During your training, you are taught to follow specific procedures that allow you more freedom than on hemodialysis. It is a commitment that can be easy to follow. With encouragement from your family and health care team your lifestyle will require only minimal adaptation. Children may be started on hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis with the parents as the partners who are trained to perform the therapy. The machines are the same but the sizes of the tubing and solutions are smaller to fit the size of the child.
Transplantation is the treatment of choice for children.
Children are placed on the transplant list right away if the parents or siblings are not able to donate a kidney.