Caring for a Sick Toddler During a Pandemic

Having your child get sick can be some of the scariest days you’ll experience as a parent. You feel helpless not knowing exactly what your child needs from you. Seeing them in pain makes your heart hurt.

Being in a pandemic adds a whole other layer to worrying about your child when they’re sick. Right now the Omnicron varient of COVID is super contagious & spiking like crazy and testing is nearly impossible, so not knowing if it’s COVID or not can be so worrisome.

Mackenzie has gotten sick only a couple of times in her 18 months of life. Each time it’s been either a little runny nose or a slight cough, nothing that last more than a couple of days. I’ll give her Tylenol if she seems uncomfortable and giving her Zarbee’s Natural Cough & Muscus when she seems congested and is coughing (always consult your doctor before giving your child anything, just sharing what I do). I’ve never really worried too much when she gets sick, but this time was VERY different. At first I thought it might be COVID, but was SHOCKED when she tested negative.

Mackenzie is too young to get the vaccine so as a parent of an unvaccinated toddler during a pandemic, when they get sick you freak out (or at least I do!) There are some over the counter things I love to use when she’s sick. This humidifier has been great; we love this saline spray & snot sucker. There are a few vapor rubs that we like to use when Mackenzie is congested [Zarbee’s Vapor Rub & Frida Baby Vapor Stick that comes as part of this sick day kit].

If you want to hear all about the time I thought Mackenzie (17 months old) had COVID keep reading…

SATURDAY NIGHT

It all began with a few sneezes at dinner, but I didn’t think too much of it. Everything was running clear so I didn’t worry. That nights sleep was horrible. I could tell from our Nanit baby monitor that Mackenzie was pretty restless all night long.

SUNDAY

She woke up with a 101.4 fever and I started to panic that she had COVID. Thankfully after some Tylenol her fever went down. We spent all morning snuggling in our bed watching Cocomelon, something we never do. Then Mackenzie took a 3 hour nap (pretty restless, but long none the less). She woke up with a 102.8 fever so we gave her more tylenol. We tried to get Mackenzie to play with some toys, but she showed very little interest so I put Cocomelon back on and we snuggled some more. If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t love how much TV she was watching, but the way she was feeling I would do anything to keep her happy & comfortable.

I spoke to her pediatrician on call a couple of times because I was worried. We decided that we’d monitor her overnight and call back in the morning if I felt like she needed to be seen. Her doctor also said we should work on getting fluids in her and not worry too much about her eating. We tried SO many different liquids, but she barely drank anything. Knowing that she was probably dehydrated made me feel helpless.

When it came time to put Mackenzie to sleep she was inconsolable, like we’ve never seen before. Greg snuggled her in her rocking chair until she settled and then he was able to lay her in her crib. It was another restless night of sleep for her according to the monitor.

MONDAY

Mackenzie woke up & I noticed her breathing seemed off. She was wheezing and I could tell her belly was working harder than it should’ve been. Along with her breathing seeming off, her nose was super runny and she just overall looked sick. I immediately called the pediatricians office and they told me to bring her in. We saw the APRN and unfortunately Mackenzie is not a fan of the doctors office right now. She was pretty upset and it was hard for the APRN to get a good listen to her breathing. She did say her lungs were clear so she sent us home and said to continue to monitor her symptoms and get her to drink fluids.

The day went on and her wheezing continued to get worse. I was so worried and my gut was telling me something was wrong. So we video taped it and I sent it to my friend who is an APRN at Yale and she said I needed to call back the pediatrician immediately and have her seen again.

So off we went back to the doctor’s office. This time she was upset at the beginning of the visit, but the doctor asked if there was anything that would maybe help her to calm down. I put Cocomelon on my phone and after a little while she did calm down (this was the first time she had been calm at the doctors office since she was 9 months old). We spent a lot of time with the doctor. He tested her for RSV, flu, & COVID and they all came back negative (again, I was super shocked).

He watched and listened to her breathing, checked her oxygen levels, and was contemplating sending us to Yale Children’s Emergency Room. He was concerned about the wheezing as well & gave her a breathing treatment with a nebulizer in the office. Mackenzie was doing so much better at this point. He sent us home with a nebulizer and said I could give her a treatment every 4 hours. That night, we went home & I gave her medicine he had prescribed & did another breathing treatment before bed. It was the first time in 2 night that Mackenzie had a restful sleep.

The next couple of days we continued to monitor Mackenzie’s symptoms, but thankfully she only needed to use the nebulizer a couple more times and she was better by Thursday.

For me, when Mackenzie’s sick I tend to throw the routine out the window because I know it’s short lived & I know she’s uncomfortable. So when she was starting to feel better, I began our routine again. Since we basically had two straight days of screen time, it’s been hard to keep her from asking for Cocomelon, but when she does ask I will say we are not watching it right now and pivot to a new activity. Sometimes she will fuss and sometimes she will accept it and move on. It’s hard to set limits especially when they’re sick or just been sick, but I find that after a few times they fight it less and accept the limits more.

If you’ve gotten this far, thank you and I hope you and everyone you love is staying safe & healthy out there. Here’s to a better 2022!