Here is a great free resource from Clorox to help you and your family stay healthy at all times of the year. We pass along the following information sent to us…

Even though the “traditional cold season” is supposed to end in late winter, its important for parents to remember that your family can still catch a cold at any time of the year. According to the CDC, last year’s influenza season officially peaked the week of February 4-10. And we all know that with the fluctuation of temperatures, the germs seem to grow regardless what season it is.

To help families keep homes healthy and tackle germs on their own terms, Dr. Kelly Reynolds – a public health researcher, professor from the University of Arizona and mother of three – has partnered with The Clorox Company to launch a Help Hotline (which is live now), 1-888-MIC-MOMY.

All of us need to be reminded at times, or we can call in with our questions for this microbiologist mom to answer.

Call today – 1-888-MIC-MOMY - to listen to the useful, common sense tips as to how to keep homes healthier year around.

For our last WFMW, I wrote about these wonderful creations:

Triaminic Thin Strips for infants AND for children (the child version allows one strip to be given to a 2 year old vs. two strips of the infant version, less is always a wonderful thing) with just a simple decongestant (which Amazon doesn�t appear to have, but you get the idea).

Well, we took these on our trip for the airplane. We gave him the first one with great trepidation after reading some of the comments on the post, but he accepted the idea that it was a yummy treat and kept it in his mouth for it to melt (it didn’t take long). It worked great, he was happy on all the flights and continued to accept the thin strips all the way through our travels. Even coming back, when he’d gotten (and still has) a cold/sinus infection, it worked well enough to keep him from having any pain during the flights. Now we just need to get the duck family healthy and back to a regular routine!

Be sure to visit the rest of the Works For Me Wednesday tips as well.

Ok, if your little one is anything like mine, it is ten nightmares to try to get any sort of medicine down their throat. I end up having DH dump it in while we hug him tightly and massage his throat in hopes that he swallows it rather than spitting it out into our faces. So, as we will soon be traveling, I was dreading trying to give him some liquid decongestant in the airport. (more…)

Lil’ Duck and I have been sick lately, so here are 13 things that help him to feel better!

1. Baby Vapo-rub - he likes to help rub it on his neck and chest, it helps him breathe easier too.
2. Warm apple juice with a little lemon and honey - he’s too young for herbal tea yet, but this helps him feel a little better and he thinks he’s getting a special treat ;).
3. Cool washcloths on his forehead if he is feverish - he also likes to suck on them and rub them on himself.




4. Popsicles! Not necessarily the healthiest thing but it cheers him up and gets some liquid into him. You could make homemade ones with 100% juice, we buy the Dole juice bars with the fruit chunks.
5. Chicken noodle soup - the chunky kind with the penne or the spiral noodles is easy to feed to him.
6. Children’s Tylenol Cold - a fever reducer, anti-histamine and decongestant - helps him sleep at night.
7. A warm heating pad on my chest with a blanket on top, then him lying face-down on my chest - gives him the benefit of the heating pad without exposing him to too much heat (also helps my chest too ;)). Only use this if they don’t have a fever, of course, and make sure it’s set on low heat.
8. Lots of books, music, and new TV shows/movies - he enjoys the Animal Channel, the Backyardigans music, and all of his books. This keeps him entertained but relatively quiet and resting.
9. Warm baths with Johnson’s Vapobath - I love it too. I like to run the shower on hot before he gets in there to create some extra steam, keeping the door shut and the air off to lock in the humidity.
10. Warm showers with Mommy and a few drops of eucalyptus oil in the air (I just put it on a cotton ball or kleenex and put it up high where he can’t get it) - similar to the vapobath idea, only he prefers showers and it helps unstuff him in the morning.
11. Sprite - not so healthy again, but he loves to steal “sips” of mine out of a straw and thinks it’s a special treat. It also helps keep him hydrated and soothes his tummy.
12. Smoothies - even when he refuses regular food, he’ll usually drink a smoothie. It’s one of the few ways to get fruit into him, and helps cool him down if he’s feverish.
13. Cuddles - lots of cuddles in a nice, warm bed, helps him feel better every time!

Lil’ Duck is sick.

I’ve tried to keep from getting in his face, keep him from kissing me on the face, been spraying down and cleaning everything I touch, but he still got my cold. I hope it goes faster for him, I’m still feverish and coughing and generally sick. I don’t think he has the fever part yet, but he was up in the middle of the night because he couldn’t breathe, poor little thing. He’s only had two real colds in his lifetime, and the last was several months ago, but I always feel so bad for him when he’s sick. Of course I’m already sick, but I’d still rather be sick than have him sick, ever. Even when he bounces around and destroys the house while I’m laying around trying to rest.

We’re giving him vapo-baths and using baby Vaporub (I love that stuff, now I use it all the time as well - the only thing is you have to hide it VERY well as if the little guy gets ahold of it, it takes forever to get out of his hair ;)). Thankfully he doesn’t seem too bothered yet, he’s still happy and drinking his soy milk and everything. As long as he keeps drinking, he’s fine, it’s when he gets sick enough not to want to drink or nurse that I really worry about him. We have Tylenol for him and expectorant (tho we don’t like to use it unless he’s really bad), so hopefully he just gets a bit of sniffles and not the full thing.

Finally, the promised list of teething remedies - Lil’ Duck is still working on those two year molars, poor thing.

We’ve tried a lot of teething remedies over the eruption of 16 teeth (working on 4 more as we speak!) - as I mentioned before, nothing really “cures” teething, but a few things do seem to calm him down a little:

• Baby Orajel teething swabs - numbs up his gums, I can stick that swab all the way back to where it is needed without getting holes in my fingers from his sharp little teeth. For the first few teeth, the regular baby orajel worked fine, but after that, it’s nearly impossible to avoid being bit. If you have a ton of baby orajel and want to use it up, stick it on the end of a q-tip and stick it in there, has the same effect (just don’t put too much on, a glob can fall off onto their tongue and you’ll hear strange sounds and lots of tongue-grabbing until it wears off ;)).
• Hyland’s teething tablets - work faster than Tylenol to calm him down a little. They also have the gel, but I’m faced with the same problem as the orajel with that, and it doesn’t seem to work as well as the tablets.




• Baby Tylenol - this is only as a last resort, as the actual trying to get the stuff down his throat is usually a nightmare (here’s a list of tricks that might help). Assuming that you consulted with your doctor before giving it and all those good things, you might find Dr. Sears’ dosage calculator helpful.

I got two great teething ideas from the commenters on my first post - JGS suggested freezing regular bagels and letting him gnaw on them, which is a great idea as long as you are going to watch them closely of course - Lil’ Duck is old enough now to handle bagels, but for the little teethers, I’d worry about them getting a piece off and choking.

Nicola suggested a clean flannel kept dry in the fridge can act to cool the face - also works with younger ones to chew against. She also recommended cold fruit to chew, such as melon. Lil’ Duck thinks that fruit is baby poison or something, strange but true, but perhaps your little ones feel differently.

Also, Lil’ Duck has never really taken to teethers in the past, but now he loves them, so it’s worth a try - the bumpy ones now, of all things. He also likes to eat crushed ice (other little ones go for popsicles or sherbet) - especially good if they aren’t drinking enough liquids, just make sure there aren’t any big pieces of ice and still watch them closely of course.

What works for your little one? Any other great ideas to share??

It’s always something - the coffee table attacked his head, his finger was eaten by the closet doors, the endless list. No matter what it is, it is invariably cured by mommy kisses (usually I have to kiss it over and over while he laughs) and an Elmo band-aid (which has to be admired for long periods of time by everyone nearby).

Now if only everything in life was this easy….

• Popsicles
• Slurpees
• Chewing on wet washcloths
• Gatorade, Koolaid, Sprite, flat Coke, and ginger ale (not what I’d normally let him drink, but anything is better than nothing when he’s getting dehydrated)
• Pedialyte/pedialyte popsicles
• Jello (Lil’ Duck hates the stuff, won’t even touch it, thinks it is going to jump off the table and attack him, ha ha, but it’s worth a try for your little one).
• Applesauce
• 1 tsp. of Sprite every five minutes
• Diluted chicken broth

Posted in Hydration | 6 comments »