When you become a mother or a parent, your child becomes your happiness and joy, and the love you feel for those tiny little hands and feet takes more of your heart than anything else in the world. This is why as parents we are overprotective and we become a little too scared when anything would happen to them. So we try to protect them as much as we can. However, as parents, we can't keep them from getting sick since sickness can happen to anyone especially our little heartstrings whose immune system is still learning how to protect them.
I remember when I had my first child, after a day or two of hearing him cry and I thought I did everything I could to calm him, I quickly went back to the clinic and was told that he wasn't getting enough feed and so that is why he was extremely fussy. I believed that in my first couple of months I lived at the clinic more than I did at home because I was more scared that I wasn't doing something right or that there was something wrong with my son.
Now after having experienced them frightening days, I realized that as a first-time parent it is ok to be fearful of not doing something right or that there might be something wrong with your baby, it shows how much you love them and you just want to make sure everything was alright. I got to say that I was really thankful that the nurses were so helpful and kind, especially being that they saw me often.
When you have a child for the first time people always tell you that you'll know what to do when you have your second but, to be honest, that's not the case.
Every child is different, every experience is different and so what you need to do when they are ill is going to be different as well. You see my first child when he got sick I cloaked him up, made sure he took the stuff for his fever and his antibiotic and he was good in no time, however with my second son the more he was cloaked up the more his temperature raised and the stuff for the fever didn't work. I actually had to bathe him in cold water to take down his temperature and that didn't work for long. I honestly tried a lot of things and they didn't work. He caught seizures a few times and we had to go to the emergency room each time and it was only then we got his fever under control. Not even antibiotics helped him. It was something that he had to grow out and even now I still fear for those days to return even though he's already big.
Many children require little things to get them better but, there are kids that need so much more attention. I believe as parents we give all our children the majority of our attention because when they are in pain so are we. As well when you have one child that was easy to get better and the other that needed serious medical attention to get better, your response to your children's illness becomes so much unsure.
Having experienced what I did with both my older kids when it comes to my young baby I practice what I've learned from his older brothers for the times he is ill and many days I am grateful that each time it doesn't require much for him to get better but to be honest he is also different when it comes to making him feel better.
So you see when it comes to coping with the sick days of your baby don't assume that you can just try what your mama did for you or what you had done for your other children because each child is different and requires different care. You can however try different things and see how it works because whilst doctors like to say that it's an infection sometimes it could just be little things like teething or change of weather.
Here a few things I do for my children:
-Once my child is just starting with a fever I give him Tylenol based on the doctor's dosage.
- If my child's fever doesn't go down I then give him a cold bath and rub him up with Vick (not for kids under 2 yrs since it might be too strong for his/her skin, but can use baby Vicks).
- If his fever still doesn't go down I would put Scageneal and salt under his foot and then put a sock on his foot to keep it there.
-Now I normally leave wrapping him up for last since the warmer he gets the hotter he gets since that is what happened with my second son, however, if you want, you can try wrapping up your child from the start, sometimes it works faster.
Now after I've tried all this and he still isn't better then I would take him to the clinic. This is normally after 24 hrs because a fever that doesn't go down after 24 hrs means something is wrong and needs medical attention.
For colds, I normally use natural stuff that is not harmful to young children, such as hibiscus which helps with cold, lemon, and honey with garlic which also helps with cold (honey is not for a child under 1 yr). Fever grass which I find works really fast. Also, a little something I learned is leaning your child a little front and giving a pat on the back in an upward direction for a little 5-10 min helps to clear the lungs. Normally a cold lasts about a week, however, if within 48 hrs you see no improvement but you see it getting worst then a doctor's opinion is needed especially if it affects breathing.
Before I use to follow these steps I would sit online and look for ways that would help my kids if what my child pediatrician had prescribed hasn't helped and I found that some of the things I've mentioned above work way better. I must say though that if your child has a major health condition like my second child did the quicker you get to the doctor's office is better once there is a fever included that doesn't go down. Plus praying is also helpful because what I felt would have been many years of dealing with seizures stopped at an early age and since then there have been no more of those dreadful days.
There's no easy way of coping with the sick days of your baby but keeping it together is the best way. Keeping positive helps to give positive endings and helps to keep you in your well-being state of mind.
I want to say that I applaud all the strong parents that have to cope with their kids suffering from major illnesses since fever and cold are minor compared to the parents that have to leave their children in the hospital because that is the best way to help them. I can't imagine how hard that is for you but your strength becomes your children's strength so never forget that and never lose hope. Hope opens the door to making all that is impossible seem possible.
