Surviving a cold with a baby

I swear someone told me that the magical powers of breastfeeding stopped babies getting ill. Or something along those lines. 

MORE LIES. 

Jack has had approximately 18 colds in his six months of life. And babies are notoriously bad at blowing their nose. When they have a cold, inevitably you have a cold, and if you’re breastfeeding you can’t take most cough and cold remedies so you both suffer together. 

Which brings me to something else I didn’t think about before I had a baby; you can’t call in sick from being a mum. It’s the first job I’ve ever had where when you feel monumentally rough you can’t just go back to bed with a Lemsip and wake up when it’s over. 

So in lieu of being able to recover in peace, here are some tips to surviving a cold with a baby…

1. Don’t expect to get any sleep. Write off any plans for the next few days – it’s unlikely your baba will sleep well with a nose full of cold and a sore throat. Instead, line up a new series on Netflix or download a new audiobook and deal with every night wake by treating yourself to another chapter. You’ll probably end up sleeping propped up in bed with a baby under your arm with his head on your shoulder, bowling-ball style. Which brings me on to point number 2…

2. Learn to sleep with your arm at a 90 degree angle with a bowling ball on it. Or get no sleep at all. 

3. Wedge the baby up. Some people use wedge pillows or towels to elevate their babies heads/bodies when they have a cold to help them breathe. But if you own a child like mine he’ll use the wedge as a fairground ramp to roll upside-down and get his legs stuck between the cot bars. 

4. Calpol plug-ins. Realistically not sure how useful these are at helping your baby’s cold. But gives the nursery a pleasing at-home-spa aroma. You know, if you can smell it through your blocked nose. 

5. Olbas oil. On a muslin tied to the cot bars. Because what could make this situation better than giving your baby a runny nose, too?

6. Pity party. Just sit on the sofa with your snuffly baby and feel sorry for yourself. Nobody else is going to do it.

7. Reminisce. Those times when you could breathe freely? So didn’t appreciate it at the time. Hopefully those days will come again soon.