Learn with Comfizz
Juniors

Never mind waiting for a man to buy you flowers (thank you Miley for the reminder!) Galentine’s Day is an excuse to show love and gratitude to those in your life that have helped you through the hard times and celebrated you through the good. I am extremely blessed to have wonderful friends and family around me, and I count myself very lucky in the past year through one of the most difficult yet that I have had that support network around me and my little man. 

My beautiful boy, you have a long road ahead. You were born with the strength of a warrior and the fight to overcome more than most do in their whole lives within the first few years of life. You need stoma surgery like Mummy did when she was born. The word stoma is the opening made in the tummy to divert stool out of the intestine. It is like a rose bud sitting proudly on top of your skin. It moves sometimes like a wriggly worm and can be a bit naughty and poop when you don’t want it too.

A new school year brings with it so much hope and promise. For me working, in education it has always felt more like New Years than New Years itself. It's such a milestone when your child progresses to the next academic year. Another Summer has passed making memories and letting them be kids for that much longer, in a world where it seems so keen on advancing at an exponential rate. I think we can all agree that the youth of today seem to be growing older at a far quicker rate than generations before them. 

There are many possible reasons why a child may need a stoma. In this blog post, I look into some of those reasons. Without further ado, let's get started.  1. Hirschsprungs Disease - This reason had to be number 1 as it's what my brave little man inherited from myself, the reason for our ostomies. Born with non functioning colons we needed them completely removed along with 3cm of small intestine

I am rather a sociable being and love the bones of my friends. Having a poorly child will show you very quickly who the real ones are, the ones that reach out. The ones that have the difficult conversations then entertain your anxieties and dramatics in times of hardship. Child-care has always been an achilles heal for us with a child with both an ostomy and a feeding tube. 

Did you know that GP’s in the UK get less than 2 hours training on eating disorders in their medical degree (sourced here)? It’s simply inconceivable. The topic of eating disorders was something I never had to give much thought about until I had my son, yet now it consumes most of my thoughts. Eating disorders awareness week is a chance to share our stories and connect with like minded people.

It's that time again when my baby boy (not so much baby anymore) has his birthday and this year he turns 6! He has come so far, and exceeds all expectations with a big personality to match. With that light at the end of the covid tunnel looking brighter and brighter each day, many children have been having birthday parties where possible.

I’m back again guys following a lovely holiday with my family! We have always stayed in the UK since we had our baby ostomate now 5 years old, so current circumstances haven’t made any difference to us choosing to visit the beautiful Exmouth in Devon. Despite a few wet days at the start, parts of the UK entered a heatwave with temperatures entering late 20s/early 30s. 

In an ideal world you would leave hospital with your baby (poorly or not), and the leaflets fall into your lap about support whether it be practical, emotional or financial. For me a lot of what I am about to share had to be found as I went along. Unfortunately there are disadvantages according to where you live in the UK, as to what access you have to some of them. That is why I felt it so important to keep the conversation going in the hope others will find out this information much quicker than I did. 

As soon as your child expresses an interest in going to the same club as their best mate, the search begins to secure a taster session, work out how it will fit around your schedule, and if it is affordable. If your child doesn’t have an additional learning need or special need have you ever stopped to consider the risks in them doing it anyway?