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Don’t you just hate it when your little one is sick and you don’t know what to do? I have spent countless on the phone with on-call nurses in the middle of the night and have stayed up googling symptoms that just seemed to freak me out even more. I thought that for my first December post that I’d share some helpful tips for when your little one is sick. These are all things that I’ve done myself and they really work. It’s a useful list to give you something to do while you are waiting for a call back from the Doctor.

Once again, I am not a doctor, just a Mama who has picked up a trick or two over the last 13 months. Flu/cold season is among us, friends. Keep this list of sick baby tips and tricks handy for when sickness strikes in your home.

When Baby has a Fever

• It’s so easy to forget if you gave the Tylenol or Motrin last and how much of which to give. Keep track of what medicine you gave and when with a chart that lists the last dose you gave. I usually have a notepad on the fridge to do this with but some people just write it directly on the bottle.
  • Both of these medicines are given by the weight of the child. Ask your pediatrician to do the math for you and figure out the right dose to give. We weren’t giving Isla enough Motrin because we were going by the age chart on the bottle. Isla is pretty tall and weighs more than most 1 year olds so the dose didn’t seem to work until our doctor told us that were should be giving her more.

• Use a rubber band to keep the syringe and medicine bottle together. I don’t know how many times I have had to run around looking for the syringe for infant Tylenol.
  • Keep old Tylenol syringes and stash them everywhere. We have 1 in the diaper bag, my purse, our bathrooms, and our nightstands.

• Fridababy Wearable thermometer – These are so ideal! Gone are the days of waking baby up to take their temperature. This will also alert you to spikes in temperature via your phone. This puts me at ease since I was going in her room every hour to check on her before I had this.

• A damp, cold cloth to the forehead works wonders in bringing baby’s temperature down in a relatively short amount of time after Infant Tylenol has been administered. Isla doesn’t like this so we usually have to read her a book or put on a movie to distract her. I usually just put the cloth on her head for about 5 minutes. Use cold tap water and that seems to be cool enough without being too cold. It seems to do the trick most of the time.
  • I only do this when her temperature spikes and the medicine hasn’t kicked in yet.

When Baby has a Stomach Bug

• If your little one throws up, after you clean them up of course, begin wiping everything down with Clorox wipes or your preferred sanitizer. It stops the sickness from spreading. The worst thing in the world is passing sickness back and forth. I immediately wipe down every surface and wash all the bedding. I’ve learned so much from the 3 stomach bugs that Isla has brought home this year.

• I usually will put on plastic pants over her diaper if it’s a tummy bug. This saves the carpet/ mattress. I do this immediately after I wipe down everything and make her more comfortable. This has saved the car seat a couple of times while running errand with a sick baby.

• Stick with solid foods that are easy to digest – think rice, banana, applesauce or saltines. Isla will even eat plain oatmeal when she doesn’t feel good.

• When my daughter is sick, she doesn’t like to drink fluids, but she will eat a Popsicle, so I make my own with Pedialyte. I put her in the high chair and she will usually eat the whole thing. Remember to offer fluids frequently or make sure she can reach her cup at all times.

When Baby has Gas

• Gas Drops – I use the Little Remedies gas relief drops. I haven’t had to use them in awhile because she is older now but in the early days they were a life-saver.

• I’ve had to put the heating pad on low or use a hot water bottle with a towel around it, and place it on my chest so that Isla could lay on that to help with gas when bicycle legs and gas drops didn’t help. This mostly happened when she was really little, and we couldn’t get a burp out of her. The heat helped so much, just be sure to only use it on lowest setting. This also would get her to sleep a few nights when we were desperate in the early days.

When Baby is Congested

• 360 Degree Cool Mist Humidifier– This is the one we use. You probably already have one, just be sure to keep it clean! I clean it with white vinegar and then rinse with soap and water. I can always tell a difference when she wakes up after using this. She is so much less stuffy.

• The steam from the shower works wonders on a congested baby. I’ve done this a couple of times. Let your shower steam up the bathroom and then use a towel down near the door, so it keeps the steam in. We only stayed in the room for 10 minutes because any longer than that and it gets pretty warm. I hold her on my lap and we watch videos on my phone to keep her occupied.

• If your baby is really struggling with congestion/runny nose you can prop up one end of the crib using a 2×4 under the legs of the crib (pictured below). I’ve done this several times and it’s the only way to safely prop the crib. The incline is only 1.5 inches but it can really make a difference. It helps to drain the snot and helps your baby breathe. Never prop the mattress or put a wedge in the crib.

• Nose Freida Nasal Aspirator -We only do this once in the morning and once before bed, the rest of the time we use saline drops, but this thing is so neat and really is better than the bulb aspirators because you can take it apart and clean it. It looks pretty gross and rinsing it out is never fun, but oh man can she breathe better after we use it.

• Another favorite congestion remedy is the Johnson’s soothing vapor bath. We give Isla a bath every single night and she loves a good bubble bath. This stuff is great because you don’t have to put any Vick’s vapor rub on them and it really helps to soothe a cough. she just seems to sleep better after using this.

Keeping Baby Healthy when Others are Sick

• If sickness has struck, then I suggest you quarantine part of the house. Last year my husband got the flu and I was breastfeeding our newborn. My husband immediately moved to the guest bedroom and had to use the guest bathroom. He wasn’t allowed to step foot into the living areas where the baby and I were. Don’t worry, I took him food and meds, but I know keeping him in one part of the house for a couple of days really helped minimize the spread of germs. This might not be as feasible for small children, so keep your Clorox wipes handy in the rooms that they are in the most.

• Wipe down everything – It sounds like common sense, but there are likely many surfaces you forget about that sick people in your home come in contact with. Door knobs, sink faucets, refrigerator handles, or even the TV remote. Wipe these areas down with disinfectant wipes regularly so that everyone else in the family, especially baby, doesn’t catch what’s going around.
  • I also put Isla toys through the dishwasher on the sanitation cycle to give them a good clean after she has been sick, and I wash her stuffed animals and plush toys in the regular washer.

I hope this post has helped you, whether you’re reading this a 4AM and looking for relief or simply planning ahead. Let me know what kind of Mom hacks you have for when your baby is sick in the comments below! I’ll also be posting a teething tip list soon! I hope everyone has a great first day of December and that everyone’s family stays healthy this winter!

*Disclosure: The links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.