Top 7 Tips for Trach Moms

Things I wish I had known as a new trach mom.

1 - Vent Sleeves are a thing. You know how you have to drain the tubing constantly? Especially on a night you don't have nursing, getting up just to drain the tubing and the water trap is obnoxious. And.... unnecessary! Ask your DME to send you a sleeve for the tubing. I don't know why they don't offer this information up. But the sleeve acts as a sweater and reduces the amount of condensation, which reduces the amount of saline you'll go through, significantly. And with that you won't have to drain the tubing constantly! Once we got sleeves, we could go a whole night without draining the rain out. Major win!

2 - Pulse Ox probes can last a week. Easily. No, really. The first thing to know is that the wires need to run in line with the body. DON'T bend them! If you put the probe on the big toe for example, the wire shouldn't be going away from the foot. It needs to run up it. If you put it on so that the wire goes away then you have to bend it and that weakens and breaks the wires inside so much faster.

3 - Pulse Ox probes will STICK for a week. Or more. The sticky tape that comes with them? Yeah that stuff sucks. Cut it off after the first use, as close to the actual probe as you can get. Get pink tape from your DME and use that to replace the sticky tape. Game changer.

4 - Join the Moms of Trach Babies group on Facebook. Don't like social media? Too bad. You do now. That group alone is worth having an account for. Join.

5 - Trachs are different in different parts of the country. Make sure you get the right flange shape if you trade supplies with other moms!!! I know.... huh? We learned this one the hard way when Smith's Medical (the Bivona manufacturer) was on backorder. I was desperate to find trachs for Declan and asked the Trach Moms group. Someone was kind enough to send me some. I checked the size and made sure it wasn't a cuffed trach (Declan always used uncuffed). I think most trach moms know to check those things. But what I didn't notice was that the flanges were straight instead of in a V shape. We put the trach in and after a week or so, it RIPPED DECLAN'S STOMA RIGHT OPEN. The straight flange will pull on the stoma if the stoma was placed for a V flange, and vice versa. You CAN NOT swap these. They're NOT interchangeable! And we had no idea this was a thing because prescriptions at specific hospitals and in specific regions tend to be for one or the other. In our state, only V shaped flanges are prescribed. I even used to work at Smiths and advised the trach team. And I still didn't know about this. You've been warned.

6 - Interdry. Amazing stuff. People constantly asked me how I kept Declan's skin around his trach ties so healthy. That's how. I would cut a strip of it, cut a small slit in each end of the strip to slide the trach ties through, so that it would stay, and have the interdry between his skin and the trach ties at all times. Trach ties retain moisture and can cause breakdown. Interdry keeps that from happening.

7 - Heater Pots. Did you know that there is a heater pot available that has NO ALARMS? Yep. One that isn't finnicky. You have to be careful because if the saline runs out, it will continue to heat without saline which will add to plugs due to drying out, but if you can commit to ensuring there's enough saline in the bag, there are no other downsides. Ask your DME for one!