My two year old son has been sick for a couple of days... throwing up, diarrhea, fever... the works. Poor little guy. When I was a brand new mom, something like this would have totally freaked me out. I would have run him to the doctor (as I did with my oldest son a couple of times), have them assess him, only to have them tell me that I just needed to take him home, give him fluids, watch him and let his body work it's magic.
It was very expensive and simple advice.
After a couple of times of running to the doctor in a panic, I realized that I really did know what to do when my child was sick. I just needed the permission from a health professional to do so. I am so grateful that I know how to assess, what signs to look for, watch him, track his reactions and progress and TRUST letting his body work it's magic.
I realized today after putting him to bed that there are other moms out there who need to know my regimen, how I assess, what I look for and tracking reactions and working WITH our children's bodies... especially fevers and not trying to get rid of them.
FIRST: There is no reason to be afraid of your child being sick. Can I say that again? There is NO REASON to be afraid of sickness.
In our society we go around being afraid of sickness and ailments. To me it is ridiculous. Instead, replace any fear reactions with thoughts like, "Being sick is good. It builds my child's immune system. It is helping my child be strong. It is helping me as a mom become more self reliant in my family's care".
*With this in mind, there are signs to watch for that DO point to something serious. Those are at the bottom of this post.
SECOND: Learn how to assess and track an issue. Track their temperature, fluid intake, medicine intake, energy level, issues, etc. For example this is what I did with my son:
Friday:
-He threw up at 4pm on Friday while changing his diaper. Checked his temperature. Normal. Watched his energy. He kept playing with his siblings. Gave him fluids.
-He threw up 1/2 hour after giving him fluids at 5pm. Temperature still normal. Energy still okay. Gave him more fluids. Gave him small dose of "Tummy Tincture" (I made this with chamomile, peppermint, hops, ginger, fennel).
-He threw up 2 hours later. Temperature still normal. He rested this time after he threw up. Gave more fluids. More tincture.
-He didn't keep these fluids down at all. Threw them immediately up. Temperature still normal. Didn't want more fluids. Diaper was wet when changed him.
-He had a rough night. I had him sleep with me. He woke up often. He wasn't feeling well at all. Temperature still normal.
-Gave him a couple "Thieves essential oil" massages.
Saturday:
-He woke up hungry. Gave him fluids. Kept it down. Gave him toast, he ate 1/2 of it. He carried his cup around and kept sipping. Diarrhea signs now, very runny. Still regular temperature. More tincture.
-He threw up 3 hours later at 10am. Let him keep his cup. He didn't move much. He kept sipping, but no appetite.
-Watched a movie. Kept his liquids down. Slight fever at 1pm. 99*.
-Threw up again at 3pm. Liquid is getting through his system - wet diaper. Still diarrhea.
-Drank another 8oz of gatorade. More tincture. Willing to eat a yogurt. Kept that down.
-Didn't throw up again the rest of the night. Kept the yogurt down. Kept sipping on gatorade. Slept through the night completely.
-Gave him a Thieves oil massage morning and night. Oregano essential oil on his feet.
Sunday:
-Woke up at 7:30 with a fever of 101*. More liquids. Diarrhea but NO throwing up. More tincture. Added Yarrow tincture to help with fever sweats 1/4 teaspoon.
-Drank 12 oz of gatorade by noon. No throwing up. Fever still 101*. More Yarrow tincture. Took a shower.
-Napped for 2 hours.
-More liquids after naps. Fever still 101*. More Yarrow tincture. No throwing up. Still diarrhea. Kept sipping on his cup.
-Watched a movie. Cuddling. No energy all day. NO throwing up.
-Another nap with mom. 1 hour.
-More Yarrow tincture. Keeping all liquids down. Had a little bit of soup made from bone broth during dinner time, but no interest in food yet. Kept drinking. 10 oz at dinner time.
-7pm still no appetite, but fever broke, temperature between 98*-99* for about an hour.
-Started playing with the kids. Wanted to walk around. Went to bed and went right to sleep.
-GAVE him Yarrow tincture throughout the day and Tummy Tincture about every hour. He willingly took those.
-Gave him Thieves essential oil massage morning, noon and night. Oregano and Peppermint on his feet throughout the day.
Tracking this showed me a couple VERY important things:
-If he was throwing up WHILE he had a high fever (which he didn't).
-If he was keeping fluids in his system.
-When he started and stopped throwing up.
-When his fever started and broke.
I did NOT:
-Give him ibuprofen. FEVERS ARE NOT SCARY when they are doing the right thing.
-HERE IS AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE: Kids Fevers, when to worry, when to relax. This gives good basic guidelines.
I did:
-Give him nutrition in the Tummy Tincture every hour. This also helped his body to be "settled".
-Aid his body working with his fever with the Yarrow Tincture. Yarrow does many things, one of which is stimulates sweating. I WANT my kids body to sweat with a fever to get the toxins out. It helps move the fever along. It does not reduce it, it works WITH it.
-Aid his body by giving him massages with essential oils to keep his lymph and circulation moving.
-Put a heat pack on his feet throughout the day to keep his fever from concentrating in his head. This helps to draw the fever down.
-Cuddle him A LOT.
Third: Put everything else away and focus on the illness. I had a lot to do this weekend. I have a big list of things that I am completely behind on with my house and business.
But I put that list away. I didn't not think about it. I focused on getting him well. I focused on washing my other kids hands. A few things I do when I focus on the illness in the home are:
-Set a timer every hour. Everyone washes their hands when the timer goes off.
-I put oil oregano essential oil on everyone's feet. That is my personal favorite for fighting stuff.
-Keep everyone's fluid intake VERY high. We have drinking contests :-).
-Cuddle with everyone. Watch movies. Read books.
-Give everyone natural medicine's throughout the day. Echinacea, syrups that I make, oregon grape root, licorice root, peppermint, ginger... there are quite a few actually.
Even though the to do list doesn't get done, most of the time someone getting sick is a sign that it's time to focus completely on the kids for a little bit.
I hope writing down that regimen helps someone out there!
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