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Nothing is worse than when your child is ill. All you want to do is help them in the best way so they can recover quickly. Snot and dribble are sure to get on their hands, faces, and sleeves—and most likely yours as well—because kids are still learning the fine art of coughing into their elbows and wiping their noses with a tissue.
Add to that the emotional challenges, a mother's heart is broken more than anything else by witnessing her child in such anguish. Then it is sod's law that having a sick child in the family inevitably results in the spread of germs and just as your child starts to feel better, you are aware that you're strating to get poorly yourself, and guess what? Sick days are not permitted for parents!
Prepare yourself with these easy strategies to help your child (and yourself) make it to the other side if you find yourself submerged in a sea of your child's used tissues and hose pitful puppy eyes.
Consider Hydration
Keeping kids hydrated is essential at all times, but it's crucial during illness. Children who are sick with a fever, diarrhoea, or vomiting lose a lot of salt and fluids that they need to replace.
Try liquid-heavy foods like a warm cup of chicken soup if water isn't their thing. Cool drinks and popsicles will hydrate your child and help them feel better if they have a sore throat, and it still feels like they're having a treat. This is the one time that you don't mind what your child is eating or drinking, as long as they are.
Combining symptom relief with a mother's gentle touch
Children's coughs and colds may be particularly challenging to treat because there aren't many solutions available to them. Children who have a persistent cough may also have trouble falling or staying asleep, which is a nightmare for everyone! Your presence with them can be very calming and a towel under their pillow can help to raise their head and relieve their cough a bit.
It's important to think about ways how to bring temperature down, such as taking medication, wearing fewer layers of clothing, or sponging them with tepid water.
Relax the limitations on screen time
For good reason, the majority of us worry about exposing our kids to too much screen time. But while they're sick is not the time to be a stickler for the rules. You want to take their attention away from how they are feeling and help them have a bit of light relief and feel better.
Your sick child needs to rest and falling asleep with a movie on their iPad is no crime.
Look after their skin
Children's noses are typically red, raw, and painful when they have recently recovered from a cold. This is because using regular tissues to clean their nose may irritate their skin, which is painful for them. Instead of using a dry tissue, parents can reduce this irritation by using a warm, damp towel and gently applying petroleum jelly around the nostrils can help to heal this sore area.