How do you comfort a child in the hospital?

This is one of those things you never want to happen - but it does. 

We had this scary and sad experience 12 times with our kids. I really hate pneumonia and smoke from forest fires.....those are my kid's enemies.

So, you have a child in the hospital for asthma, now what?

Well, you know your child better than anyone else. What would comfort them?

For us, we found a few things that helped and we packed them with every hospitalization.

Favorite blankie  

My kids would usually get a blanket from Project Linus, but it's not the same thing as having your favorite blankie at the hospital. The nurses would always remind us that when they come in to change the sheets on the kid's hospital bed, to make sure they didn't accidentally take blankie. Because once it went to the hospital laundry, we probably wouldn't get it back. 

Favorite stuffed animal 

Same thing here. They would get a stuffed animal that was donated to the hospital, but it's not the same as their favorite stuffed animal. 

Favorite music 

This is going to tell you how old I am.....we used to take a small CD player to the hospital with the kid's favorite CD's. And yes, I still have every Disney song memorized. Now kids have cell phones and other devices to play music, so take those. 

Snacks

Our kids were all picky eaters, so we got the okay from the nursing staff and then brought the kid's favorite snacks to the hospital. And I brought along a lot of chocolate for myself. Because chocolate makes everything better.

The Child Life Specialist 

Did you know that hospitals hire Child Life Specialists to help families in the hospital? They are specially trained and certified, and can help in various ways. They can blow bubbles while the kids get IV's (to distract them), bring your kids toys, blankies, video games, art supplies, etc. They are really good listeners too if the kids want to talk (or the parents!)

Have you found anything that helps when your child is in the hospital?