Tips to Prevent the Flu from Hitting Your Household
I participated in a campaign to talk about how to prevent the flu in your household on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for MedImmune Specialty Care. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating, but I think we all can use a few tips from time to time.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
I got the call from daycare that Benjamin had been feeling sick and hadn’t eaten his lunch. He was laying his head on the table and looking sad. If you know my boy, you know that a sad look is a rare look for him unless he’s trying to get something out of me. This time, he was sad for real and he did not feel well. Daycare had kept him there as long as they could, but when his cheeks turned red and he spiked a fever, they knew it was time to call me.
I work with Child Protective Services and I’m slightly paranoid of getting a call on myself for some type of neglect (even though I know that I’m a good mommy) so I immediately called the doctor and got him in that same day. My baby was sick and I just wanted him to feel better. He doesn’t get sick often, but when he does it is usually serious.
It turns out my instincts were right. My baby tested positive for the flu. He was given medicine and Howard and I were advised to get a flu shot. My baby spent the rest of the day, and the following day, in the bed, cuddled up with Mommy and watching cartoons. He never asked to play. He never asked to eat, but I forced him to try every few hours. He smiled at me from time to time, but mostly he slept and watched TV and cuddled.
That was two years ago and I think I’m still a little traumatized by it. I never want to go through that again so my family takes all the proper steps to prevent the flu from hitting our household again.
Tips to Prevent the Flu from Hitting Your Household
In my household, we get flu shots yearly, clean our hands all the time (one of the side effects of living with a chef), and make sure we are bundled up when we go outside in the cold. Luckily, it doesn’t get too cold in Texas for too long so this is not a problem. All of us have several seasonal allergies that we deal with all year round so we keep a handle on those issues by always having medicine in the house to help with the side effects. As I mentioned, my boy doesn’t get sick often because he has a great immune system and we eat healthy to keep encouraging that. We take daily vitamins to ensure we have all the great defenses to prevent the flu from hitting us again.
There are so many things that you can do to prevent the flu in your household and here is a guide with even more tips.
Elizabeth Pantley’s ebooklet, “A Parent’s Guide to Flu Season”
A lot of the tips to prevent the flu are common sense types of tips, but it’s always good to have a refresher from time to time and this is just the perfect time of year to check it out.
If you can’t see the ebooklet above, check out this infographic for even more tips:
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