Raising Children from a Wheelchair 

ok that is probably the cutest and happiest baby I'v ever seen.....good job mom!

Thanks for this - I'm sick of hearing non-disabled people judging Disabled people for daring to want the same things as they have. I've heard too many stories from friends who are Disabled parents about the abuse and suspicion they've received because they "dared" to be parents. They regularly put children of Disabled people on "at risk" registers here in the UK - sometimes before they are even born. When there are so many stories of abuse from non-disabled parents in the news, you have to wonder why they stigmatise Disabled parents.

You have made some great mommy adaptations . I am a t4 complete paraplegic. I raised 3 children as a single mom. There is no advice out there for moms like us. We have to make our own inventions . My children are all grown now. I was injured in 1981 at the age of 27. I am now 60 and a grandmother of 3. I commend you for making this video. It will help and encourage future moms who are in the same shoes .

You sounds like a great mother. I like how innovative your are :)

thank you. I am a father but my spinal cord injury happened when my second son was a little over a month old and now he's 4 1/2 but this video really helps to learn how to still be there for your kids and take care of them in the way that us wheelchair users are.

Strong woman! Awesome :-)

awesome video! i also have a spinal cord injury(i was born with Spina Bifida) im currently not a mother yet but i found this video to be very informative for either when i become a mother one day or for people like myself who would eventually like to have children and are curious as too how to manage the demands of parent hood! :) thank u for sharing this really informative video! :)

Great video. Thank you for sharing your life with us! and to those who use the term "wheelchair bound" PLEASE don't use that term!! We are not "bound" to our chairs..our chairs allow us to LIVE! They give us the freedom to lead as normal a life as anyone else, we just happen to have wheels for legs! Thanks!

Hi i was wondering if you have any more videos of bringing up your children? Im a wheelchair user and 20 weeks pregnant and found this video so useful

Thank you so much for posting and sharing!!!! I'm a T6 incomplete para, and my husband and I are anxious to get pregnant within the next couple years and I've been thinking and worry if about ALL if this!! This is the kind of info we've been looking for! Going through all the doctor visits to make sure we're good to start, what to expect, what will happen with my meds, etc, right ow and have our first specialized OBGYN doc visit this Friday! :)

hi britney, i have to say thanx for this. i'm a guy so some of the things you talked about i probably won't experience but i just wanted to say thank you. i've always wondered about what it would be like having kids being that i'm a para since birth i've always worried/thought about how it would go. your husbands uncle should market his crib thing cuz that's awesome! :D

Great info! I’m a T6 new grandfather and want to be able to independently care for my granddaughter. This will be very helpful.

She would gain seriously strong arms doing that, all power to her, she's doing a great job.

I have to say what an incredibly awesome job you are doing, wish I was lucky enough to meet someone as great as yourself. 😊

Wonderfully done hun. Glad to see you adapting so well to motherhood. Under the best circumstances it's a hard job but you've done an awesome job! I'm glad you put out this video, I'm sure it'll help loads of moms in the same position. Thank you!

I have the upmost admiration and respect for you. Thankyou for sharing and demonstrating that people with disabilities are also capable of being parents

I have a three-year-old grandson that it's just started visiting and he's pretty heavy , I can't pick him up so I have him crawl up my legs to sit on my lap. I need to use my arms too drive the wheelchair so thank you for the seat belt idea that's great.!

Thank you so much for this! I'm not even close to being pregnant yet, but at 28 and an L1 para, you look at any information you can get. This has definitely settled some of my worries about becoming pregnant and being able to care for the baby, and being a good parent. (Also, doing my part so I don't have to solely rely on my Fiance for everything, is what I've been looking for.) Thank you sooooo much for making this!! Much love from Florida!

I am a new mom who also uses a wheelchair and this video is amazing! is there anyway I could be put in touch with Brittney?

Thank you for posting this video ,I was not in a wheelchair when my children were born but yrs later Iam now a grandmother and I can't wait to try a couple of your ideas …:)

Brittney that was amazing to watch WOW. sorry i am going back 9 year.

so sweet great mom

This is some good information! When I was 6 years old my mother was in a car accident that left her paralyzed from her mid torso down. Luckily my brother was three at the time. Good tips for anybody with babies, Thanks.

I'm so happy to have found this video you have so many wonderful techniques and devices I absolutely adore the harness and personally would love to purchase one you could really impact the community selling them. Have a wonderful day and once again thank you for posting such an informative video.

thank god for you and this video its my nieces first time as a mom and she is a parapaligic with spina bifida. and she needed this info.

This is awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you so much for sharing Britney!(I hope I spelled your name right0 My name is Jocelyn. I'm 28 years old and have been a complete paraplegic now for 8 1/2 years due to a rare auto immune disorder called Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM). I have always been a very independent person and wasn't about to let my injury change that. I am from Cobourg ON but right now I am living in Grande Prairie AB working on a Psyche degree! I hope to one day work in a rehab setting with people who face similar challenges that I have had to face. I think with my level of experience along with my education, I could really help a lot of people or at the least provide them with enough inspiration to press forward! I have to put school and career goals on the back burner for a little while though because I have been blessed with the gift of motherhood!!!!!!! I just found out on Friday that I am expecting and my boyfriend and I couldn't be more ecstatic! As happy as I am though, I do have some concerns due to my mobility issues which you touched upon quite nicely in your video. I am 100% confident I can do this and very excited to learn more about what is out there for mommys in my situation! Thanks again for sharing. You have given me a lot of ideas and are definitely a woman I can look up to! I wish you and your family all the best! Jocelyn Dennis

Thank you for making this

HI BRITTNEY!!! Empowered Para folks!

Thank you so much for this! I am a para who is pregnant with her first baby. The lack of info and support is terrifying, even in 2016 with the internet. It's like, I know I am not the first woman to be doing this. I know everyone says you will figure it out, but to see someone do it makes me feel so much less anxious. I am incredibly lucky to have family and a supportive husband to help me. But I would like to be as independent as possible. P.S. your daughter is adorable. :D

This is brilliant! Thank you so much! I have a variable condition and most days I use a wheelchair and had wondered how other women managed. Thank you!

Owesome video I'm sure this is going to help people a lot

thank you for this as a person with CP it gives me hope thanks so much

I wish companies manufactured the crib for people that arent very savvy at building

I was in a fatal car crash that killed my husband and left me badly injured and had to have hip/pelvic surgery, knee in a brace healing because it's also broken. I was left with 3 kids 6, 5 and 1. My two eldest are autistic, and the people helping me are slowly leaving me. Leaving me to care for my 3 children alone in a wheelchair 🦽 and a walker. I am SOOO scared! I am glad at least some people thought of terrified parents in wheelchairs.

I am l1 ,l2 incomplete (since 2004),Now 29 years old, can I try to get children? Because I don't knowledge and experience.

im in a wheelchair i have been in one since i was 1

Very nice. I'm so glad she take care with her kids at home. I didn't know she have a cat at home. We have a beautiful cat home. Her name is Sunny. She is a very sweet cat. She loved me very much. She is so wonderful cat. We have her for 12 years. What is your cat name?

Amazing video. Great ideas! I keep an adaptive mods board on Pinterest (www.pinterest.com/pixelsnpapers/)and will happily pass this along.

Thank you much! My soon to be wife is t12 check her out on facebook! I will show this video to her when we decide to have children :) facebook.com/PrayingForCassidy/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

Hey, Please, somebody can tell me where I could buy this kind of belt? I really need it for my baby but I couldn’t finde it. 😭

I'm also a t8 complete para who had my first baby after 17 years of being paralyzed. My daughter was 2 months early due to preeclampsia and my ad started too. My spasms r so bad that is what makes things hard for me.

i am hopeing to have a wife and 2 biological sons and 2 biological daughters of and i am in a wheelchair .this video may help lern how to take care babies and children from my wheelchair

Do you have anymore videos about raising children while having a disability?

i may need to take care of babies in a wheelchair.i am hopeing to get married and have a wife and 2 biological sons and 22 biological daughters

Any idea what the mechanism that allows the door to slide side ways is called. or better still a link to the actual product, looking to reproduce this idea.

Great info for moms and/or dads who use wheelchairs. Super informative video!

Don't have children yet, but I enjoyed your video. It was very informative and I was entertained by your beautiful kids. Oh and your husband did a good job by marrying you, youre gorgeous! Thanks for sharing and best wishes! !!

Wow you are amazing. I'm L1/inc. best wishes from me in the UK.

Parenting can be beautiful. So unique in some aspects, but so universal in most regards. Thanks for sharing.

You just proved how much we need each other. We have so much just benefited from your gift in sharing your families creations. My daughter would climb out of her wheelchair place child in a car seat, climb back into her wheelchair and then work to finish picking up the child from the floor. She now even though the young family members, nieces or nephews, she babysat are older wants one of your harness for the next potential child. She did enjoy other techniques so you have blessed this family with a saying we stand by where there is a will there is a way. You and your family are beautiful. Thank you

She's amazing and inspirational. I was worried about having children

How did You become in a wheelchair your gorgeous by the way

Thank you so much for your video I'm recently paralyzed and working a DHS case to get my babies back 5 & 2 and I really need more videos like this

A boppy pillow with a strap was the best investment for me.

Awesome thank you for sharing!

how did you get paralyzed?

Thank you. This helps me a lot.

It looks like your a great mother!!!! :)

I love your video it helps me alot

Thank you so much for the video, it is very helpful! Could you please share what kind of pillow you have on your lap and also if you used a baby carrier ( like manduca) when the baby was really small. Thank you so much!

How do I get a sponsor for a chair?

i have that to I'm 13 years old

i have that to I'm 13 years old

It's a place to poop in the woods.

I sit in my wheelchair now

What's her name she's brave

thank you for your helpful tips . helps me a lot . I do have a question .how did you transport your baby before she got her core strength to sit up ? xx

Alyson Richardson

Hi Brittney, just wanted to thank you for putting this video up on youtube for us women who live with chairs. Awesome stuff. Thank you for sharing what you worked out, how you adapted stuff and sharing information about your pregnancy and transfers and stuff. Your video is definitely empowering and necessary! I'm going to share it on my facebook page too. Thanks again :-)

This is fucking amazing

Great video..:)

What kind of harness is this? Where can i get it?

Thank you! I was born with spina bifida and use a wheelchair I am not a mom (maybe someday). But I have in the past and am applying for jobs working in a daycare this gave me so many ideas! Where did you find the harness to help put them on the floor? You are so creative!

This is amazing!

Very impressive!

Thanks for all the helpful tips!!! I was very fortunate and able to raise my children without the handicap, I only became handicapped when they were in their early 20s , about 5 yrs back, but now I have a beautiful 3 yr old grandson and I often worry about watching him!! My biggest fear is he will run from me and I won’t be able to chase after him, although, I have to say, after a few recent attempts to take him out by myself, he did amazing!! I think children really learn to adapt to the situations they are in!!! Thanks again!! Your an inspiration!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😊😊😊😊😊😊❤️

Don't suppose anyone has any tips on getting child seat in and out of the car from an I so fix base. My husbands worried he won't be able to use the car seat alone due to balance issues

Pretty Brittney!

is there anywhere to buy that harness that brittney had to pick up her baby girl off the floor???

very good

Respect

Bravo

I chose a c-section as well for the same reasons. It was a decision we talked about for a long time but we did figure it would be best for the baby.

Have you guys produced a video talking about how to deal with raising a toddler while in a wheelchair? Toddlers are always getting into things and you have to constantly be on guard with them. How are you able to chase them down and make sure they don't do something harmful before you can get to them?

Brittney, i'm not sure you are still reading comments on this video, I have Cerebral Palsy and raised my daughter from my chair as well...did you do any baby wearing? I am looking for the best wrap/carrier until he/she can sit on their own as I am expecting in Dec...thanks so much.

Brittany, very helpful demonstrations! Do you have video you could share showing your parenting equipment/routines after your child was older? Linda (OT in the US)

@5:05 for tips

I ended up buying a quickie P300 in 1998 when it became apparent that my wife (T4) was stuck in the house with our 6 month old. Best decision ever. Manual chairs didn't work well with spastic quads. I fear Brittney is in for a lot of back pain later on - look to make your life easier through adaptive technologies :-) my wife is on her 3rd power chair and she's never getting bogged down by life any more. God bless - Maurice

God bless you and may strengthen you more and more ....hats off to you sis ....you are really strong woman .......blessings

hello, sorry for my english : i'm french ! and also paraplegic with a little boy (20 months now). I wonder how you do to take car with your baby ?

One question, how do you manage spasms and bowel care whilst pregnant? No autonomic dysreflexia?

Is there a way to contact Brittney to ask personal questions? I'm a T6 para looking to become a mother and she's the first I've found that is a T6 as well.

Mam, you are so great soul and vibrant too. Above all you are great Mother & proved why womens are called Creators, they can handle everything so elegantly. And your daughter is so so so cute😘😘🤗 God bless her everything beautiful in her life and your son Jacob is very naughty 🤓 God bless him too everything. And wish you a more strength and good wishes for further life.

I've been searching the internet for a baby harness to help with floor pickups! I am six months pregnant and have flexibility problems (bending over issues) from twenty five years of juvenile arthritis. Your video has given me so many good ideas/customizations that will help me. Thank you!! Ps - your kids are adorable!

Very valuable information. I searched and there is not much. Thank you very much.

Hello , I have a question my grandsons daycare caregiver is in wheelchair and yesterday he feel from his lap and was injured . I searched on line and not able to find a harness to suggest to center for adult to use when transporting not only my grandson but other children in center. Any suggestions is appreciated . Thank you for sharing love the crib awesome idea

I really appreciate for uploading such video. I am sure it will definitely help people on wheelchair. T12-L1.

I really Love your video, I am mostly mobile but have some mobility issues and was really worried about finding accessible cribs and ways to lift with bad balance. Thank you so much for sharing.

Just found you today!31 December 2017