Tips for Taking Care of a Sick Toddler

We are in the thick of flu season now, and it feels like everyone I know has a bit of the sniffles. Even our baby girl is down with the flu.

As a parent, it hurts to see my baby suffering with a stuffy nose and a fever. So I scoured the internet, asked doctors and nurses, and pestered other veteran parents for advice. Stick around, I’ve compiled what works for our family below.

The definition of “Sick”

Doctors consider a baby to be sick when they have a fever of 100 degrees or more (99 if taken under the arm), or if they show other signs of being sick, including:

• diarrhea
• Vomiting (not normal spitting up)
• Color change
• Loss of appetite or great appetite change
• Lethargy/ abnormal sleepiness
• Severe/ abnormal post nasal drip
• more

Generally, you as a parent will know when your child is beginning to feel sick. They will show changes in normal behavior that will cause you concern. It may take some trial and error for first time parents to know the difference between teething and illness, but after the first few goes of teething, you will get the hang of it. If you have any questions or concerns, make an appointment with your doctor.

This post is about general flu/ cold type illnesses in young toddlers. I am not a doctor, just a parent. If you are even a little concerned, please contact your doctor.

General advice regardless of illness

If baby is sick, regardless of illness, they need more sleep. Ideally they would get more fluids too, but very young babies may not be able to have water yet.

Consider adding a nap time. If the baby is eating solids, encourage foods with vitamin C.

I also air out the house and give anything the baby regularly uses a good clean to keep the sickness from coming back.

Fever

Talk to your doctor about their favorite fever reducer for your child. While the fever is present, make sure to use the fever reducer according to its instructions.

When you think the fever might have passed, stop using the fever reducer and continue to monitor temperature for 24 hours. If the fever does not return, then the fever is broken and the baby is good to go.

If the fever breaks, and then returns, go to the doctor immediately. Your baby could be fighting something more serious. Also seek medical care for a fever over 102 degrees or if the baby is exhibiting a fever under the age of 3 months. For more on fevers, go here.

Post-nasal drip

Post nasal drip can be caused by illness, allergies, or changes in season and humidity. Whatever the reason, baby post nasal drip is a real pain. The baby is uncomfortable and nothing anyone does seems to fix it. But there are some ways we can help.

One of the first things to try is manipulating the humidity of the room. Forced air heating can leave rooms dry, and baby noses drippy. We got a room humidifier and that helped a ton. I recommend getting one that has the ability to take vics vaporub tabs.

If humidity alone doesn’t work, you can rub vicks vapo rub on their feet or drop some essential oils in the humidifier. Some humidifiers have tabs that will disperse vicks into the room.

Next you could try a simple saline spray. The spray dilutes the mucus so it can more easily drip out. If there is a lot of mucus in there, you might need to spray saline up the baby’s nose and then suction the mucus out.

Finally, there are ways to suck the mucus out of the baby’s nose. In the hospital, they often give you a blue/green bulb to suck out mucus. I find that works really well, but there are also products like the nose frida people swear by.

Sore Throat

Once baby is eating solids, you can start to care fore a sore throat.

Warm (not hot) chamomile tea can help. As can a number of cough syrups on the market (ask your doctor). You could also make a frozen treat. We like to freeze some of our breakfast smoothie into popsicles.

When to seek help

If you think your newborn might be sick, then go see the doctor immediately. For an older baby go see the doctor for a sustained fever of over 102 degrees or anything that might be worrying you.

Hope your little one gets well soon! What are your favorite tricks to help your sick little ones.

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