When Toddlers Get Sick
Tell me what’s worse than a child being sick? I can only imagine multiple kids being sick at the same time… and then add yourself to the mix. Entire family? Ugh, no! A couple of days back, Mase and I both woke up feeling under the weather. I had a scratchy throat and fever and Mase was congested and with fever as well. Not ideal when you are all traveling with family in a couple days. So, I put everything down and it became my mission to get him better as soon as possible. Instead of sharing this on social media, I decided to make note of everything I was doing and the success rate later that evening/next morning.
Vitamin C and Fluids. Oscar ran to the store to get medicine and orange juice, while I grabbed the last orange in the fridge and immediately cut it up for breakfast. He had a couple bites and then denied the rest. Oh, toddlers. 30 minutes later, he took one sip of orange juice and said, “I don’t like it.” Typical. his clearly not a big fan of oranges. I then took advantage of my juicer and made him a green juice to drink. The ingredients: spinach, apple, lemon, cucumber, carrot, celery.
Medicine. Every 4 hours we give Mason Hylands for Kids Cold and Cough (they also have it for babies too).
We put a humidifier in the room when he naps and sleeps.
Wash his bedding. To get rid of all the germs that he was putting on his bed the night before, he can now nap in a clean room and bed.
In the morning, I put him in the bath with some lavender oil and let his nose clear.
Have boogie wipes on hand for when the nose runs and sneezes happen.
At night I did a steam shower with a little lavender oil and it cleared him up so well before bed.
Keep them cozy and inside. You don’t want to spread the germs and get anyone else (especially other kids) sick. Pajamas all day if they are into it!
Chicken noodle soup for lunch. This isn’t a must but it is soothing for their throat and Mase ate multiple bowls when he didn’t seem like he had much of an appetite.
I was taking his temperature and observing him. So one thing to do is, if it seems like he/she is really upset and in pain, see your doctor so you can rule out RSV or other sicknesses.
Let the schedule go. I really wanted Mason to relax and get better, so I put on a few movies in bed and kept telling him to drink his juice/water.
Other options you can try (but we didn’t do) :
Saline spray and Nose Frida : Mase absolutely refused this yesterday… which is why we did extra steam showers and lavender oil to get his nose clear.
Raise the mattress. We did this when Mason had RSV at 6 months, and you could do it with your toddler… but Mase moves around his bed too much and his pillow was help enough with raising his head.
xoxo,
Jen