What to Do when Your Child is Sick with a Cold or the Flu

As one of those parents who starts to over react when their child gets sick, I can tell you that it is a lot easier to do certain things to make the child feel better while they are sick, instead of freaking out and not do anything. Over the past 24 years of being a mother, I have finally gotten it down to where I know exactly what to do when one of my seven children get sick.

When you realize your child is getting sick, one of the very first thing you need to do is go out and buy some Gatorade, ice pops, pack of chicken thighs, carrots, celery and some ibuprofen.

Once you get all these items, place the ice pops and the Gatorade into the freezer. Once the Gatorade is cold enough, put it into the refrigerator.

Now get out a nice big pot out and place the chicken inside of the pot. Fill the pot up with cold water about 2 inches over the chicken. Add about 5 tablespoons of salt and two tablespoons of pepper. Do not cut back on the salt at all. Cut up carrots and celery and add to the pot. Cook for about 1 hour on medium heat. Once the chicken is cooked through, take the chicken out and remove from bone. Put the chicken back into the pot. Simmer for about 15 minutes and serve a half of cup every few hours. This is a very important step when treating a cold or flu. The salt content and the vegetables in the soup help make the child feel much better.

Give the recommended dosage for the ibuprofen as often as needed. Even if they do not have a fever, still give them the ibuprofen.

Fill up a cup with the Gatorade. Make sure that they drink the entire cup within an hour and a half. Once the drink is gone, refill the cup. If you notice that they are not drinking as much as you would like them to, give them three teaspoons of fluid every 15 minutes.

Give them and ice pop or ice chips whenever they are not drinking. This keeps some sort of fluid in them, and does keep their temperature down.

Keep a cool, damp cloth on the back of their neck at all times. When the cloth gets to warm from them running a fever, rinse it off with cold water and replace.

Give them a bath or shower every few hours. If they are feverish, be sure that the water is luke warm and not to cold. Let them just relax in the water until they want to get out.

Keep them in bed or on the couch. Do not let them run around and get to hyper. Sometimes letting them run around will make them even sicker once they have stopped playing. Just keep it out of the equation the entire time they are sick.

Limit their clothing even if they have a fever. If they are young enough, let them stay in their underpants or shorts with no shirt on. This way when they have the blanket over them, they will not over heat themselves.

Last but not least, let them sleep as much as they want. The more sleep they get, the more their body is resting and trying to heal itself. Just keep an eye on them while they are sleeping to make sure their fever is not too high. If their fever is under 102, let them sleep.

When you should bring your child in to see a doctor :

• High (above 103 degrees) fever, or a fever that lasts for more than 3 days
• Symptoms that last for more than 10 days
• Trouble breathing, fast breathing or wheezing
• Bluish skin color
• Earache or drainage from the ear
• Changes in mental state (such as not waking up, irritability or seizures)
• Flu like symptoms that improve, but return with a fever and a worse cough