Parenting Hacks for Sick Kids

It's amazing what can be done with a Ziploc sandwich bag

There are parenting hacks to take care of sick kids that we all pick up along the way. Some of them came from our own parents, some from our kids’ doctors, and some from just living through the things our kids get sick with as they build their immune systems from the ground up. This list, in no particular order of importance or severity, comprises some of what I’ve learned, with the disclaimer that I am not a doctor and nothing in this should be construed as medical advice.

1.     Projectile vomiting happens with unfortunate frequency, most often in the middle of the night. The instinct to lean the child over the sink makes sense, but teaching them to hit the toilet from your arms is the true measure of a parent who wants to go back to bed without cleaning up first.

2.     A child prone to car sickness can learn to puke into an empty Ziploc bag. When they get really good at it, they can fill a sandwich-sized bag without missing. Inevitably they’ll seal the bag and forget it under the car seat, but that’s a tomorrow problem.

3.     When an intestinal bug is the issue, think of it like a clogged drain. Give little sips of water (or even better, breastmilk for babies) starting about 15 minutes after the last puke for hydration. When it back fills, they’ll puke again. Rinse, repeat. You know they’re mending when the stoppage gives way and they can finally poop.

4.     If you can make a baby laugh when they have a fever, they’ll usually do okay. If you can’t make them laugh, go immediately to the doctor.

5.     Think of school as a petri dish for every illness in the entire human history of illnesses. With your expectations adjusted accordingly, it’s useful to have a job that allows for some flexibility to work sitting up in bed next to your little plague vector. It happens more than you can imagine, and inevitably, you’ll go down too.

6.     Ear infections happen, and depending on your kid’s anatomy, they can happen a lot. Mullein Garlic Oil ear drops (and lying quietly on one side listening to an audiobook while they work their way in) was my first line of defense against neverending antibiotics.

7.     Croup is a deep, barking cough that keeps little ones (and their parents) wide-eyed, sleepless, and therefore less able to fight it with an exhausted immune system. If the coughing fits got really bad at night, we sometimes strapped our baby into a car seat, rolled the window down (for the cool night air) and went for a drive. During the day, a warm bath, a humidifier, or other source of steam helped. And as always, hydration helps everything.

8.     My first answer to any headache in a child or adult continues to be “drink water.” Most people are dehydrated, kids especially, and dehydration is the most common cause of an aching head. I also look for signs of flushing, glassy eyes, or fever, and if the headache persists after water and (ideally) a nap, my next move is a painkiller. My kids are so conditioned to my “drink water” answer that they are usually reaching for a glass as they tell me about the pain in their head. *Side note – most older people (parents, grandparents) are dehydrated too. It can be hard to get up to pee all the time, so the inclination is to drink less water. A side effect of dehydration in older people can be UTIs, and also non-specific dementia from the lack of oxygenated blood pumping to the brain. So basically, the unasked-for, non-medical advice for everyone is DRINK MORE WATER.

9.     Find a healing salve that works for you. Burt’s Bees Res-Q ointment works, though I’ve found an ointment from Aroma Borealis in Whitehorse Canada that’s even more effective. It acts as an anti-bacterial for cuts and scrapes, and stops the itching of bug bites. I used to carry one in every bag, and other people’s kids knew to come to me for “green medicine” whenever they had a scrape or a bite.

10.   Keep a mini bag of tricks handy that includes BandAids, ointment, sunscreen, bug repellant, cough drops, painkillers, and chewable vitamin C. Lip balm and a little container of coconut oil are including in mine, but those are for my own rescues.

Do you have tips, tricks, and remedies of your own? Leave a comment so we can all, just like with my list above, take what fits and nod and smile at the rest.