How to help DC with this illness?

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We've been hit by a horrendous virus, DC usually bounce back quickly so it is new territory and not really sure what to do from here.

They had high temperatures all night and day, calpol wasn't doing much until this afternoon where they got a couple of hours of feeling better and thought we'd turned a corner. They asked to go to bed early, they've had some calpol but DD wakes every 5-10 minutes (no exageration!) In a panic and shouts "mummy I want you!". She has a cough and a mildly runny nose.

DS has also woken up a couple of times already as he feels like he can't breathe when laying down. I think he has thick mucus he's not clearing properly.

Apart form alternating calpol/nurofen, what can I do?

I have the same illness and my whole body is aching amd I go from shivering to overheating to coughing uncontrollably.

Another night of no sleep is going to finish me off!

Can you raise the head of the bed so they're not lying fully flat? Steam/olbas oil/Vicks might help too. When dc struggled with similar we sat in the bathroom with the shower running hot and it did help a bit.

Eugh it's brutal. You don't say how old they are, but we took a child each and bedshared (2yo and 4yo here). We propped up the mattresses with duvets and pillows underneath them so it made a ramp, rather than trying to balance on pillows. And then kept as dosed as possible and lived on water and milkshakes. And cried quite a lot.

Thank you so much. DH is running around shops trying to get more Calpol but once back he'll take one child. He had it over the weekend so got to rest for two days as we were all healthy then (not jealous at all 😆) he's still not 100% though so I'm worried we'll have a few more days of this.

They are 4 and 6. DS is a worry though as he's really complaining of throat pain and not being able to breathe properly and I can't really figure out what's going on.

I have some urgent work to do tomorrow, I thought we'd all be better by then. We are nowhere near, getting worse if anything.

So overwhelmed I could cry.

Will he let you look at his throat? Is he able to swallow ok?

And don't hold it in if you need to cry. I always want my mum when I'm poorly and I'm in my 50s!

Thanks @JoyeuxNarwhal Yes he can swallow and when I looked at it earlier it seemed fine.

A couple of hours ago DS had a huge nightmare/hallucinations. He was grabbing/punching the air screaming "Help me mummy! Protect me!". He was scared by me initially then realised who I was and hugged me so tightly for ages while sobbing, it was horrendous. He has been a lot calmer since, he has just stirred and said "Mummy, I think I survived everything". 😓

Feeling a bit better myself too after a couple of hours solid sleep, fingers crossed!

I use to have hallucinations when I had a temp as a child.

some children need ibuprofen as well as calpol to get a temp right down. Can one of you go out and get some liquid ibuprofen ? Most petrol stations sell it. You can alternate then between calpol and Brufen and if it’s the flu which it sounds like you might end up seeing more relief with Brufen

Ibuprofen so much better at lowering temp than Calpol. I would absolutely be bed sharing if you're not already.

I hope you all had an OK night OP. Poorly kuds ate the worst :( My 7 year old is just getting over a nasty cough. Whilst he’s not been needy, every time he coughs it sets off my adrenaline in a horrible way so I can’t sleep even if he can. I’m also immunocompromised so can’t bed share with him which makes me sad.

We made it through the night. DS 'only' woke every few hours and had another bout of hallucinations but overall we feel quite rested.

Still really complaining about his throat and says he feels sick too. All he's had in the last 24 hours is medicine though which probably isn't helping.

I didn't know this about ibuprofen, I'll start with this this morning.

Now to decide what to do about work as neither of them is healthy enough for school/nursery.