10+ Life Saving Hacks for when your Kids are Sick

One of the most stressful times of being a parent is when your child is sick. They’re irritable, hard to please but most of all, it’s hard for us to see them in pain. We don’t want any harm to come to them. It can get stressful already when they’re down with a simple cold. How much more something more severe than that?

There are several ways to speed up their healing process but before they recover, we’d like to try to make things as easy as possible.

How? You figure our ways to make things easier even if it’s just a fragment of change. You figure out how one task can take less time and effort or you innovate!

Until then, here are a few tried and tested hacks for moms out there especially applicable for when your kids are sick.

Dosage Tracker

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With everything going on topped with a sick child, things can be forgotten. Your child’s medication can be one of them. To avoid this, simply take a Sharpie and outline the frequency of the dosage on the bottle of your child’s medicine. Keep it on his bedside to prevent you misplacing it in the midst of everything you’re taking care of.

Just mark the right spot to remind you later on if he’s taken his meds or not.

DIY Electrolyte Drink

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When you have a child who has food poisoning, diarrhea or is vomiting, you need to replace their electrolytes to keep them hydrated. Instead of buying expensive electrolyte drinks, you can make your own since they’re basically just water, salt, and sugar.

Found these 3 recipes from Stay At Home Mum

  • Mix ½ cup hot water with ½ tsp salt, 2 ½ tbs sugar and 1 tsp jelly crystals (any flavor), then add 3 ½  cups of cold water and use as needed, keeps for 3 days in the fridge.
  • Mix ½ glass fresh squeezed orange juice, ½ glass water and ½ tsp salt and drink, repeat as needed.
  • Mix 2 cups hot water with 3 tbs lemon juice, 2 tbs sugar and ¼ tsp salt, stir, chill and serve.

Marshmallows for Sore Throats

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At first, I thought this was a joke. I mean, marshmallows are sweet and sweets are bad for a sore throat. But, I became a believer after trying it! As it turns out, the gelatin in the marshmallows helps relieve the pain caused by inflammation.

I get sore throats a lot so I’m at a point where I will not eat marshmallows except for when I do get a sore throat.

Banana Peel as Anti-Itch

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Don’t have any anti-histamine cream on hand? Take a banana peel and rub the inside on the itchy area. The Chinese have spoken and said this works. Check it out on The Healthy Home Economist.

Believe it or not, it’s a very convenient way to stop itching fast.

Baking Soda for Splinters

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Ah, the powers of baking soda. Not only useful for cleaning but a whole lot of other things too – like removing splinters. Make a paste by mixing it with water and smear it on the area. Cover it with a bandaid and let it sit overnight. Check it out the following day and see the piece almost all the way out which makes it easier to remove, saving yourself from all the screaming and crying.

Alcohol Swabs for Nausea

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I have yet to give this a try but several blogs have claimed the effectiveness of this hack. If your child has motion sickness or is feeling nauseated, open a pack of alcohol swabs and have him sniff it. It is said to take away nausea right away. Definitely, one of the hacks for moms I did not expect.

Read the full story here.

Foot Vapor Rub

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I will stand by this hack. This is one of the hacks for moms I will wholeheartedly attest to. My gran did this to me when I was a kid and it gives me a full nights sleep whenever I’m down with a cold or fever. Put some vapor rub on the soles of your kid’s feet and cover it up with socks. It will ease the congestion in his sinuses and even decrease wheezing from the constant coughing.

Pads to Ice Packs

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Not all of these hacks for moms are exactly appealing. For example, this hack is about creating your DIY ice pack. You know how some sanitary pads have gel in the middle? Well, if you put a few packs in the freezer, the gel turns out to be a very good ice pack. Another way is dampening the pad with clean water before putting it in the freezer. They’re super absorbent so you don’t need to worry about spills.

Another option would be to mix 3 part water to one part rubbing alcohol in a Ziploc bag. Put it in the freezer and you have an instant reusable ice pack.

Baby Bottle Nipple for Meds

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If you have a hard time getting your infant used to taking meds, you can use a baby bottle nipple. The look and feel would be familiar to them so they won’t have second thoughts of putting it in their mouth. Let them suck on it for a few seconds before dropping the meds in. They would have finished it before they even realized something was different.

Tea for Sunburns

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I would have never known black tea would be one of the best hacks for moms. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t have known it’s good for soothing sunburns! I don’t get sunburns much, but if I do, this would be a good reserve in my first aid kit.

First, take about 3 bags of black tea and let it steep in warm water until it turns dark brown. Second, you take a towel and dab the tea water on the burnt area. Then you leave it overnight and wash it off in the morning. It’s said to reduce the sunburn drastically.

Salt Socks 

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This another one of the very effective and good-to-know hacks for moms with sick kids. Kids often get ear aches because of many factors and it can be very painful. A heated sock filled with coarse sea salt helps relieve pain and pressure from the ear. So, if you see signs of pain in the ear area, apply a salt sock right away.

If you don’t know how to make one, you can find instructions here.

As I have said, you can innovate to make things easier and better even in the midst of a sick kid. These hacks for moms also started from different moms who figured out a way.

Essentially, you’d have your god-like maternal instincts and would most likely know what to do or would just be able to do it all even without these hacks. But, in case you find it hard to multi-task without risking overlooking other things, you can give these a go. Who knows, you might find them super effective and share it to some of the moms you know!

We understand how hard it can be to have a sick child. And we can only empathize if you have more than one child who’s sick. You will get exhausted but as a mom, you push through it.

So, moms, let’s remember that prevention is better than cure. As much as possible, let’s do our best to keep our kids away from sickness because, at the end of the day, we’re the ones who’ll pay!

How do you usually deal when your child is sick? Let us know in a comment below!

featured image: parents.com

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Fueled by fun and the simple things in life, I am a full-time writer, a baker on some days when I actually have spare time and a back-up vocalist on the weekends. Coffee and I don't work well together but give me a glass of milk tea or really rich cocoa and we'll be friends for life.

1 thought on “10+ Life Saving Hacks for when your Kids are Sick”

  1. Useful tips! I also often tell my children that if you want to be strong like a WHALE, please remember:
    W = wash your hand
    H = have breakfast
    A= an apple a day
    L= love yourself
    E= exercises everyday
    LOL, I thought some letters are not suitable, but they love it & remember this all the time :D

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