Coping with your little one when they are sick ?

Supercell

Our little man is 7 weeks old and seems to have caught a cold. He doesnt have a fever or sniffles but is croaky and much less fiesty than normal. He isnt off his food and my mum says its just a cold but I think we might take him to our GP anyhow to be on the safe side tomorrow.

That said I'm finding it very very hard to deal with hearing his little weak cry, a part of me feels so sad and helpless hearing it. When I pick him up and he is hungry normally its hard to hold on he wriggles so much , today he just gave a few little croaky cries and a weak struggle, I wish he would just give his normal full lunged hearty scream that would temporarily deafen me and a wriggle that makes me think i picked up a cornered wildcat!!

How do you cope? My wife is doing better than me truth be told but inside I'm freaking out a little , but am trying to man up for her and reassure her its just a cold etc etc

This part of parenting is tougher than I imagined it would be.
Sorry for the depressing post, I just needed to get it off my chest I suppose.

Moonbeam

Supercell wrote: »

Our little man is 7 weeks old and seems to have caught a cold. He doesnt have a fever or sniffles but is croaky and much less fiesty than normal. He isnt off his food and my mum says its just a cold but I think we might take him to our GP anyhow to be on the safe side tomorrow.

That said I'm finding it very very hard to deal with hearing his little weak cry, a part of me feels so sad and helpless hearing it. When I pick him up and he is hungry normally its hard to hold on he wriggles so much , today he just gave a few little croaky cries and a weak struggle, I wish he would just give his normal full lunged hearty scream that would temporarily deafen me and a wriggle that makes me think i picked up a cornered wildcat!!

How do you cope? My wife is doing better than me truth be told but inside I'm freaking out a little , but am trying to man up for her and reassure her its just a cold etc etc

This part of parenting is tougher than I imagined it would be.
Sorry for the depressing post, I just needed to get it off my chest I suppose.

That is very sweet and no doubt a 1st child
It is so hard when they are tiny,a warm bath ,some snuffle baby and lots of hugs will all help .

How Strange

The first time they're sick is tough alright. I think the cold at that age must be normal. My fella had it too and he was definitely out of sorts for a week or so and I know my friends children had the same.

It's hard to see them sick but they're far tougher and more resilient than we give them credit for. They bounce back to good health very quickly.

For the snuffles I found the saline spray good and bringing them into a steamed up bathroom.

vibe666

it really pulls at the heart strings when they are sick, especially when they're very young and they can't communicate with you what's wrong or visa versa and you can't tell them that it will be okay.

of course the other thing is that (as first time parents at least) you automatically think the worst every time they get a sniffle.

the first time ours was sick, he was 3 months old and ended up with a very severe case of croup and spent 5 days on life support in temple street.

one of the first things i quickly learnt there was just how damn lucky we were to be able to take him home after a week. there's so many people in there who spend months and months with their babies living in the hospital with them who might never get to bring them home.

we know that we're likely to have to spend time in hospital now every year with recurrences of the croup too now, so that'll be a barrel of laughs, but again at least we know we'll be able to take him home again with us, when lots of people won't.

one of the hardest things about bringing him home was being so happy to be out of there and packing up our stuff on the ward to go home and seeing the faces of all the other parents there wishing they were us.

sorry, i know its a bit depressing, but something like that really does put things in perspective.

Supercell

Thanks guys, he's much better today, still not 100% but on the mend
Vibe, yes putting it in perspective does help, I honestly don't know if I'd have the strength to deal with something more than the sniffles at this stage. I suppose at times like that we hopefully surprise ourselves as well as count on our partners, family and friends to pull us through.

daltonmd

Supercell wrote: »

Thanks guys, he's much better today, still not 100% but on the mend
Vibe, yes putting it in perspective does help, I honestly don't know if I'd have the strength to deal with something more than the sniffles at this stage. I suppose at times like that we hopefully surprise ourselves as well as count on our partners, family and friends to pull us through.

Oh Supercell - bless you. You have the "fear" I'm afraid :mad: And it comes hand in hand with parenthood, don't want to soundn egative, but that's how it is. You never stop the worrying,ever.

Best cure? Have another, doesn't stop the fear, but certainly puts it on the backburner:)

vibe666

Supercell wrote: »

Vibe, yes putting it in perspective does help, I honestly don't know if I'd have the strength to deal with something more than the sniffles at this stage. I suppose at times like that we hopefully surprise ourselves as well as count on our partners, family and friends to pull us through.

it's funny how you cope, you just get on with it because you don't have any other choice and there are always people worse off to put it into perspective.

i think the fact tha you are worrying so much is a good indication of how well you will cope (in a good way) if anything does crop up. worrying means you care deeply and caring about your baby and your partner is what will give you the strength to get on and deal with whatever comes your way.

our little one is sick again for the last couple of weeks and the doctor has referred us to temple street for an x-ray tomorrow and he'll have to have a steroid nebuliser at home for the next couple of weeks to try and sort out a persistent cough which is making him throw up every day, but its just one of those things you have to take in your stride. like i said, it's hard to complain about stuff like that when you see how lucky you are compared to some people who get dealt the crappiest luck and still keep on going.

liamo

We spent Saturday evening in Tallaght hospital with a sick 18-month-old (when I should have been watching the Leinster v Ulster Final). She was floppy and lethargic with a temperature that just kept getting higher througout the day (even with the use of Neurofen and Calpol).

By the time we got to the A&E she was whimpering and looking around. By the time the triage nurse got to her, the temperature was lower than our last measurement. By the time the doctor came around she was running around the childrens' dept stripped down to her nappy jumping in and out of the toys and climbing up on everything. As it turned out she has a tonsil infection so we think the staff believed us when we told them that she was really ill earlier. This is not the first time she's done this to us.

Bloody kids! They freak you out, make you out to be a liar and ruin your rugby! Who'd have them?

xzanti

Just back from the Doctors with our little lad.. he has a virus

Doctor said just to do the old Calpol/Neurophen routine for the next couple of days as it can't be treated with an antibiotic..

Poor little guy.

vibe666

i think the worst thing is when you know they're suffering and they keep looking at you, but they're too young for you to explain it to them. you'd do anything to take it away from them if you could, but they just give you that "it hurts, why aren't you making it go away?" puzzled look and it breaks your heart every time.

Hannibal Smith

It's awful when they're sick...i'll never forget chicken pox saga...I know its a common childhood illness...but I never realised the utter awfullness of them.

I don't know how parents deal with it when they're in hospital. Imagine having to leave your child and come home!

vibe666

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

I don't know how parents deal with it when they're in hospital. Imagine having to leave your child and come home!

you actually don't when they're really bad.

when our lad was in temple street ICU we stayed in parent accomodation next to the childrens ward. it's just like a hostel with camp beds and a sink with a communal kitchen, shower/toilets and washing/drying facilities.

you're inside the hospital itself so you just take it in turns sitting with the baby or trying to sleep and one of you will go out for food supplies etc. from time to time.

I have to say though, the ICU in Temple St. was amazing. they get one to one care 24/7 with the ICU nurses doing 12 hour shifts and handing over one to one to the next nurse.

they're all highly trained and very friendly and our little man got the best care possible, i can't praise them highly enough.

he was 3 days on full life support in an induced coma and then another 2 in the ICU with them weaning him off all the morpheine and paralytics etc. before they transferred him to the ward for 2 days observation before we could bring him home again.

croup isn't supposed to be all that bad and most kids shake it off after a few days, with the bad ones needing a trip to A&E for a go on the steroid inhaler there, so it took them a while to catch on how serious he was and we ended up in A&E 3 times over the course of a week before they finally decided it was more serious than normal and did the whole endoscope thing, at which point they decided it was serious enough to intubate him and transfer him to the ICU.

anyway, it took a while for him to get over it properly and we'll most likely have a trip to A&E every year (possibly more than once per year) during the october to march croup season if he gets it again, but you just have to get on with it and thank your lucky stars that it's not something worse, or permanent.

before all that happened i'd have said i'd have no idea how i would cope with a seriously sick baby, but when it happens you just have to get on with it and you do, for their sake as well as your own. as a parent you know in your heart that you'd die for them if it came to it, so a few trips to the hospital is nothing really.

cbyrd

My eldest was hospitalised 2 once for a really bad chest infection that they thought was pneumonia and once for a kidney infection..the kidney infection was the worst cos i was 5 months pregnant with my 2nd and had to sleep in a hospital chair for 4 nights. . not nice.. but you do it and it's only when its over that you look back and wonder how you did..i hate stuffy noses the most..:rolleyes:

Hannibal Smith

vibe666 wrote: »

you actually don't when they're really bad.

when our lad was in temple street ICU we stayed in parent accomodation next to the childrens ward. it's just like a hostel with camp beds and a sink with a communal kitchen, shower/toilets and washing/drying facilities.

you're inside the hospital itself so you just take it in turns sitting with the baby or trying to sleep and one of you will go out for food supplies etc. from time to time.

I have to say though, the ICU in Temple St. was amazing. they get one to one care 24/7 with the ICU nurses doing 12 hour shifts and handing over one to one to the next nurse.

they're all highly trained and very friendly and our little man got the best care possible, i can't praise them highly enough.

he was 3 days on full life support in an induced coma and then another 2 in the ICU with them weaning him off all the morpheine and paralytics etc. before they transferred him to the ward for 2 days observation before we could bring him home again.

croup isn't supposed to be all that bad and most kids shake it off after a few days, with the bad ones needing a trip to A&E for a go on the steroid inhaler there, so it took them a while to catch on how serious he was and we ended up in A&E 3 times over the course of a week before they finally decided it was more serious than normal and did the whole endoscope thing, at which point they decided it was serious enough to intubate him and transfer him to the ICU.

anyway, it took a while for him to get over it properly and we'll most likely have a trip to A&E every year (possibly more than once per year) during the october to march croup season if he gets it again, but you just have to get on with it and thank your lucky stars that it's not something worse, or permanent.

before all that happened i'd have said i'd have no idea how i would cope with a seriously sick baby, but when it happens you just have to get on with it and you do, for their sake as well as your own. as a parent you know in your heart that you'd die for them if it came to it, so a few trips to the hospital is nothing really.

That's it, you just have to put the head down and crack on for their sake, I'd imagine, there's no other choice. The words self induced coma must have scared the the life out of you!

xzanti

Bit of an off topic question but.. if the Doctor tells you to come back in a few days if the child isn't better, do you have to pay for the second visit?

dublinlady

Vibe - that sounds horrendous really must have been so awful!

Xzanti - I know I had to pay when I had to go back about an infected stitch in my section scar - the receptionist had the cheek to say - not to worry half is covered by ur insurance... Didn't help at time!!!

vibe666

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

That's it, you just have to put the head down and crack on for their sake, I'd imagine, there's no other choice. The words self induced coma must have scared the the life out of you!

they don't actually say that although it's what it is.

i counted one day and there were 12 different IV's going into him, all computer controlled giving slow doses of everything from morpheine to paralytics and sedatives, plus a host of other drugs to counteract the side effects of the other drugs.

they do it because they have no other way of keeping the baby calm and still. you can't tell a 4/5 month old baby that they've got to keep still and that the big tubes going into their mouth and nose are there for their own good.

an (almost) funny thing happened the first time they let us see him in the ICU after he was in theater.

it was actually horrendous at the time as we didn't have a clue what was going on, but kind of funny looking back on it knowing what our little man is like.

they were just showing us in and the nurse was explaining that he was sedated and that they had given him muscle relaxants and other drugs to keep him still, so he can't move at all or make any noise so that his little body has time to heal etc. etc. and as we got to the door of his room, he let out an almighty gurgling muffled scream, and proceeded to pull his breathing tube out about 3/4 of the way before they could get to him to stop him.

at this stage alarm bells (literally) started going off in the room and a heap of nurses ran in and they ushered us back out of the ICU until they had him properly sedated and got the tube back in properly.

it turns out he's very VERY strong and he has his dads resistence to drugs and the stubborness and sheer strength of will of his mother.

like i said, horrendous at the time, but it was so like him to do something like that, we can't help but laugh about it now.

xzanti wrote: »

Bit of an off topic question but.. if the Doctor tells you to come back in a few days if the child isn't better, do you have to pay for the second visit?

depends on the doctor, my old doc and my new doc don't charge for repeat visits for the same thing, but i'm sure some do and i'm not sure if there are any rules other than what the doctor themselves decides.