Hi!
I know it has been FOREVER since any of us have posted but life, as usual, gets in the way. Lately, life has revolved around school and dealing with a child who has been incredibly ill. For those of you who do not know, let me catch you up to speed. (There is a fair amount of rambling to start this post. If you would like to jump ahead and head straight for the Homemade Pedia electroLyte drink recipe or the homemade cough syrup recipe go right ahead…scroll away)
Last Saturday, the boy and I suited up the grandparents and great grandmother and headed off to the state fair. We had a GREAT time while we were there and my three year old was better behaved than most adults that we saw. He rode his first ride, saw his first tractor pull and even tried his first cotton candy. Life was good.
Around 4pm we decided it was time to end our adventure and we started the 2.5 hour drive back home. The decision was made that we would stop at Olive Garden for dinner about half way back. By the time we got there, the little one had been asleep for almost an hour. We woke him, waited for our seat and were pleased to see that we were put all the way in the back of the restaurant. It gave the boy a bench to sprawl out on and rest until dinner got there. We placed our orders and he was still as lifeless as they come. Our salad and breadsticks came and he was STILL lifeless. He normally jumps at the prospect of a breadstick. By the time I had finished my salad, I got a feeling that something was seriously not normal with the little fella, so I picked him up and snuggled him and started the head to toe checklist.
“Does your head hurt?”
“Do your ears hurt?”
“Does your belly hurt?”
I got a “no” in response to all of these questions. Then he started mumbling and next thing I knew, he did it….
He tossed his cookies right there in the middle of Olive Garden. And not just a minor “oops”. It was a horrifying site and it took a stroke of genius on my mother’s part to contain the catastrophe. When he finally slowed down, we made a break for it. The whole time, we chalked it up to “Oh…he had too much junk at the fair”. Then we realized that he had had a slice of pizza and a little bit of cotton candy…for the entire 6 hours we were there. Then I felt his head and my poor baby was burning up! We made nice with the restaurant staff, left a hefty tip and busted outta there after cleaning him up for the trip home.
I finally got him in the door and settled in for the night…and that was supposed to be it.
Fast forward 1 week and this is the situation:
After 6 days without any real food in his system, sleeping for 90 minutes at a time (with multiple hours in between), night terrors, a fever that could not be broken, countless “Get the boy outside, he’s gonna be sick” moments, two trips to the pediatricians, some fluids and a blood test, we have established that he has a super bug. This is the sickest he has ever been…and he has had chicken pox 3 times. He has lost 2 pounds in a week and is hurtin’ in the iron department.
Thankfully, we have an awesome pediatrician who helped us find a heavy duty anti-nausea medication which has allowed him to finally eat a little something and has restored my hope that one day, my child will once again be the child that I know and love and not a little male version of Linda Blair and a bowl of split pea soup.
I spent a lot of time, in the early morning hours, searching for something….ANYTHING…I could try that would help my poor baby feel better. I found some things that helped him maintain. Knowing now what we are facing, that was the best anything was going to do so long as he was unable to keep food in his system.
First, let’s go for the:
Homemade PEDIA electroLYTE drink…
REMEMBER: DO NOT GIVE CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 1 HONEY
This is SUPER easy to make and so much cheaper than the stuff you buy at the store.
You will need:
1/2 cup of boiling water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of sugar (or honey…or raw sugar….or agave)
3 tablespoons dry jello powder (any flavor your little one likes)
3 1/2 cups of cold water
In a bowl, combine the boiling water and dry ingredients. Stir until everything is completely dissolved. Add cold water and serve at room temperature, by the spoonful every 5-10 minutes for an upset belly. If it is to lower a fever, you can serve over a little ice. Pour in a container and store in the fridge for up to one week.
Maybe you are a bit like me and think that a sick child needs variety and therefore you make three different flavors of this stuff and at the end of the week you still have it coming out of your eyeballs! Have no fear…it shall not go to waste! Pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it so that you always have it on hand should the little buggers need it again. I found that these work really well.
Now comes the really fun stuff.
HomeMade Cough Syrups
We lucked into some local, raw honey this week at a steal so I went a little crazy and made a variety of cough syrups.
You will need to get some glass jars with lids…I like the Walmart version of a Mason Jar the best (a pint size will be fine)
LEMON GINGER SYRUP:
1 Lemon
1 piece of raw ginger 2-3″ long
Thinly slice one whole lemon and put 1/4 of the slices in the bottom.
Peel your ginger and gently crush it. Cut it in quarters and place 1 piece in on top of the lemons.
Add approx 1/3 of a cup of honey.
Repeat the process until all ingredients are used OR you run out of room in your jar.
Let jar sit in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours, over night is best.
During the first day or two your honey will be thick, but as time goes on it will thin out. You can take by the tablespoon full, directly out of the jar or add it to a cup of tea. GOOD STUFF and the lemon will provide you with Vitamin C, the ginger will help with any nausea that you may have.
SPICY:
Fill your honey jar approximately 3/4 full and add 1-2 tsp of cayenne pepper (dried) to it. The cayenne will provide you with capsaicin, which is a natural pain reliever. Add this to a cup of homemade cocoa (Not instant cocoa…the honey would make it WAY too sweet) and have yourself a little Mexican Hot Chocolate to help soothe those aches and pains! OLE!
SUBSTITUTIONS:
Swap out your lemons for oranges or grapefruit.
Add a sprig of rosemary to your lemon or orange honey for improved circulation, additional iron, Vitamin B6, and calcium. It will also help with muscle pain. You can use fresh or dried.
Mint Leaves (fresh) will help with digestion and will help soothe the effects of IBS and clear skin issues such as eczema and acne.
The longer you let them sit, the stronger they will be. The honey will help preserve the fruit to prevent it from spoiling. You will be able to hold on to these for several weeks in the refrigerator. However, if you are like me, you will find various reasons to use them…reasons like “OH! That one tastes good, let’s have a scoop!”
So there you have it…a couple of the nifty things I learned through the last week. I also learned how to make my own Vapo-Rub and I will post the instructions soon. For now, however, I must get some sleep because 90 minutes have come and gone and the little monster shows no signs of waking up any time soon! YAY!!
threefunnyvoices
threefunnyvoices 