(6-9yrs)

Clothing and Pouch Covers

Protecting or Minimizing
the Appearance of Your Stoma

There are choices that may be helpful in protecting or minimizing the appearance of your stoma. Something as simple as wearing a shirt that is long enough to cover the ostomy is a great first step. Tuck the shirt in when on the playground to avoid the shirt coming up and showing the pouch. Shirts that flare at the bottom or shirts that are longer in the front and cut up at the sides (shark bite) or pants with pleats in the front can hide the slight bulge of a pouch. Some children will wear bike shorts under their clothes to hold the pouch close to the skin.  Some girls will wear a camisole under their shirts. There are commercially prepared underwear with pockets for the pouch. There are pouch covers. There are wraps that can go around the waist.  For swimming, there are trunks with pouch pockets and many boys may choose to wear a t-shirt if the pouch is above the waistline. For girls there are swim bottoms with pouch pockets or swimsuits with skirts. During both swimming and other sports, you may want to use a waterproof tape or protect strips around the edges to help keep the water or sweat from curling up and leaking. 

Pouch Covers:

Hope, support, and finding community

Parent Stories

I sing during bag changes; this always makes him freeze and focus on my voice and lips. Once I’m done, we play for a minute before getting him dressed!

At first whenever I went swimming in the river, my bag would pop off and make a big mess. But then I figured out it was from being full of air, and air floats! Now I am careful to keep all the air out when I swim and it hasn’t been a problem.

Hollister

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