Survive And Thrive During Flu Season

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Flu Season visits every year during the cold winter months.

In North America, it usually starts in October, peaks in February, and dissipates by May.

That is a long time to be extra vigilant about hand washing, sanitation, and clean hygiene, especially when you have young children!

As a family, we have survived more viruses and illness than I care to think about.

However, these experiences have taught us so much about prevention and treatment of illnesses.

#1 – Prevention Is Key

As a mother of six young children, I have had the privilege of helping my children recover from countless illnesses.

The scariest was pneumonia, the hardest was Norovirus, and the All-Time worst illness was Pertussis.

Every one of our children has been vaccinated on schedule but still caught these illnesses.

The doctors and nurses assured me each time that the illness would have been severely worse if they had not been vaccinated.

Even though vaccines are not 100% guaranteed to prevent the illnesses they target, they will still help prepare the child’s immune system to better fight the illness.

Vaccinating your child and making sure they get a flu shot every year is an important prevention method to keeping them healthy.

Of course, every parent is responsible to educate themselves about vaccines and make the best decision for their child.

Another simple but wildly effective prevention strategy is teaching your child proper hand washing techniques.

When they are young we teach them to sing the ABC song while they wash and they can’t stop scrubbing until the song is completely over.

That helps with hygiene and learning the alphabet.

Bonus Tip: Specifically, we teach them a pattern of wet hands, get two pumps of hand soap, scrub with palms flat, scrub the back of each hand, interlace fingers and scrub, use fingertips of one hand to wash fingernails of opposite hand, and finally rinse completely with warm water.

We have them follow the same pattern to rinse their hands under the running water as they do to wash them so it reinforces the routine (rinse rubbing palms together, back of hands, interlocking fingers, then fingertips).

Another hygiene tip is reminding your child to not touch their face, especially while they are at school or other public places.

We have had three thumb suckers so that has been very difficult for some of our kids.

Make sure to teach your child to sneeze into a Kleenex if possible, and if that’s not possible, to at least sneeze completely into their shoulder.

That forces them to turn away from the people and surfaces in front of them and keeps the sneeze from spreading.

Keep home surfaces clean and sanitize them more often if a family member is ill so that it stops spreading.

Bonus Tip: We can’t live without Clorox Wipes, especially during illnesses. 

The diamond pattern makes them even stronger to wipe up any mess. 

Separate sick sleeping children from healthy sleeping siblings if they share a room.

Consult your physician about which vitamin supplements and probiotic supplements you can safely give your child every day to keep their immune system in top shape.

Make sure to provide healthy well-balanced meals for your family that are rich in fresh fruits and vegetables.

Research foods that are high in antioxidants (like berries and spinach) and provide more of those foods for your family during the winter months.

Ask all of your family and friends what they do to keep their children healthy; you never know what will work for your family!

Everything that you do to strengthen your child’s immune system will prevent or improve illnesses.

#2 – Teach Your Child About The Immune System Response

One thing that really stood out to me as a new mom was that my children were scared of their symptoms.

They were terrified to throw up because they didn’t understand why they were throwing up or how to help it.

Nothing helped them calm down more than teaching them that when they vomit, it is simply their body doing its job.

Adapt your explanation for their age and understanding level, but we teach our preschoolers that they are throwing up because “Your tummy found a bag germ and your body is so smart that it knows it has to get the bad germ out”.

We teach them that we are SO GLAD they are throwing up because it actually means that they are healthy and their body is just doing its job.

Explain to your child that once the bad germs get out, they will stop throwing up so try hard to get it out.

That shifts their mindset from panic and trying to stop themselves from throwing up to calmly allowing their body to purge itself.

Children need a TON of extra assurance from caregivers when they are sick.

Verbally reassure your child often that you are here to help them.

One of the most beautiful rewards of motherhood is when your child gets old enough to realize all that you are doing to help them and looks you in the eye and thanks you. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

When you have been up all night with a sick child, it means even more!

#3 – Develop And Practice a Family Action Plan

Chances are if you have children you know exactly what this means!

Developing a system to cleaning up and helping sick children is SO important for the health and sanity of the entire family.

For example, if you wake up in the middle of the night and hear your child vomiting in their bedroom, what is your plan of action?

My husband and I divide up the responsibilities and because we have had so much -fun- practice, we know exactly what to do!

There are two assignments: clean the child or clean the bedroom.

1 Cleaning the child means helping them clean their mouth, showering them, getting them in clean pajamas, covering the couch with a plastic paint drop cloth for them to lay on, encasing a pillow in a garbage sack, and giving the child an emesis bag.

Bonus Tip: If it’s going to be a long night of multiple purges, don’t put a blanket over your child each time, use a large soft towel.

This will keep them warm and comfortable but is much smaller and washes better so you have way less laundry to worry about each time.

2 Cleaning the room means getting all affected laundry into the washing machine, wiping down the mattress and bed frame, and shampooing the carpet if necessary.

Our small portable carpet cleaner has saved our lives over and over again!

Between detailing out messes in the car, cleaning up everyday small messes (picture cute toddler sprinkling milk from sippy cup all over living room), and saving our lives during flu season, this has become one of the most important cleanup tools we own!

This portable carpet cleaner makes cleaning up the room SO much easier!

Then, whichever of us finishes our assignment first helps the other parent until we are both done.

#4 – Stock Up On Emesis Bags!

The biggest illness game changer of all time for us was finding these amazing disposable emesis bags on Amazon.

They. Are. AMAZING!!

Children can’t always make it to the toilet to puke, especially if they are very young or very tired.

I hate the idea of cleaning out and sanitizing emesis basins and if you have a child who is projectile vomiting, it will splatter out of basins (but not with these bags!)

These amazing bags are small in storage but huge when you whip them out to their full length.

The large plastic ring is easy to hold onto for any age.

I always have a huge supply of these bags on hand because when one kid gets sick, they probably all will and even Amazon’s fast two day shipping might not be fast enough in an emergency family flu situation (so make sure to STOCK UP!)

They are also fantastic to have in your car, especially for long trips.

We have several kids who get car sick so when we pack their day bag for car trips we make sure each child has a few emesis bags tucked inside so they are right by them at all times.

The best part of these bags?

Cleanup is as easy as putting it in the garbage!

Done!

#5 – Care For The Caregiver

As you help your child heal, remember to take it easy too.

It can be exhausting to care for your children when they are sick so reserve as much energy as possible for essential tasks only.

This is NOT the time to de-clutter your closet or start a huge project; just provide the basic necessities until everyone is feeling better.

You never know how long of a haul you are in for exactly, especially if you have more than one child.

Only do the most essential tasks so that you have the extra energy to devote to caring for your child(ren).

Let others run your errands and keep your perspective focused on the health and well-being of your family.

Rest when your child does and plan easy meals for a few days.

Make sure that you get breaks from caring for your sick child so that you can recharge and be at your best.

Every family has such different experiences and solutions when it comes to preventing and treating illnesses.

We would LOVE to know what prevention strategies you use to keep your family healthy!

Grape juice? Elderberry juice? Essential oils? Herbal supplements? Diet changes?

What works for YOU and YOUR FAMILY?

Please comment below so we can all hear your great ideas!

As always, don’t forget to like and share this article with friends and family using the share buttons below.

Our best wishes for a happy and HEALTHY flu season to everyone! Ü