How to Explain a Catheter to a Child

When your child needs a catheter, reassurance and information will do a lot to allay any fears.

Things You'll Need

• Toys

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Instructions

• 1

  Be calm. This will help your child to relax.

• 2

  Ask your nurse if the hospital has coloring books available that show medical procedures such as catheter insertion. Many large hospitals have them.

• 3

  Tell your child what the procedure will be like. The nurse will have to clean his private parts before she puts the tube into him, and the soap will feel cold and wet. A tube will be placed inside his body, and it will carry his urine out of his body and into a plastic bag.

• 4

  Hold his hand while the catheter is being inserted, and divert his attention by telling him a story or asking him to sing a song with you.

• 5

  Help the child get used to his catheter by looking at it with him. Explain what it will be like to have it. He must be careful never to let the tube get tugged on, or it will feel uncomfortable.

• 6

  Explain that the nurses will have to wash his private parts and empty his plastic bag filled with urine three times a day. This allows the nurses to know exactly how much urine he is producing.