Adjust Your Parenting to Cope with Your Ulcerative Colitis

Living with ulcerative colitis is very difficult. Parenting is difficult. Add the two together and things can get crazy!

Ulcerative colitis causes frequent diarrhea. This diarrhea causes very urgent, often emergency trips to the bathroom. When you are parenting young children, these trips to the bathroom take on a whole new dimension.

With infants, things are fairly easy. You can simply leave the baby in his bassinet and he is safe. You can also put him in a sling or front carrier and make the trip to the bathroom.

Once the baby can roll over, leaving him in his bassinet is no longer an option. In this case, a crib with the mattress positioned as far down as possible is often the safest place for him to stay.

I have a one year old son and a two month old so. Luckily, I have not had a flare up since the youngest one was born. I do have a plan to cope with an emergency trip to the bathroom. The baby's bassinet is never far from me. I can place him in there.

My older son, the one year old, will come into the bathroom with me. I can always leave the door open and he can play in the hall. That is a safe place in my house for him because the doors stay closed and there are no safety hazards such as electrical outlets.

My other option is to let him play in the bathtub. This may sound like a very strange option. It does, however, work. As a bonus, since there would be no water in the tub, I do not have to worry about him drowning and he gets to play with his favorite bath time toys.

As a long term solution to flare ups when you have young children, you should have a back up support person available for those really tough days. I have a lady who lives nearby who can come over to help me.

Luckily, I have not had to use her. If you have a flare up that is interferes with feeding or caring for your children, your support person becomes a necessity instead of a luxury.

Children have to eat and their diapers have to be changed. That is just a fact of life. This is what your support person can do for you while you are stuck in the bathroom.

I must tell you that at some point during a flare up, you may feel like a bad parent. This is not the case. You have to remember that you have a medical condition that requires you to make certain lifestyle adjustment. Asking for help when you need it makes you the best parent for your children.

If your children are really young, like mine, they will not remember the times that they had to cry while you ran off to the bathroom. They will not remember the neighbor having to help you out sometimes. If your children are old enough to remember the adjustments because of your flare ups, hopefully the memories will help them to be more accepting and accommodating toward people with all kinds of disabilities.

Just do your best and trust God to help you parent your children to the best of your ability.