How do you cope with dc's when you're ill?

[mummyxtwo]

Just after any tips! I have a streaming cold (woman flu, to be precise - don't underestimate it) and feel grotty, and dd2 (15mo) is also chesty and grumpy. Ds1 has a hacking cough and earache but I am sending him to school because I can't cope with both of them at home because it settled with brufen and he seems okay now. I am finding it hard to be patient and kind when I am feeling like a giant bag of snot. How do other mums get through the day with children when feeling unwell yourself? Many thanks for any tips!

TV and loads of it. Make up a lot of snacks and drinks, get everyone into clean pyjamas, make a camp in the living room and watch Disney movies all day.

Ask a friend to drop ds home and order in pizza for tea.

Hope you feel better soon !

What martorana said...
Feel better soon OP, i am the same todayand that is what we will be doing!

Hope you are feeling better soon. That's pretty much what we've been doing for 2 days. Make sure you take plenty of painkillers and get an early night too

I lie on the sofa and groan. TV rules!

Me being ill is the one time when I don't feel guilty for letting DD watch waay too much TV and probably eating crappy food too. Anything to make your life easier!

Pj's, crap food, lots of tv, sofa, early nights.

Get well soon xxxx

You need sudafed to dry your cold up or of you have morrisons near you their max strength cold and flu has the same ingredients and is 52p a pack!!
Do easy meals things on toast or stuff from freezer
I gate being ill and having to look after dds they are older now but I remember it being awful when they were younger.
Hope you feel better soon

Grumpy old woman alert.

How on earth would anyone get a 15-month-old to sit in front of tv for hours on end? And let's hope your older child isn't passing on the bug responsible for his "hacking cough and earache" to other children at school, OP. He probably feels as ill as you do, but he's been sent out anyway.

I understand what it's like to feel unwell and still have to cope (I had 4), but am baffled by suggestions that you place children in front of television all day, feed them and yourself rubbish - and then expect to feel better soon. If you are ill, you won't feel like eating anyway, but your children still need decent nourishment to build up their resistence to bugs. It isn't hard to cook eggs or soup or something, with a bit of fruit and cheese, unless you're seriously ill.

If you are really that bad, is there someone who would take your toddler out for a while to let you sleep? Do you have a partner who helps in the evening?

I usually get everyone into pjs and dds and I go into my bed and put netflix on the telly and I just fall asleep all snuggled into them. plenty snacks and drinks ( for u aswell). Then an early nite

Stick 'em in front of the telly.

When she posted, OP had only one toddler (15 months) at home. The older child had been sent to school.

Are you seriously suggesting that a young toddler will sit in front of the tv for the whole day? Even if she's also under the weather surely she'll need some kind of play or interaction?

I had been going to suggest lots of stories, or perhaps even a play in the bath; mine used to enjoy a long daytime bath in bad weather - lots of boats and bath toys - at least that way, they had a chance of using up some energy and sleeping well at night.

How can any child lie around watching tv all day and then sleep well at night?

babyboomer I'm a GP so no, I didn't send ds1 to school unwell to infect other children, but if I kept him off school every time he had a common cold he'd be at home 50% of the time and I'd have social services calling. I looked in his ears and listened to chest and his earache was from a small amount of congestion behind the drum due to the cold, not an ear infection. I was all prepared to keep him off school as he'd complained of earache the night before, but he woke up bouncing and insisted he was fine to go in. Perhaps I was being a bit flippant in my original post suggesting that I'd sent him in because I couldn't cope with him at home - I have to admit to being relieved that he was well enough to go in that day, but I wouldn't have sent him in if it had been inappropriate to do so.

No appropriate childcare help unfortunately - lovely neighbours but they are away and dd2 wouldn't go to them when poorly anyway, she would just want mummy. No family nearby and a surgeon dh working long hours during the week at present.

Have survived the week with a combination of lemsip, antibiotics, cbeebies, stickle bricks for dd2, lego and angry birds sticker book for ds1 plus a new angry birds magnet book mix n match faces - no educational value but plenty of silly fun! I might try the long bath idea though - at the very least the steam will have me dripping snot everywhere and help to clear out my sinuses!

Thanks all for suggestions.