Few Tips for Helping Sick Kids Sleep

When a kid is sick they just want their mum, it’s a well-known fact. Who can blame them?

It is also a well-known, when kids are sick, they generally have trouble sleeping: pains and aches, high fevers and persistent coughing all turn a restful sleep into the impossible dream.

And if your kid isn’t sleeping, you aren’t sleeping’ neither. So how can you help your sick kid sleep?

Here are some tested and tried mummy methods for soothing sick kids and helping them sleep through the night.

• A warm bath before bedtime

Sometimes, make them feel cared and loved for, is simply the key to soothing a sick child. A few drops of lavender oil in warm bath is a relaxing pre-bedtime ritual that will hopefully help your child wind down. The steam from the bath will also help loosen any mucus and congestion.

• Humidifiers in the bedroom

A mother’s best friend in the early years of colds and coughs are humidifiers. They create moist steamy, warm air that, when breathed in through the night, can help break up soothe and mucus congestion in the airways.

• Let them be near you

When they’re sick, who does not want to be near their mum? If need be, a makeshift bed in your bedroom can make a sick child more likely to sleep through the night and feel more secure.

• Elevate sleeping position

For thickly coughs, earaches and sinus pain, prop up your child’s sleep position with pillows or elevate the head of mattress (head up), it will ease discomfort and help drain the mucus away.

• Lemon drinks and honey

Drinking warm liquids helps thins the mucus, making it easier for the body to flush out all those nasties.

Mix one tablespoon of lemon juice with one teaspoon of honey in a cup of hot water, then cool it down with a few tablespoons of cold water before giving it to your sick child. Honey is not recommended for infants under one year!

• Bedtime stories

Whatever your child’s condition, bedtime stories are a winner. Sitting up in bed together reading their favorite story will make them feel sleepy and secure all at once. It will also take their mind off their symptoms for a little while.

• Ibuprofen at bedtime

Ibuprofen, just like a humidifier, can be your friend during cold and cough season. The correct dose of Ibuprofen for children will reduce a child’s temperature, making sleep more comfortable, plus it will also ease pains and aches.

• Gentle massage

A bit of hands-on soothing may get your sick child back to sleep in the middle of the night. Gentle back patting, tummy rubs or a rhythmic massage across the forehead all help soothe a distressed child back to sleep.

• Chicken soup for dinner

Chicken soup is so widely believed to help cure the common cold that it has been dubbed, ‘the Jewish penicillin.’ And according to the found evidence, the soup contains anti-inflammatory properties that may help prevent a cold’s miserable side effects.