Having now endured yet another week of ‘whole family sickness’, I’ve learned a few more tips on how to make life bearable when everyone gets sick at once.
You can read the first list of tips here.
The first sickness that prompted the tip list was a respiratory illness. This time around, it was all stomach bug. So some tips overlap with the first list, but others are very specific for situations where there will be lots of vomit.
So here goes…
MORE TIPS TO MAKE LIFE BEARABLE WHEN YOUR WHOLE FAMILY IS SICK
- Really, I can’t overstate it. At the first sign of sickness, get caught up on laundry. At least sheets, towels, and washrags.
- It’s okay, though, to ignore folding the cleaned laundry when you’re sick.
- When you start to get better, it’s okay to sit on the floor in front of the dryer to fold the neglected laundry if you’re too weak to contemplate carrying a laundry basket full of clothes to another room or even stand for long enough to fold them.
- I’ll repeat this little gem, too: it’s also really important to clean the kitchen before everyone gets too sick.
- When you’re done cleaning the kitchen, make life better for you for when you’re on the mend: fill the sink with soapy water when you first get sick so your dishes are soaking while you’re delirious. Your weakened body will be grateful for less scrubbing when it’s time to tackle the dishes once the sick fog lifts.
- Do yourself a favor and just pre-make “sick food” to keep in the freezer, ready to thaw and heat at a moments notice. Make enough for everyone for at least a week. (Trust me, that’s not nearly as much food as you would think when you’re sick.)
- Tidy up your house. Pick up toys and clutter off the living room floor, and, as a dear reader pointed out in a comment on yesterdays post, make sure you remove anything valuable, irreplaceable, or difficult to clean and put those items in an isolated place before anything happens to them. (Thanks, Lora!)
- Stock all your bathrooms with extra toilet paper at the first sign of sickness.
- Keep plastic buckets around to put by the beds to collect vomit. This is probably old news to most of you, but I’ve managed to make it over 4 years as a mother without needing this advice (even with FPIES)! I wish I’d heard it before I needed it.
- Whatever room you will be spending the most time in while sick should be prepped at the earliest possible moment. If it’s the living room, cover your couch in towels or extra blankets. Your upholstery will thank you after the first inadvertent vomit.
- If you’re on an elimination diet for your kiddos food allergies or intolerances, you will find yourself craving foods that are absolutely not on your diet when you start to regain your appetite. This may well be the most difficult time of your TED; stay strong, though! You can resist the siren call of dangerous food so you don’t wreck all those months of self-discipline. This is much easier to do if you have “sick food” ready to go in the freezer, though. (After over 2 years on my TED, I nearly lost my resolve last week and would have begged desperately for certain junk food items I used to regularly eat when I was sick pre-kids. Fortunately we were all too sick to go to the store and live too far away for any deliveries.)
- When everyone gets better, the only surefire way to sterilize your house is with bleach, hydrogen peroxide, or boiling water. I went with boiling water and peroxide. Fewer chemicals that way.
- When everyone gets better, be sure to sterilize your house. Doorknobs, light switchplates, cabinet handles, and toys are absolute musts to sterilize.
I’m sure there are more things people could think of in terms of “being sick tips”, but that’s all I’ve got at the moment.
There is little worse than when your whole family is sick. But if you remember to take action at the first sign of illness, at least it won’t completely wreck your house and routine.
One good thing I discovered this week, is that there’s no limit to the number of times I will be amused by Jed telling me “Mommy! I have a Bless You!” When what he means is “Mommy! I sneezed (or have a runny nose)!”
As awful as it is to have everyone in the family sick, somehow, going through it with family?
Is so much better than going through it alone.
Do you have any additional tips you’ve discovered along the way when your family is sick? Please share!
