It is officially autumn in Brazil. The overnight low temperatures have been dropping into the low 60's, and the long jammies have come out. Public service announcements about flu shots have started running and, as if on cue, Little Man came down with his first illness. And it was a doozie.
It all started when we visited the Farm and Little Man got to play with an older cousin. I noticed the little boy had a runny nose and was coughing a bit, but it was nearly impossible to keep the two of them apart. Within days of us returning home Little Man had the sniffles. His sleep was thrown for a loop and he was less interested in eating. A couple of days later and he had a fever, not severe, although he absolutely would not allow us anywhere near him with our thermometer even just to stick it under his arm. At first we thought maybe the fever was due to teething because he has his first molars coming in on the bottom. I noticed he was drooling a lot [like entire front of shirt soaked in drool] and read that could be a sign that it was painful for him to swallow.
Things came to a head the day after his fever first appeared when he woke from a nap inconsolable. He is normally a little cranky right when he wakes up, but this was crazy! Wailing! Screaming! Nothing worked to calm him down, not Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, not nothin'! He didn't even want to nurse [BIG red flag for a kid who lives to nurse]. While he was full-on-open-mouth-screaming, Hubby got a good look at the back of his throat and saw that it was red with white spots. We headed to the emergency treatment window at one of the local public hospitals and were seen pretty quickly [thank goodness] due to Little Man's operatics in the waiting area. The doctor quickly shined a flashlight in his mouth and wrote us a prescription for antibiotics. We weren't given an official diagnosis, but since he has responded to the antibiotics, I'm assuming it was probably strep throat [?].
Our whole routine has been turned upside-down by this. Little Man, who was previously falling asleep on his own when laid down at bedtime, was sleeping in our bed again and waking several times a night. My recent plan to start a gentle weaning process has gone out the window. We have had an overall clingy, sad, stressed-out toddler on our hands when he is normally an energetic little sunbeam. The hardest part for me has been the inability to make him feel better even with my old fail safe: nursing. Both Hubby and I have had to learn how to [try and] remain calm and just be there for our little guy while he wails and thrashes. Tough times. To all the parents out there who have had children with recurrent illnesses from a young age, I feel for you! I'm pretty sure we only managed to avoid Little Man getting sick before now because he doesn't go to daycare and actually has really limited interaction with other children.
Some things that have been helping: Vick's rub, honey, homemade chicken soup, and lots of extra snuggles. Of course now that Little Man's illness appears to be winding down, I'm starting to feel a little something coming on...Both my boys have had the flu shot, but I haven't gotten a card to get access to public health services yet.
How about you? How do you help your little one be as comfortable as possible while riding out an illness?
Oh I remember the days of sick children who couldn't yet verbalize their symptoms. Hw frustratingly upsetting that was. And how often I wished I could just put you guys in a bubble to keep you from getting all of the germs swirling around from other kids (and each other :-)). All of your "cures" are good ones but I think the extra snuggles always worked the best :-) <3
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