What do YOU do?

[SugarBlossom]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this mum thing, and as I feel like I have a cold coming on :( , I thought "What do you with a baby when you're sick?"

Does your partner/husband take care of baby?

And what vitamins etc can you take to help prevent a cold/flu when ur breastfeeding?

Can baby catch whatever you have?

Any tips, advice and thoughts would be appreciated :)

Jazz

[SugarBlossom]

I know to drink loads of water...but not sure about garlic, echinacea etc....

[poshBecks]

Hi,
It sux to be crook with a new bub. I make sure I am CONSTANTLY washing my hands to help prevent spreading my germs to bub. But try to rest as much as possible. Let the housework go for a few days, get dh to help out as much as possible, sleep when bub is & of course drink loads of h2o!!
I generally stick with vit C, however other mums may have other great suggestions too!
I hope you feel better really soon :o

Becky
_______________
Mum of ....
Connor, 18 mths
Bump, due in Dec

[nemosmum]

I remember when DS was very little I got a bad case of the flu so I walked
around for a week with a mask over my mouth and nose so as to not give it to bub LOL :p
The doctor thought I was nuts when I told her that, she said bub would prob.get some things that me and DH get but not to stress to much about it. I was taking the preg.and bf supplements while bf and now I take a multi V for women to help get all my daily V's.
If your Dh can help to look after bub when your sick I say great but its not really an option for us as his work is very demanding and not very family friendly so if Im really in need I call my mum. Most of the time I just have to look after bub myself....as a mum you learn how to cope!

[AM]

It would have to be the suckiest part of being a mum, having NO sick leave!

I tend to drag a mattress out into the living room, and just lay there groaning, while keeping an eye on my toddler :)

I try to eat well, take my vitamins, zinc and Iron, and just go with the flow.

Ds has only ever had very mild versions of what I have had, don't you just love the boobie milk full of all those antibodies!

[Foxymoron]

Try to enlist help for the things that you shouldn't do while sick and looking after a baby.
They all end in "ing" washing, cooking, ironing, ;) If someone can do that while you and baby hang out in bed all day that would be great. Just take it easy, and know that your baby is well protected by whatever antibodies you are creating to this bug, it doesn't mean s/he won't get it, but will be better equipped to fight it off.
Eat as healthy as you can, and do have garlic in your food, it's a natural bug fighter and whilst it won't help rid you of a virus it will help with any secondary infections waiting to get in!

Take care

[Lucybelle]

Roast a clove or two of garlic, grab a shot of scotch and down the hatch.

Horseradish, garlic and vit C tablet are available from the supermarkets and are very good for drying up a chest and snotty nose.

Keara has it dead right in the "ing" things - you really do need to rest.

Hmmm I think I feel a cold coming on tee hee.

[rynosmum]

Make sure you do look after yourself. When DS was 6 months old, I had just started back at work and both he and I got a terrible cold.

Hubby was away for a couple of weeks and as I was so worried about DS (being a new mummy and all), mine ended up turning into Pneumonia. I needed to go to hospital but had no-one to look after DS so I had an intensive treatment of meds at home.

It was really a tough time - I've learnt since that even though DS comes first, you have to look after yourself so you can look after him !

Lots of sleep when you can get it ! :D

[BigW]

Hey Jazz,
I'm someone who is prone to getting run down pretty quickly, and getting coldsores also. I take a supplement each day - Lifestream Spirulina - which you can get from those natural food/vitamin shops. It's made in NZ, and is fantastic. I took it all thru my pregnancy, and had no issues whatsoever with any of my levels.
Hope this helps! :D

[Sarie]

My immune system is pretty bad, so I get a lot of colds and flus. But I don't get anytime off. And my hubby doesn't take time off work. We just get through it as best we can. Being a mum is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no holidays or sick leave, ie the hardest job in the world. Yet people still don't give us stay at home mums the credit we deserve.

[JanetF]

I drink lots of water and take loads of Vit C - ascorbic acid powder. Ds has only had a cold once in his life (now 22 months) so it's not common around here anyway. If I'm sick and he's not, he gets to watch a dvd in the daytime more than usual and has lots of lovely booby to keep him healthy.

[SugarBlossom]

Hi everyone,

My body battled with the yucky bug and has come out on top ...i think..., felt like crap till all the good stuff kicked in (vitamins etc....spirulina YAY!)

Thanks for ur help everyone! :D

[nemosmum]

no problem Jazz-Pete and Codie (did I get your pen name right?sorryLOL if I didnt)
any way glad to hear your all better and have a nice day :)

[RuthK]

I (and this is rarely) get my husband to take a day off work and I take to the bed and don't leave it for anything and let him do the lot. I find that often it's just that one day of rest that I need to recuperate sufficiently to get going again (also the stress of dealing with my husband's 'cleaning up' rares me into action again).

[ThomasMum]

Since I went back to work 2 days/week, thankfully Thomas has been healthy (as always!), but the arrangement is if Thomas is sick (hope not!), DH will stay at home as he can work-from-home.

Plenty of rest is essentials, whether you are sick or not, tiredness-weakness only makes the germs to attack you easier...

does this make sense?