Treating Children Colds, Fever and Dose of Love

Tips and advice for parents to combat Colds and Fever with a dose of Love.

Do you notice the change in your child when they start to get ill? Daily rhythms and dynamics of my toddler were usually full of laughter and constant movement. Suddenly, there he sat lethargic, glassy eyed and quiet showing no interest in his favorite toys or other activities.

Illness, pain or suffering is the one reality as parents that we cannot take away. We are left feeling helpless and distressed in our inability to tackle a situation we have no control over. We must ride this illness through with our child.

The best we can do is stand on guard to provide comfort and tender loving care. We can start with checking for a fever and pulling out the children’s Tylenol to combat the fever and aches that usually accompany a cold. Note the time and set to follow a strict schedule, to give this to your child every 3-4 hours, as directed until the fever subsides.

The next step to do battle with this cold, is ensuring your child drinks a lot of liquids, to flush out germs. A fun alternative for children to encourage liquids, besides their favorite juice, are fruit popsicles. Maybe freeze some in the ice cube tray to add to his cup of juice too.

Along with fevers usually accompanies chills so we can wrap our child in a blanket. Sleep is the ultimate healer for the human body. Lay down next to your child to encourage him to rest. Let his or her body use this time to do it's own internal battle with the cold. I would tell my child a story of seven germ fighters (immune system) doing battle with that cold.

A couple of restful ideas;

- Lay down on the sofa with him or her and watch a movie together

- Listen to music and serenade your child

- Read a book together

- Lay down in the middle of your own bed together and encourage your child to take a nap

Feeling nauseous may result with your child not wanting to eat. Denying nutrition for the body is a bad practice to allow and food must be encouraged, especially while ill. I use to take baby pablum (extremely nutritious!) and mix it with apple sauce. I felt quite a measure of contentment knowing that my child ate something light and nutritious. Provide foods that will be easy to digest and light and build to meals that are high calorie and high protein before returning to regular meals.

A few other lessons to teach our child when they are sick can be ;

- wipe his nose with tissues

- wash his hands if in contact with his body liquids (sneezing, coughing)

- cover his face when sneezing or coughing

- drink immediately after coughing (coughs indicate dehydration)

The human body has it's own immune system to fight off illness and gives clues to bodily needs. Learning to identify and provide the needs - rest, liquids, nutrition - can give parents a better sense of strategy, to help our child through their illness. Our child returning to his toys and boisterous nature will tell us that the cold is getting overcome.

A fever left unchecked can lead to delirium, convulsions, tissue and brain damage. Lack of rest and poor nutrition can lead to a prolonged recovery period or new infection. The human body requires a adequate supply of energy through dietary intake to meet it's metabolic rate.

Chills bring on shivering from muscular activity which elevates the metabolic rate, increasing the demand for oxygen and nutrients. Other internal signs that develop will be a higher pulse rate, increased breathing respiration's, and thirst (lungs in need of extracellular water). Second stage of a fever leads to delirium, convulsions and brain damage.

Knowledge is the best armory for parents. Luckily, we can take pre-measures for our child with a cold. Regularly scheduled Tylenol, cool sponge baths, cold compresses on the forehead. Light and nutritious snacks, liquids and encouraging rest, are measures that help towards restoring our child's health and well being. A fever that persists beyond three days should be immediately investigated by a doctor.

One last tidbit of knowledge is to ensure that we have a adequate supply of Tylenol or other child approved medication for fevers, stocked in our medical cabinet, safely out of reach from our children.