Car Travel

We found that although it was a effortful to get out of the house, it was well worth it for all of us.  Managing getting a child in a spica into the car is somewhat difficult but there are a few things you can do to make it easier.

• Firstly, we found it best to position Annabelle on the window seat rather than in the middle, as it was gentler on our backs lifting her in.  It is simply further to reach the middle.
• You will need an appropriate car seat.  It is best if you have a car seat with open sides or armsrests that can be folded up out of the way.  This means you have a seat pan with unimpeded sideways clearance so the spica can come out over the sides.  It is a problem if the car seat as high sides as it is likely to be far to narrow for the cast.  Fortunately our carseat was a Safe’n’Sound Maxi Rider which was perfect, thus we didn’t need to acquire a new car seat.  Don’t rush out and buy new equipment before the surgery, as it is important to know the shape of your child in the cast in order to work out the best solution.
• You may need to modify the padding in the car seat.  This is easily done by carefully placing towels inside the car seat cover if possible, or placing on top of the seat.  This helps to conform the shape of the carseat to the shape of the child in the cast.   The towels can fill the negative spaces so that weight is evenly distributed.  The nurses or Occupational Therapist at the hospital will help to set this up before you leave hospital, so don’t worry, you won’t be alone in figuring this out.
• A lap extension strap will enable the seatbelt to be done up.  Without this, the seatbelt is unlikely to be long enough to reach around the cast.  Check with the hospital whether they are available / supplied or if you need to arrange it before you get to hospital.  We purchased ours from the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Once set up, car trips shouldn’t be too much of a drama.  You need to be careful of your own body when getting your child in and out of the car.  Try to minimise twising of your own spine and keep the child as close to your body as you can.  There is a really useful video demonstration of this at the following link: