bottom of this post*
I must note that Harper is on the Trilogy ventilator. A lot of these "hacks" are specific to the Trilogy, however, you could use this basic structure with the LTV or other vents as well, it just may take a little more creativity on your part! As you can see, we attach the vent to the back of the stroller using the Mommy Hook Stroller Accessory. The vent sits on the bottom bar of the back two stroller wheels. We also bought a pair of Outcast backpack straps for our vent. They are a MUST-HAVE item if you are a trilogy vent user! I'm not sure how the LTV is set up or how you might add straps to it, but backpack straps have been a life-saver for us. We hook one strap onto each side of the stroller with the Mommy Hooks.
The underneath of the City Select stroller has plenty of room to store all medical equipment. We keep the oxygen tank on the bottom - Harper is no longer on oxygen, but of course we bring a tank just incase. When she was using oxygen, we were able to thread the oxygen tubing underneath the stroller easily from behind the vent. We then place the suction machine and go-bag on top. The undercarriage of the stroller unzips in the front to make getting things in and out easier.
This last view is just a view of the City Select with the Carseat adapter. We chose to buy the Chicco Keyfit 30 Carseat and have loved it, however I think any other carseat with a good safety rating would be fine, just make sure you buy the correct adapter.
Links:
*All Items were purchased on Amazon*
*I do not sponsor these products in any way - of course you know your child best, so please use products that you feel fit your child's individual needs most appropriately. These are simply the products that worked best for us*
Trach/gtube mom here! Same! I couldn't find any direction on stroller set ups for medically complex babies! So glad you put this together! I thankfully already had a 12 passenger van and the wheelchair stroller is amazing in it because I just roll the whole thing in and don't have to dealbwith the unloading and loading the "accessories". I love seeing how everyone makes it work best for their family! Congrats on yalls darling baby!
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