Day Care, Preschool and School

Day Care

Many children with short gut will not be able to go to a typical day care due to their medical issues. You can see if there are any programs specifically for children who are medically ill. Alternatively, you can look into private duty nursing and have a nurse take care of your child at home.

Preschool

Similar to Day Care, most preschools are unable to provide for the special needs. However, there may be special preschools in the area for medically ill children. Alternatively, you can have a private duty nurse attend preschool with your child. If your insurance company refuses to provide private duty nursing care, you may want to look towards your local school district to see if they will provide services for your child (this is typically only provided if your child continues to exhibit developmental delays beyond the age of 3).

School

You will likely want your child to have an IEP or Individual Education Plan. An IEP is the gateway to services. Request this several months before your child is eligable to start school.
Again, if your child has significant delays (more than 25% in any one area) and has "aged out" of EI services, preschool or pre-kindergarten may be available for free for your child.
You will want your child identified as "Other Health Impaired" once they officially enter school. This label will help provide justification for health related accomodations (providing a nurse to help with TPN, enteral feeds or ostomy issues at school, alternate gym class, etc.
Again, like everything else, the school will not likely offer these services to you. You will probably have to push and fight to get what your child needs. Everything "extra" cost money and the school budgets are tight. However, children with special needs must legally be provided with supports and accomodations, which will allow them to benefit from education.