This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of TempTraq for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
There is nothing more pitiful than a sick baby! It’s always sad when a child is sick, but there’s something extra gut wrenching when the little one is to small to even understand what sick means, so they don’t know why they feel bad or if they’ll ever feel better.
For the youngest kids, it’s always hard convincing them to rest and sleep while sick. They’ll be too uncomfortable to fall asleep, or too fidgety to even sit still and rest instead of moving around and playing.
There’s no reasoning with a baby (or toddler)!
Bedtime is by far the hardest. Maybe they’ll finally drift off to sleep, but then with the constant wake-ups because of discomfort, coughing or even temperature checks, no one is getting any rest at all!
This is not good for sick baby, and this definitely isn’t good for mom and dad who are up all night breathing in germs and then have to be up the next morning to work, take care of the sick baby and any other siblings.
Basically, this time of year (when kids are often getting sick) is ROUGH on everybody!
There are a few things you can do to make bedtime a little bit easier on every one and hopefully get some extra sleep.
First, give baby a warm bath. My kids normally play in the bath, so if yours only understand bath as playtime, or the water tends to wake them up, substitute this for a sponge bath with warm water.
I love using lightly scented lavender soap for this. We buy the “bedtime” bubble bath and soaps for this very reason! It smells great, and it helps soothe them and get them ready for sleep.
Next, you’ll start getting the clothes ready for bed. Changing the diaper is an obvious one here, but if you cloth diaper, remember to double line the diapers tonight. This will keep baby from waking up wet a little longer and allow her to get some extra sleep which she needs!
Next, watch what pajamas you are putting on her, not too hot, not too cold. It’s a hard balance to figure out and I find it changes every time my child is sick. Just think it through before bundling them up for the night!
Even if you don’t normally, try leaving a night light on so you have some way to see when you go in to check on baby 733 times tonight. It can be soft and subtle, but you’ll want something there!
Arguably one of the most important things you’ll do to get her ready for bed, is to make a clear path from the door to the crib. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stepped on a noise making stuffed animal on my way to just “check on the baby really quick”. Suddenly, you’re stuck rocking baby to sleep for another hour instead of scampering off to bed yourself.
Lastly, you’re going to want to get a TempTraq. This is a Temperature Monitor unlike anything we had when mine were babies! Oh how I wish we had them then (though it will still be useful now!).
TempTraq allows you to monitor fevers WITHOUT disturbing your child’s rest. When mine were little, I was stuck wiggling a thermometer under their arm as they slept and hoping they didn’t wake up while I held their arms in place trying to get a reading.
Those days are OVER. You can now monitor their temperature from the next room. Simply put the patch on them, and connect it to an app on your phone. The patch will send baby’s temperature to your phone via bluetooth! It’s a soft and flexible patch so it shouldn’t bother them as they sleep or play (it lasts 24 hours!)
This is a must-have especially for new parents. Baby’s first time sick is terrifying, and TempTraq can really help put your mind at ease without bothering your baby checking on her and waking her up every few minutes.
It also keeps a temperature history, which I love. It can be so frustrating when baby is sick through the night and then arrives at the pediatrician’s office the next day with no high temperature and you don’t have good documentation of temperatures through the night because it was 3am and you didn’t have a pen handy… This would have been useful (yes, I’m still a little mad I didn’t know about this when my oldest was born!)
I’m thinking baby shower gift, and run and tell all of my mom-friends kind of thing! This is seriously one of those things we’ve all joked about “why don’t they have THIS YET” and now suddenly they do! And it’s awesome.
You can Buy TempTraq now at places like Target and Kroger so it’s easy to find and so worth it to help you sleep tonight!
I’m so sorry your baby is sick, but I hope these things help you all to sleep a little more peacefully and a whole lot longer tonight!
Katia says
Hey, Paula!
I liked your tips! Thank you very much. The most I like your tip about making a clear path from the door to the crib:). It’s a really annoying thing when your baby wakes up from the toy noise and you have to repeat all from the beginning. We turn on the classic music at the time the baby falls asleep and it plays for a few hours after he fell asleep too. This music makes the other sounds less noticeable. Also, I thought this temperature monitor may be a convenient thing, but isn’t it transmit a harmful radiation because of Bluetooth? I see it’s placed on baby’s body, right? What do you think?