Taking care of a sick kid has got to be one of the hardest parts of being a parent. What should be a simple cold or cough is fraught with difficult decisions, second-guessing yourself, and the helplessness that your little one doesn’t feel well. Despite not being in daycare, my 2-year-old has had more than his fair share of colds and flus. Even though I should be well experienced at this point, it never gets easier to watch your baby suffer. It’s our job as parents to take care of them, but viruses and illness makes that difficult.
Even though most of the common sicknesses just need to take their time, there are some things we can do to ameliorate their symptoms and ease their uncomfortableness. POPSUGAR spoke with Dr. Tanya Altmann, co-author of Caring for Your Baby and Young Child and Clorox Professional, about the importance of keeping children healthy. “It really impacts the entire family when the kids are feeling miserable, because they may miss school, and it really affects the whole family,” she insisted.
But keeping children healthy isn’t as easy as parents would like. Between school and playdates, children will encounter a ridiculous amount of germs. “A recent study showed that in just 3 minutes, a child will touch a surface 300 times. When a child starts preschool or elementary school, you can really expect them to bring home another bug every other week,” Dr. Altmann stated. Thankfully, she also shared some tips for taking care of your sick child, because when a child is miserable, knowing what to do is half the battle. “When your kids do get sick, despite all your best efforts, it still might happen, that’s when we turn to how to care for them.” In the gallery are some tips for how to comfort and care for that sick little one.
