Nursing a fever

I have several queries on how I manage the children’s fever without seeing the doctor. In fact, my daughter has only seen the doc once in her 2.5 years even though she is attending childcare (both are). In the last 2 months, both my kids had fever ranging from 38 to 39.8 degrees.  Thankfully under my care, they don’t need to see a doctor. Of course, I am not saying that we will never need to see one. If your motherly instinct tells you that it is more than a normal fever, then by all means, seek medical help. But for me, I don’t jump and run to the doctor at the very instance. This is just my personal sharing on how I manage a fever.

Before I begin, there are some things for your information. I get the helper to brew chrysanthemum tea or barley water or luohan guo tea on a daily basis. And they take ChildlifeDHA and Vitamin C daily as well. Currently, they are also taking a jelly enzyme that I bought from Isetan Singapore. They are eating one strip every alternate day as it is quite costly. 12 boxes for $150. I think there are only 6 or 8 strips in one box. Previously, they had been eating LactoGG (a probiotic brand, available at Unity Pharmacy) but I have stopped it too because it’s too expensive to maintain. I only offer one pill a day if they are sick. My kids chew on the pill and have no issues swallowing.

Btw if you are a first time ordering in iherb, you can use my code SIH921 for discount upon checkout.

 

 

Things that you need on a fever night.

·         Cooling mat for child to lie down on

·         Small towel

·         Some 2 to 3 tablespoon of sea salt

·         Essential oil (peppermint, lavender, lemon)

·         A small pail of tap water

·         Lots of love and patience

·         Belladonna (homeopathy medicine)

·         Diffuse peppermint oil in aircon room

·         Air con temperature 25 – 26 degrees

·         Sleeveless attire

·         No pants, just panties

·         No blanket

You can get the cooling gel mat from Guardians or Unity Pharmacy. I bought mine from Q10. This is not the small fever patch on the forehead. It is for the whole body. See picture.

 

Btw, any brand of essential oil is fine, in my opinion. I don’t necc always and only stick to Young Living or Doterra. I am not a distributor of either.  I think those sold on iherb works okay too.

I have been using homeopathy medicine for many years on my kids. I read up on it, done research and attended workshops on homeopathy by pharmacist. Of course, every child is different and what works for me might not work for you. I am not a doctor, so please use this at your own risk. I did my fair share of homework and studies and as a mom, I decided to offer alternative medicine to them. But that’s just me. I am not saying anyone has to follow. You can get Belladonna from seeing a Homeo doctor. I got mine fr iherb.

Steps:

1. Get child to lie down on cooling gel mat.
2. Drop 2 to 3 drops of lavender oil on the pile of sea salt.
3. Add tap water (add 1 ice cube if you prefer).
4. Mix well and dip your small towel inside.
5. Wring the towel and place it on the child’s forehead, neck, armpit area and groin area. I place it on a 15-20 mins interval and change the locations mentioned.
6. Apply 2 drops of lemon oil on your palm then rub them and smear on your kid’s soles (feet). Massage for 1 minute and then apply 2 drops of lavender oil using the same method. Sometimes, I proceed with a drop of Thieves essential oil. If there is no Thieves, I use Oregano. Do this every hourly for 3 times. I usually start at 9 pm and end off at midnight (so that I can catch some rest).
7. Administer 2-3 pellets of Belladonna (see prescription on bottle) at 9 pm and then another dose at 12 midnight.
8. Fever usually peaks in the middle of the night, between 2 to 4 am. So sleep closely to the child and be aware of any movements or no movements. Is she is shivering? Is she too still? Conscious or unconscious? I check on my child, I touch her forehead and I see if she is just sleeping soundly?
9. I usually offer her water (in water bottle with straw) at night if her fever is too high. If she doesn’t want to sit up and drink, I use a syringe and let it glide into the sides of her mouth. And if I am up at 4 am, I repeat the essential oil application sequence, lemon, lavender, thieves.
10. The diffuser works very hard too. Non-stop diffusing until day light. I use peppermint, but sometimes I use Raven if she is coughing too. Otherwise, I put Myrrh if her cough is phlegmy.

That would be about 1-2 hours of sleep for me and usually within a day or two, I see improvements. For any fever that persists over 3 nights, then I will see a doctor. There is exception too.

There is once Gracel had a fever from school. Teacher said that she is bitten by an insect. That very evening, I took her to the hospital even though her fever is only 38 degrees. Thankfully I did because it was an infection of the blood and any delay would have cost her her life.

That’s why I say, trust your maternal instinct. It is God-given and very important.

May all the children be free from fever and illness.

 

Happy 2nd birthday to E

I made cupcakes and fruit pudding to celebrate at the childcare ctr.

We also had a mini celebration at home with homemade pandan jelly.

My dear girl has grown so much. She is eating well and is settling fine in school. She has become very expressive now and will come to me and tell me "Mummy, I love you so much".

Happy 4th birthday to G

This is a long backdated post.

Mummy celebrated for G at her school. I was having real bad ezcema and tsw during this period. I literally had to limp to school and also it took me great effort to prepare her Hello Kitty cake in my condition. I remembered that I cannot even stand up for more than 5 minutes.

Montessori Birthday Walk with Gracel

Hello Kitty Jelly Cake by Mommy

Happy Birthday G. I hope you will be a sensible and healthy girl. Mommy loves you.

Happy 1st Birthday E!

Happy Birthday to Darling Elyssa.

You have two bottom teeth now. Your favourite food is bread, noodles and fruits. You can say 'ball', 'no no', 'mama', 'papa', 'jiejie', 'Jesus', 'amen', 'shoe', 'carry', 'ah ah' (means latch), 'har bes', 'dudok', 'tigar', 'me', 'cake', 'up' , 'down' and many more. 

She cannot walk independently yet but her vocabulary is huge. She now lifts up my blouse and say 'ah-ah' and amen before she latches on. And every night when I pray with her. She keeps saying amen at every sentence. She is very adorable and such a darling.

She sleeps well from 7 pm to 6.30 am most of the time. She eats okay too and not choosy with food. She is much easier than Gracel. The only thing that is bothering her is her constipation problem. She has to take some stool softener or else whenever she poops she bleeds. I am not sure why too, we gave her lots of vegetables and fruits and she drinks really alot of water.

We love you so much Elyssa and I am very proud of her.

Home birth unexpected

Baby E is here.

I had an unplanned home birth. Thankfully I had a doula with me. She reached my house and was shocked that I am almost 10 cm dilated. We wouldn't have time to make it to the hospital and thus I gave birth on my bed kneeling down and hugging hubby.

More detailed description below.

3 am - contractions about 15 - 20 mins apart
3.30 am - show
4 am - contractions about 12 mins apart
4.30 am - waterbag broke
5 am - intense contractions about 8 - 10 mins apart
6.30 am - daughter woke up
6.45 am - informed hubby that baby will come today
7 am - preparing her for school and telling her that Papa will send her to school because mommy is having a tummyache
7.45 am - hubby back at home
8 am - applied lavendar oil to make me more relax
8.30 am - contractions are so close and intense, unable to time them anymore
8.45 am - poop uncontrollably in my panties
9 am - doula reached my house and we were discussing whether there is time to go to the hospital
9.30 am - poop again
10 am - contractions heightened. Felt the need to move about
10.15 am - lay towels on bed and doula massaged me
10.30 am - I asked doula if I can remove my panties now, she said ok. Doula said can feel baby's head and asked me to push if I feel like pushing. I suddenly feel very tired and weak and wanted to doze off already. I asked doula what should I do now? Because if I sleep, I don't feel the pain. Should I take a nap? Doula said when baby is ready she will come out. Just breathe and feel the baby.

Then doula called my gynae and informed him about the situation. Gynae said 'Ok, if the baby comes, she'll come. Everything will be fine'.

I suddenly felt tightness and numbness around my bottom and after several pushes, I heard baby's cry. Doula caught my baby. I was still in the kneeling position. I asked her "what should I do now?" She told me to undress lie down gently and she will put baby on me.

There, my baby is here. 

Then I still feel contractions and I asked the doula what's going on? She said my placenta will be out soon. It was still quite painful but baby was on me and she distracted me from the pain. My eyes were all on her. She is just perfect. She is so beautiful and slippery. She kept gliding down. I had some pillows behind my back to make myself more upright and she managed to breastfeed within 30 mins.

After that, together with my placenta (in a bag) and baby on my other arm, hubby drove me to the gynae's clinic. I felt very weak, almost no strength to carry the baby, as if I just ran a marathon but still managed to walk there. When I reached there, my pants were already drenched in blood. I kept apologising to everyone. It was so embarrassing.

Gynae stitched me up and I could go home right away with baby.