Surviving the Family Flu

Well, it happened. My son got his first real illness. I know it was inevitable, but we lasted almost two years! Now, he has the flu and of course, my husband and I caught it too. So the whole family is a snotty, coughing, miserable mess. How did we survive? Other than hand sanitizer I mean!

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First, I’ll tell you how it went.

A sick toddler is no fun for anyone. Being sick yourself makes everything much more difficult. You don’t have a chance to relax and heal yourself because you’re too busy trying to make your child feel better. The first night of this flu, my son couldn’t sleep at all. He was so congested and coughing so much. I tried putting him in his crib and he would just cling to me and scream this pathetic little cry that was completely new to me.

Now I know what many “experts” would say, and that is that you shouldn’t cave and try and make sure they sleep in their own beds so you don’t form bad habits. I couldn’t do it. I was a mess myself and so I needed to find ANY way to get a little sleep myself. If that means laying in a recliner snuggling my poor sick boy in front of the TV all night, then fine. We both drifted in and out of sleep all night.

The next day was no better.

By this time, my husband had caught the flu as well. He and I were just developing symptoms so while I managed to bring our son to the pediatrician, he picked up a few essentials from the grocery store. Once back home, we were all just miserable and the only thing we could manage was sitting on the couch watching cartoons and at night it was even worse. Our son slept in bed with us since it was the only way anyone got any sleep.

It started to get a little better from there but as I write this we are still all pretty sick. I have had my water bottle next to me the whole time and have been living surrounded by tissues. As I sit wrapped in my robe, I’ve been reflecting back on these last few days. There are certain things that we have done that have helped us survive this ordeal.

Flu Survival Tips

Follow your child’s sleep cues.

When they are sick isn’t the tie to worry about schedules. Let them sleep in late and take a nap after being awake only an hour if they need. Allow them to sleep as much as they want, it’ll help them heal. This is not a time to worry about a specific bedtime. When you are also sick, the last thing you want to deal with is your child fighting you to go to sleep. If you follow their cues, it’ll be that much easier on yourself.

 

 

Let them eat what they want and when they want.

Now I know I am lucky with this one since my son loves blueberries, strawberries, and oranges, so that is what he mostly ate. However, even if he only wanted his honey graham crackers, that’s what he got to eat. Anything to get some food in him. And once again, I didn’t want to have to fight with him. I wanted to do everything as easily as possible. If he wasn’t hungry at his usual meal times, I’d just try again in another hour or so.

Try to get them to drink a lot of water.

Water is the best thing for you when you are sick so if you can get them to drink some then they will start getting better that much quicker. If they will drink it, it’s great to mix just a little Pedialyte in. For those that won’t drink with Pedialyte, try mixing about 2 ounces with about 2-3 ounces apple juice, and then dilute with water.

 

 

 

 

Relax when you can.

When we all got sick, unfortunately, my dishwasher was full of clean dishes. Instead of touching them with sick hands and spending a lot of energy I didn’t have, I started to rinse and stack dirty dishes on the counter. I am aware this will cause more work later, but I also know that if I spend that energy I will take longer to heal and it will be that much more difficult to care for my son as he gets well himself. So, do yourself a favor, and take it easy, you can always clean it later once you are better. I also didn’t bother picking up toys. We where hardly moving anyway so nobody was going to trip. Plus, there was no point. If I had cleaned up, he would have just made a mess again! So why stress myself? When it got to be too much, I’d tell my son to clean up and he’d pile all his toys in a corner. At least that way our dog had somewhere to lay down!

Run a humidifier in whatever room is occupied.

I found myself moving my son’s humidifier from his room to the living room to my room depending on where we were playing or snuggling. Keeping the air moist helped all of our noses. Congestion is the enemy of sleep, so if you don’t want to run it all the time like I did, at least make sure to turn it on at night and during naptime(s).

Use that nasal aspirator!

With a combination of saline spray and a good nasal aspirator you can suck a lot of snot out of your little one’s nose. This is so useful to help them sleep when they can’t blow their nose.

Forget about all your screen time rules while everyone has the flu.

Enjoy the snuggles on the couch watching your favorite cartoons and movies. The less you have to do the better! When the family is sick, it’s ok to break the rules. Just keeping everyone happy and comfortable is hard enough without trying to entertain your child. So we watched my favorite movies from when I was a kid, and of course a lot of Elmo!

Communicate Your Needs to Each Other.

It was important that we communicated as a family so everyone got what they needed. If I needed to lay down, my husband would have to step up and vice versa. We divided necessary tasks so that we could both rest.

When it’s NOT the Flu

Most of the time when the family gets sick, it’s not the flu. It’s a cough, a cold, or a runny nose. For these situations Hyland’s Cough and Cold is the BEST! They have formulas for both babies and for kids. I was gifted these products from Hyland Homeopathic and they really helped soothe my son’s cough. All of their products are made with natural ingredients and contain no artificial flavors, dyes or parabens so you can feel good about giving it to your kids too. Their homeopathic medicines are both gentle and effective and I definitely recommend having some stocked for those inevitable colds that come around.

I am not looking forward to doing this again, although I’m sure it will happen. Being sick as a family makes it harder for anyone to recover. And being a parent, you don’t get to just take care of yourself. You are responsible for soothing a kicking, screaming, generally unhappy toddler. If you are anything like me, it makes you appreciate your own parents a little more! Nobody fully understands how difficult it is until they experience it!

Be prepared for illness, as it will come. For me, that means keeping Hyland’s Cough and Cold for both baby and kids stocked in my house to keep my kids feeling better quick.

What was your first family flu or illness experience? If you had to do it again would you do anything different now? Comment below!

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