If your house currently looks like a cross between a pharmacy and a laundromat, hang in there, hopefully it will be over soon. With school back in session and kids just being kids, they are bound to get sick. All three of my girls are down with a cold right now, and our daily routine has been completely remodeled into full-time nursing duty.
When you have multiple sick kids, you quickly realize that standard parenting advice goes out the window. You just need to survive the day with your sanity intact.
I’m writing this straight from the couch during a rare moment of quiet, and I wanted to share three sanity-saving hacks that are keeping our heads above water today.
1. The Two-Box Tissue Trick (Goodbye, Couch Confetti!)
When kids have endless runny noses, you usually find used, snotty tissues stuffed in the couch cushions, dropped on the floor, or piled up on the coffee table because nobody has the energy to keep walking back and forth to the trash can.
What we do instead: Grab two tissue boxes. One full, and one empty.
The kids grab a clean tissue from the full box, blow their nose, and drop the used one right into the empty box. It keeps the germs contained, saves you from running back and forth to the trash, and means you never have to accidentally touch a rogue, crusty tissue on the couch. When the empty box is full of trash, you just throw the entire box away.
2. The Novelty Cup Hydration Strategy
Keeping little ones hydrated when they don’t feel well is a constant battle. My youngest usually uses a 360-degree rim cup, but when she’s sick, she loses interest in drinking entirely.
What we do instead: Switch the cup style completely.
If your kids are anything like mine, they obsessed with anything “new” and will suddenly drink like they haven’t seen water in days just because the container changed. This go-around, I handed her a cup with a straw instead of her usual rim cup. That tiny novelty factor alone was enough to make her want to sip throughout the day, and has completely saved us from the dehydration stress.
3. Invest in the Right Medicine Syringe
If you’ve ever opened a fresh bottle of infant or children’s liquid medicine only to realize it didn’t come with a syringe—or it came with one of those cheap, blunt ones where the numbers rub off after one wash—you know the frustration.
What we do instead: Upgrade the syringe!
Not all syringes are created equal, and it is worth having a good one in your arsenal. My absolute go-to is the Ryan and Rose “Cutie Dose” syringe. (And just a heads up, this is absolutely not a paid ad and I have zero affiliation with them—I just genuinely love their products!)
I grabbed mine on Amazon. They have a slim design that actually fits inside the neck of major medicine bottles to reach the absolute bottom so you don’t waste a drop, and they hold up to 10mL so you can usually administer the whole dose in one go instead of doing multiple refills for older kids. It makes medicine time a breeze.
More to come…stay tuned for part 2
I actually had two more incredible hacks to share with you, but a tiny voice just called out from the bedroom and I completely lost my train of thought. You know how it goes! Motherhood waits for no one—especially when there are sick babies.
Well…Bye! May your coffee be strong and your toddlers’ tantrums be short.