How to deal with sick kids at night

So the DH is out of town and of course both kids have to come down with bad colds. Last night DS was up crying for 3.5 hours in the middle of the night. He managed to keep DD awake for most of that time, too. I tried rocking him and leaving him to cry for a bit. I also brought him in my bed but neither of us could sleep so I put him back in his crib. The only thing he really liked was being rocked, but I don't think I would've slept at all had I done that. Eventually he fell asleep in his crib, after some crying. I'm just not sure what's appropriate at this age, keeping in mind they aren't severely ill. What do you do with your toddlers when they are sick? Also, do you separate your kids who share a room if they aren't sleeping well?

 

I did separate them if one was sick and it was keeping the other awake (or if I thought there was any risk of it). Fortunately Amy was used to napping in the Pack & Play, so I could just move her there in the office and she would go right to sleep.

And, I felt guilty about it and it felt wrong somehow, but I did sometimes have to leave them to cry or fuss, even when they were sick. I would comfort them more than usual, but as you said, if I held them all night then neither of us would sleep. Usually, once they fell asleep, they would sleep pretty much as usual, with one or two brief wakeups. (We were lucky -- I know some kids barely sleep at all when they're sick.) But they could only fall asleep in the usual way, which for them meant being left alone.

 

This is so tough, I know because I've been in the same exact situation. I separated them like pp stated. Then I had a humidifier in each room (somehow we had two to begin with), bought the Vicks plug-ins for their room, and gave them a bit of Benedryl to help them sleep a little (this was okay'ed by our pedi.) Also, we put a pillow underneath one end of the mattress to get some elevation, this helped with their stuffiness a bit. I hope they get better soon and you all are able to get some rest. Good luck!!

 

Ditto. We do the humidifier, infant motrin and put some towls under the mattress. I have also learned (after 7 colds this year! no kidding) that the "bad" nights, like the one you just experienced, are usually just one or two nights. They tend to taper off from there. Also if you can wait as long as you can to give the medicine your doctor recommends...i find that if I wait until 10pm or so the longer they will sleep through the night. GL!

 

We can't incline matresses because the kids move around so much at night, they'd end up with their heads down at the other end. But we do give tylenol, humidify, and I also do a nice steam shower before bed with a bit of eucalyptus to get the mucous flowing. I also put them down for a few extra naps during the day because I figure they can probably use the extra rest.

 

My DH works out of state and is only home on weekends, so I'm mostly always alone wiht them them when they are sick. I just try to survive! I don't separate mine when they are sick. Mine don't seem to have a problem sleeping through the other crying. I usually try to always keep them in their crib. I will rock for a while or even sit outside of their crib on the floor and pat their back. I usually don't get much (if any) sleep on these nights, but I really can't do anything about it. I have never taken my children to bed with me so far, but will sleep with them on the couch if I can't get them settled. I lay them on my stomach and I kind of sit partially inclined, that way they are also inclined. I also do not have a problem letting them cry a little bit to see if they will wear down in a couple of minutes. It's hard because you know you still need to function the next day, but like pp said, it's only going to last a couple of days. It's kind of like going back in time to when they were newborns and you never got sleep!! :laughing: Hope everyone is well soon and you get some sleep!

 

I've never separated my kids if they are sick purposely. However, I will put them in the bed with me if I think they will sleep better. We also run a humidifier and air purifier. I have slept many a night in a rocker, rocking them all night long. Our recliner is a rocker so when they finally went to sleep, I would put up the footstool and sleep in the chair. You pretty much just do what you got to do to make them happy...or at least that is the way I look at it. My husband worked 2nd and 3rd shift throughout all of our kids' toddler years, so I was pretty much on my own at night most of the time.

 

i usually toss all the "rules" out of the window & do whatever is needed/works. i try to keep a balance between keeping them calm & comfortable & getting at least some sleep. i've even been known to take the wakee out to the living room & doze on the couch with her with the tv on. :blush: so far, it hasn't been an issue to go back to their regular routine once they're feeling better.

 

Ditto this. Sometimes Zoe and I (because Zoe has been sick about 10 times more) have laid on a blanket downstairs with some music on or if she is really miserable, Blues Clues is good for a distraction. Many times we have rocked and slept in the recliner together. Many times (don't know what your weather is like) we have went outside and sat on the porch swing. Most of the time it entailed me not sleeping. And when I could hardly stay awake and I could tell she was close, I would lay her back down. She will cry for a couple mins and pass out again. But Jude can sleep through her crying - just not the other way around. It sucks to have sick kids.

 

I'm sorry your LOs are sick; are they feeling better? I can really relate because my guys just came down with an enterovirus (like hand, foot and mouth disease), and they were miserable. I didn't separate them, but I did make liberal use of the ibuprofen and Tylenol. Nate's fever got up to 105.9 :blink: so I did wake them in the middle of the night to take temperatures and give medicine to keep them comfortable.

Ha, this is so true!!! After 3 days of no sleep I felt just like I did when I first brought them both home!