Looking after a baby while ill

[Turtlegurl888]

HELP!

I am 95% sure I have norovirus, I feel like I've been hit by a bus and actually can't stand up without needing to be sick or poo. Sorry, I never said this was a glamorous post.

DP has had him all day god bless him. He's not the easiest baby at the moment with 6 teeth erupting!

Would you make your partner stay off work to help? I'm not worried about passing out or anything, I won't drive anywhere tomorrow, but it's extremely unpleasant as is, no matter while looking after a whingy 8 month old! Grandparents all work full time. No childcare arranged until March.

Any sensory stuff/activity recommendations easy to set up and will keep him entertained for 30 minutes a pop while I silently die on the sofa? Anyone else in the same boat want to complain? I've already moaned as much as possible to DP.

Yes he needs to take tomorrow off.

Yes get him to take time off. Would you for him if he were sick?

Erm nope I would have to be dying to get him to take time off work and I've got 3 babies and had covid not long after our twins were born. Sadly one day off means a bill wouldn't be able to get paid for us so got to plod on

Yes I would to be fair. I can hack it (and have done very recently - illnesses every 3 weeks in our house as standard!) with a bad cold, but this is really kicking my arse, I feel terrible.

The plan at the moment is to evaluate first thing, if I'm ok in the night I'll try and carry on but if it gets too much I'm going to ask him to come home. If he gets ill he will have to have to call out anyway, just trying to minimise the time out of work as it's unpaid.

Luckily my baby has recently started doing 2 x 1.5 hour naps a day in the cot, so might be able to trudge through if I sleep at the same time.

Thank you!

I agree, he would have to take unpaid leave which while it doesn't leave us in a bad position, I've got winter heating bills and more expensive mortgage on the brain too.
Will see how I go.

Have been there - with a baby and a toddler, and one of them also had it. It just doesn’t get any worse than this. Sympathies! Fortunately It will probably only happen once or twice in their childhood - if he can take the day off then yes, absolutely.

Yes I'd get him to take the day off. If nothing else, if you don't rest then you'll take longer to recover. and chances are your dp will get this bug within a day or two and you'll be solo parenting. So rest now and leave things to him.

If that's not financially possible then you'll have to soldier through - but chances are your dp would be taking norovirus into his workplace and possibly coming down with it there and having to get home.

It does get a bit easier when you can sit them in front of the telly or give them a sticker book. Do you have anyone who could take DC out in a pram, which I should think is low risk but would give you a break?

It's awful isn't it! I'm crossing everything that the baby doesn't get this. I'm hoping against hope it's something I've eaten and I'll be ok tomorrow, but I know this is like peak norovirus time so it probably is that!

Thanks for the sympathy! And the hope that I've only got another time or two maximum of this 😂

Thanks, going to see how I go as admittedly I do feel better now than I did first thing - haven't told DP that though yet, not until bath and bedtime has been completed by him 😂

That's a good point. I think that's actually why I've been ill so frequently (aside from the fact that young children are mobile germ machines) is I'm not recovering properly before I get the next time. His night sleep is not good either so I always feel run down and tired!

Don't really have anyone to help at the moment unfortunately, grandparents are all still working. I could ask the neighbour to take him for a walk but I'd feel terrible if they got ill (older lady who adores him but still).
My own grandparent has offered to come round for a bit of baby entertainment and she could feed him in his high chair too, and I'm very grateful for the offer, but again they're getting on and I'd hate to make them ill. Going to see how I feel overnight thank you :)

He wouldn't play with a sticker book yet unfortunately, but that's a good one to keep for a few years time. I loved them as a child, hours of fun. He's just about to crawl but not got there yet, drags himself around. He just wants to be stood up all day long at the moment! So there's lots of being down on the floor with him.
Although we have just got a walker they sit in and he's obsessed with it so that will grant me a couple of 30 min sessions of sofa dying!

It only happened to me twice - once away from home with dc1, once at home with both dc when dh was away working. Both were so much worse than anything else ever (though over the years there have been plenty of other illness). Once you’ve had you don’t tend to get it again for ages.

Tomorrow you'll probably not be vomiting just feeling wiped out so I would soldier on alone on that basis.
Don't worry about sensory activities (!) just put tv on.