How to Survive Cold and Flu Season with Kids + My MIL’s Cold & Flu Tea Recipe!

October 27, 2017

Family, Motherhood, Sponsored

Hey mama, I know as well as you do that when sickness strikes, we don’t get a day off. Is a runny nose going to make the baby change herself or make the toddler his lunch? I don’t think so. I don’t know about you but I get a serious cold about once a year, with a couple cases of the sniffles here or there- I mean, how can you not with kids in the house?? We’re coming up on the one year anniversary of the last time I was pretty sick and I’m wearing a large wooden crucifix as we speak to keep the next cold away.

Jk.

But seriously though. Did you know that about 20% of Americans will get the flu this year? 20%! (ie. the odds are not in our favor). And as common as the flu might be, it sure as heck is debilitating. Bodily fluids everywhere. You might as well sleep in the bathroom. But you can’t. Because you’re a mom. So what’s a mama to do?

Prepare and anticipate.

This isn’t your first flu season. And this year, you’ll be ready. Here are a few tips you can (literally) save for a rainy day and pull them out when a cold or the flu comes knocking on your door.

1 | Get a daily vitamin

No need to go crazy here and take 4000% times the amount of vitamin C recommended in a day. A simple multivitamin can really help to take the edge off when it feels like a cold is coming on. These are especially important to take if you plan on traveling! I always begin to feel a cold coming on after we fly but a daily multivitamin really helps to make the cold-coming-on feeling disappear.

2 | Get some sleep!

And a lot of it! Or at least as much as the kids will allow. This might mean putting the dishes off until bedtime when you’d be up anyway and using naptime to take a nap yourself. Whatever you do, don’t stay up late catching up on your new Netflix addiction. 24 hours later, you will feel something coming on and the only one you’ll have to blame is yourself. Unless the baby woke up 3 different times to nurse in the night, then you can blame her, no matter how late you were up anyway.

3 | Drink water

You know what makes drinking water throughout the day the easiest? Getting a ridiculously large water bottle with a straw. The straw is the important part here. Without one, you’ll have to put effort into unscrewing the lid or flipping it open, depending on your water bottle and honestly, we, as human beings, are so lazy. If it takes even the littlest effort to drink water, we won’t drink nearly as much as we would if all we had to do is slurp. This is true for me and it’s probably true for you too. Therefore, get yourself a huge water bottle (so you don’t have to make your lazy self refill it every hour) and slurp away!

5 | Make my mother-in-law’s amazingly strong cold & flu tea!

Here’s the recipe:

Grab a saucepan

5 cups water

4 herbal lemon tea bags

2 (ish) Tbs lemon juice

3 Tbs grated ginger root

Simmer everything in the saucepan on low with the lid on for about 15 minutes. Strain out the chunky stuff, let cool until drinkable, then consume.

Alas, if a cold or the flu does come to you or a member of your family, it’s always good to be prepared. Starting this Sunday (10/29), you can save up to $5 on medicine cabinet essentials just in time for cold and flu season when you shop at Walmart. On this date, look in the P&G brandSAVER in your local Sunday newspaper or at PGeveryday.com to find coupons for $0.50 off Puffs and $1-$3 off Vicks products including DayQuil, NyQuil, Sinex and VapoRub. This arsenal of cold and flu symptom relievers will get you and your family back to business in no time!