10 Ways to Keep Your Baby Away From Sickies

With all the new strains of germs and viruses going around, no mother wants to subject her child to exposure. Although it’s pretty near impossible to completely avoid illness or the bugs that cause it, there are some things you can do.

1. Keep the baby home during peak times of cold and flu season. – Whenever the flu season strikes or is about to strike it’s all over the news. This is a good time to keep the baby home unless you are going directly to a place you know everyone is healthy and the baby won’t be exposed to the public.
2. Wash your hands often. – Germs and viruses can live for a couple of days on some surfaces so make sure you always wash your hands before handling your little one.
3. If you are sick, wear a mask. – You probably can’t leave your child if you come down with a cold or the flu, but by wearing a mask you can provide some protection, and of course, make sure you wash your hands.
4. Cover the baby with a receiving blanket. – If you need to go out and have to take the baby with you, take a receiving blanket along. When you get around other people just drape the blanket over the baby’s carrier or if you are holding the baby tent the blanket by draping it over your shoulder and covering the baby’s head.
5. Hire a nanny or baby sitter. – For short periods of time or if there is going to be a longer stretch of time during cold and flu season that you have to be out in public, you may want to consider hiring a nanny or babysitter to stay with your child while you attend to business. Just make sure the person you hire doesn’t have a cold or the sniffles.
6. Avoid crowded places. – Chances are someone in the crowd has a cold so staying away from places that are full of people will cut down the chances that the baby might pick up a bug.
7. When you visit make sure everyone is healthy. – “Oh it’s just a little cold!” is not something you want to hear when you are visiting your friend and her toddler comes in nose running and eyes watery. It’s all right to find out if there are any sick folks before you go for a visit. Even mildly ill people can transfer bugs to your baby.
8. Don’t let the baby on the floor in public places. – Unfortunately many parents let their little ones crawl around on the floor in public places, including medical clinics. Keep your baby on your lap or in the carrier. There are way too many germs around to let your baby loose on a public floor.
9. Call before you go. – When you take your baby to see the doctor call before you go to find out how the schedule is running. You want to spend as little time as possible in the waiting room. If your doctor is running way behind, you may want to make plans to come in closer to the time she can actually see you.
10. Reinforce wellness rules at home. – Brand new big brothers and sisters like to take part ownership of the new bundle of joy. If they come down with the sniffles you will need to help them understand that this is not a time for them to hang out with their baby sibling.

Keeping baby away from sick people may not always be the easiest thing to do. However with some planning and creative thinking you should be able to avoid most of the obvious threats to your child’s health.

Taken From Babysitters