I’m sure that we’ve all had to do it, and we’ve all got through the day. But coping with a child or baby when you’re ill is awful. Being ill is awful in itself. But having to look after a baby, as well as yourself is really hard. I’ve just come out the other side of having the flu. I was struck down after Christmas and missed most of the first week back at work. Now that I’m feeling better I thought it would be a good idea to write down my top tips on how to survive the day. Sleep It might sound silly or “you wish” but if you can try to get your child or baby down for an extra nap in the day, it is a life saver. When all you want to do is sleep yourself, getting an extra nap in for the child is a winner. CBeebies or iPad I know that as parent’s we try to limit screen time. But there comes a time when you just need to stick your child in front of the TV or ipad so you can close your eyes on the sofa for 5 minutes. Getting help If you’re fortunate to live near family see if they can pop over to take your child off you for a couple of hours, or if they can’t do this can they bring over dinner. We have no family nearby, but my husband was a god send, cooking dinner and taking care of bed-time. Going for a walk This might be something that you cannot bring yourself to do. However just getting out of the house and into the fresh air for an hour can really help to lift your spirits, make the day pass quicker, and entertains your child for a while. Set up a temporary bed or nest in their room Set up an area in your child’s room where you can lay on the floor when they play around you. I found that this worked until my daughter wanted to climb on my head and eat my ears. Lower cleaning expectations The last thing we want to do when we are feeling ill is to clean the house. Instead rest and put the washing to one side for a few days. It will still be there when you are feeling better, just the washing pile might be somewhat larger than normal. Try not to let this stress you. Have a nice relaxing bath I found having a long bath in the evening really helped to clear my head from “flu-fog”. It was also a welcoming 30 minutes away from the house mess and laundry pile. Put the blog to one side This is my first post I’ve written in a week, I found that I couldn’t look at my laptop screen last week. Instead set-up auto tweets either with Social Oomph or Word Press Revive Old Post, this will keep your Twitter feed busy and hopefully help to drive traffic to your blog when you’re not creating content. Eat plenty of fresh fruit, veg and take vitamins This is a given and will help to improve your recovery time. I found it really hard to eat last week, however I was forcing myself to drink a fruit smoothie and I was popping those vitamin pills. Lastly look after yourself By far the most important thing to remember is to look after yourself. If you’re ill just rest, get as much sleep as you can, the rest can wait. I am feeling so much better now and have survived the flu with a 17-month old. Having been ill it has made me appreciate and enjoy the days that I am feeling as fit as a fiddle. How have you coped with your children when you’ve been ill? Claire x