Every day, you hear more and more on the news about the flu. Regardless if it is of the seasonal or H1N1 variety, you do everything possible to prevent your family from catching it. If you are like me, you tell your children to wash their hands with soap and water, use alcohol based sanitizer like there is no tomorrow, and frequently have a Lysol spray down party. You may also take your child to get the vaccination.
And that is where we caught the flu. Yes, you read that right. We caught the flu while at the doctor’s office waiting to get our vaccinations. I originally thought we were just having side effects from the vaccination. My doctor told me otherwise.
How do you know you have the flu? According to the Centers for Disease Control website (www.cdc.gov), symptoms of the flu include the following:
- fever
- cough
- sore throat
- runny or stuffy nose
- body aches
- headache
- chills
- fatigue
- sometimes vomitting and or diarrhea
So how did we survive? Lucky for us, we all had the flu at the same time so there was no concern of infecting someone else in our household. We all already had it. And we definitely stayed home, well away from anyone else. No need sharing the flu with anyone else, right?
Should your family fall prey to the flu, try these tricks to help you get through it.
Rest
Rest sounds easy enough when you are sick. But Mothers know, when you have a sick child, you get little rest yourself. We all were on the same schedule for medicines and meals which was a great help and allowed us to get the rest we all needed. Pull out books, coloring books, crayons, art sets, movies, and games to keep your child entertained. These will help your child be able to rest quietly and allow you some time to rest as well.
Hydrate
It is easy to get dehydrated when you are sick. Especially for little ones when they have a fever and other unpleasantries. Drink plenty of liquids to stay well hydrated. We enjoyed hot chocolate, smoothies, shakes, ginger ale, and Gatorade. We also ate yogurt and nourishing soups like chicken noodle soup, chicken stew, and tomato soup.
Stockpile
Luckily, we had plenty of soups, Kleenex, drinks, and Tylenol in stock at our house before we caught the flu. If you do not have a supply of the items your family will need for a few days if you were to get sick, make a list and head out to the store to get stocked up. Many of the manufacturers are offering coupons and discounts now for these items. One of my favorite places to check for printable coupons is www.coupons.com.
Hopefully your family will not get sick with the flu this season. If you do, these tips may be of some help while you are all quarantined at home. Stay well!
