Parenting When You're Under the Weather: A New Form of Struggle

You haven’t truly experienced hardship until you’ve tried to nurse a little one while feeling utterly miserable. As a parent, managing a household full of sick kids is tough enough, but being sick yourself while trying to care for them? That takes the challenge to an entirely different level.

During the past couple of years, my family faced health challenges like never before. My husband occasionally brings home germs from his workplace, and despite our best efforts, we all caught Covid-19. The aftermath was exhausting, with our entire family feeling the effects for nearly a month.

While I had navigated minor illnesses before, this time was drastically different. As Covid swept through our family, each member fell ill one after the other, and my resilience was put to the ultimate test. My youngest, a spirited 3-year-old, became sick first, and I was a supermom on day one, full of empathy and patience. However, when I succumbed to the illness on his second day, managing his irritability alongside my own was a Herculean task.

Have you ever nursed a child while feeling nauseous? I have, and it’s no easy feat. Thankfully, my son typically only nurses during the night, and by then, my vomiting had calmed down. Yet, due to his illness, he wanted to nurse even more, especially through those long, uncomfortable nights when we both felt our worst.

My husband and I tried to support each other as best we could. When one of us felt particularly awful, the other would step in. However, both of us had to take time off work, and as someone who’s self-employed, I’m still struggling to regain my previous momentum. It’s as if the effects of burnout lingered long after we’d started to feel better.

In those challenging weeks, we reverted to survival mode, much like during the early days of parenthood. We indulged in endless movie marathons, disregarding our usual screen time limits. Our home was often a mess, as neither the kids nor we felt up to tidying up much. Grocery bags became makeshift trash bins for discarded tissues, while my son and I cozied up under a blanket on the couch, half-asleep most of the time. We simply tried to rest and recuperate as best we could. The sheer exhaustion was palpable, but we did what we could— and that’s perfectly fine.

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Parenting When You’re Under the Weather: A New Form of Struggle

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