Winter illness season

Toddler rooms share air. That is not a failure of parenting. It is a fact of winter. CDC's ordinary hygiene still applies: wash hands, cover coughs, keep the child home when the program asks, and keep shots up to date with the pediatrician.

CDC botulism prevention (honey under age 1) says not to feed honey to a child younger than 1 year. AAP HealthyChildren on botulism and honey says honey is safe after the first birthday. This handbook starts at 12 months. If a younger sibling is in the house, keep honey off their plate. For a toddler over 1, ask your pediatrician before you use honey as a cough remedy.

Sleep and drinks matter more when a child is sick. The 11 to 14 hour range may be a mess for a few days. Offer milk or water more often. Offer familiar food without a fight. Appetite will look worse. Wet diapers are the better daily check than the plate.

Screens creep in during sick weeks. One quiet show while you make soup is a household decision. A tablet all day in a dark room is a different week. Return to the hour when the fever goes.

Try this

1. Ask the program for the stay-home rules before the first fever.
2. Write the clinician's after-hours number on the fridge.
3. Offer small drinks often. Count wet diapers.
4. Keep the bedtime sequence even if it starts earlier.
5. If you need a show, sit with it. Then close it.

Two adults should decide who stays home before the virus arrives. A fight at 6 a.m. on a Wednesday is a second illness. The child does not need that weather.

If breathing is hard, if ribs pull in, if the child is unusually sleepy or unusually inconsolable, you are no longer on a blog page. You are on the phone or on the way to care. Trust that move.

In the house this month

Fever without a look of illness is still a reason to follow the program's stay-home rule. Going anyway teaches the room that rules are optional. It also sends the virus to the infant in the next cubby.

Humidifiers and extra blankets have their own rules. Honey can carry botulism spores. CDC and AAP say not to give honey to a child younger than 1 year. After the first birthday, honey is usually allowed. Ask your pediatrician before you use it as a cough remedy.

Your own sick day matters. A sick adult still has to lift a toddler. Call in the help you actually have. Pride is a poor nurse.

When the week ends, return to the ordinary hour of media and the ordinary bedtime. Sick weeks drift. Drift is how February becomes a tablet in the crib.

What you can skip

Skip sending a child to the room because you have a meeting. Skip honey for any child under 1, including a younger sibling. Skip a tablet in the crib as the only sick-day plan.

Skip home remedies you have not asked about on a hard night.

Keep the range in view

Hands, stay-home rules, drinks, wet diapers. Call for breathing or a child who will not drink. Sick weeks drift toward screens. Return to the ordinary hour when the fever goes. Two adults should decide who stays home before the virus arrives.

Keep the range in view

Write the after-hours number on the fridge before the first fever. Two adults should already know who stays home. A 6 a.m. fight is a second illness.

Check in if

Call your pediatrician or emergency care now for trouble breathing, fewer wet diapers, a child who will not drink, a fever in a child who looks very ill, or your own sense that something is wrong. This page does not triage a specific illness.

Related ages: 12-18 months, 18-24 months, 24-36 months. Pillars: Sleep, Food.

Sources

1. CDC. Positive parenting tips: toddlers (1 to 2 years). cdc.gov
2. CDC. Milestones by 2 years. cdc.gov/act-early/milestones/2-years.html
3. CDC. Botulism prevention. Do not feed honey to a child younger than 1 year. cdc.gov
4. American Academy of Pediatrics. Botulism. Honey is not for babies under 12 months. HealthyChildren.org