Kristie McNealy, MD

A few months ago, I had the good fortune of meeting Michelle Staley, founder of Busy Breathers LLC on Twitter. Michelle is a fellow preemie mom as well as inventor of the Busy Breather backpack.  Her product is something I really wish I could have gotten my hands on during the 17 months our daughter was on and off oxygen.  I wanted to share it here today, in hopes it will make another parent’s life just a little bit easier!

What is the Busy Breather?

The Busy Breather backpack provides an organized system for mom and baby on oxygen to get out of the house, go to doctors appointments, sit at the park, go shopping without all of the hassle of carrying several items separately such as oxygen tank, diaper bag, purse, medical supplies, etc.. Our backpack also works for adults that are on oxygen by conveniently allowing them to carry their oxygen with other personal items when they have to be on the move.

What was the inspiration behind the Busy Breather backpack?

When my son was born three months premature, his lungs were severely underdeveloped. After he spent four months in the neonatal intensive care unit, I was very excited to finally get my little boy home. This happiness however was overshadowed by fear about my baby being on oxygen 24 hours a day for at least the next year if not longer. Along with this fear was my frustration of having to carry a purse, diaper bag, bottles, oxygen bag-along with my baby and equipment. I knew there had to be a better system to carry all of these items but I could find nothing available. Because of this frustration, I decided to design my own oxygen bag so I would only have to carry one organized system. My bag made my life a lot easier, especially since my son and I were on the go almost every day. I knew that this bag would help mothers that have children on oxygen, as well as others that have to be on oxygen, get back to their busy lifestyle with more ease and efficiency.

Where can people buy a Busy Breather backpack?

People can go directly to my website www.busybreathersllc.com and purchase the bag there. There is another mom owned company, www.familytravelgear.com that is currently carrying my bag as well.
I also have a couple of oxygen providers that carry my bags Lincare, Don Paul Respiratory, Rotech as well as a medical supply company Attentus Medical Supply out of Houston. Attentus does distribute to quite a few different oxygen companies. If a family does have a child on oxygen with the companies I listed above, have them check with them first about getting one of my bags and it could work out that the company would provide the bag to them and then it could be billed to insurance.

What advice do you have for parents of kids on oxygen?

I would suggest trying to take a deep breath and relax! It can be a very scary ordeal to have a child on oxygen but it can be manageable. You are the expert when it comes to your child and remember you have been trained too look at the signs that indicate your child is having a hard time with their O2 levels, trust yourself. I’m not saying I didn’t have moments when I would panic, but if I stopped to re-group I could think straight and it always made things better.

Children are tough little cookies and have a desire to live life like no other so let them! Just because your son or daughter is on oxygen doest mean they can’t be a typical kid, they just need to be watched a little more closely from time to time! With that being said listen to your gut instinct it is usually right. One of the biggest things I had to learn was to be strong about my demands of not having sick people around my son, even if it meant I might hurt someones feelings or make them mad…your child’s health depends on it. We didn’t do much for the first year of Ty’s life, but that’s alright he reaped the rewards from it!

I can now say that by Ty being on oxygen it has made me the Mommy I am today and no matter how scary of an experience it was it made me stronger!

Similar Posts:

• Advantages of Cloth with Convenience of Disposables
• Why Smoking Increases SIDS Risk
• Little JULES: Fashionable Jewelry Inspired by a Preemie
• Do You Treat Your Preemie Differently?