Best care solutions

What to look for in incontinence care products.

You might think that incontinence care products are all fairly similar, but there are certain features that can make a significant difference to the physical comfort and well-being of the child you are caring for, as well as potentially making your role as a caregiver just a little bit easier. This section is a practical guide to explain the factors in incontinence protection that can impact quality of care and ease of caring for a child with incontinence.

Achieving the best possible care

The most important part of good incontinence care is to ensure both the physical and emotional comfort of your child, and the key to this is using the products that provide maximum care and prevent the negative side effects that incontinence can cause. Things like leaks, waking to a damp mattress or skin irritation have physical, emotional and time-consuming consequences.

So what are the factors that help avoid these consequences?

• Protection with rapid absorption to draw urine away from the skin means no uncomfortable dampness or seep-back.
• Products designed around your child’s individual physical and mental state increase comfort and reduce product usage.
• Less dampness means less risk of skin irritation – particularly if your child has to sit or lie down for long periods due to disability or injury.
• If your child needs to be changed in a lying position, products designed for this will reduce the strain and risk of injury to your back.
• Fewer leaks mean less risk of waking to and dealing with a damp mattress.
• Fewer leaks mean fewer nighttime disturbances for you and your child.
• Fewer leaks mean fewer changes and less laundry.
• Fewer leaks reduce  the fear of embarrassment a child may have, particularly at school or at play.
• Less skin irritation reduces the need for additional skin medication.
• A wetness indicator can reduce unnecessary changes if your child is unable to say when they need changing.
• Finding the right absorbency and size for your child: you don’t necessarily need to go for the highest absorbency, and you may need different products for day and nighttime usage.

So effective care means choosing incontinence protection that takes all the above factors into account, ensuring maximum comfort for your child and helping to minimize the time and physical strain of incontinence care within your overall care routine. If you feel the products you are currently prescribed are not performing as well as they should, then you should speak to your healthcare advisor about trying alternatives.

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