NANA SAYS CHILDREN'S WINTER ILLNESSES ARE TOUGH

With flu and cold bugs rampant in every venue, it is difficult to keep germs out of the family home. Good hand washing is always a first defense. Keeping ill children in one area of the home may keep the germs at bay. However with school and dance studios and arenas and gyms and everywhere children and adults too, closed quarters are fodder for illnesses! Having a good supply of pharmaceutical stuff on hand works. Even over the counter pink eye drops work just in case. Know where all the walk in and after hour clinics are located. Of course the Emergency of any hospital is good. But remember the germ pool in the waiting rooms!! If possible, sleep is important for everyone. So if the little one will not go to their bed or keeping an eye in a public place is desirable, make up that bed on the couch with lots of liquids and tissues handy. When parents get sick, it becomes even more difficult for the family. So who can be called as a backup.
#children's illnesses#family#germ pools#doctors#walkinclinics#handwashing#sleep#parentscan'tgetsick

WHEN SLEEP ELUDES US

Sleep is good for the soul and general health. It helps us heal. It gives us dreams and sometimes nightmares. A poor night's sleep makes the day start poorly! Young parents with a new baby can not get enough sleep. The teenager late coming home delays the parents' sleep. Shift workers have disrupted sleep. For the aging, sleep may be found in fits and starts. Cat naps during the day are good. Certain foods can affect sleep. Of course alcohol can be very disconcerting to poor sleepers. Some reach for sleeping pills while others try all the methods to try to get to sleep and stay asleep. The biggest sleep grabber is too much on one's mind. Pushing thoughts away can be bothersome. So how are you sleeping? Do you have trouble? What tricks do you use to get a good night's sleep?

NANA SAYS CHILDREN'S SLEEPING ISSUES ARE DIFFICULT

Do you ever want to ask an expert on how to get you child to sleep better? The perfect sleeping baby after 2 weeks exist! Often however, the sleep patterns change as the child grows. Some sleep through the night then start to wake up again at 4 months for example. Some babies need another feed during the night. Some babies just wake up and can not tell you why! Some strategies- let the baby cry it out and no one sleeps, cuddle the baby back to sleep, feed the baby or take the the baby to your bed. As babies age, wear them out before bedtime with play and top up with extra food. The toddler with fresh air may help with sleep. Quiet time before bed. The white noise helps with keeping other sounds away from the sleeping child.
 Some children like to crawl in the parents' bed during the middle of the night. For older children, pushing bed time back a little may mean the child is more tired. It is a trade off of having some private parent time. It is wonderful to have children sleeping so things can get done.
Of course certain stages and ages the dreams and nightmares can start. Being afraid of the dark and the nightly shadows that come with it! Night lights help even for older children.
Sleeping is so necessary for everyone. There is no one strategy that will work with every child. Some children just need to be near other people.
As the Nana, I have found on sleepovers the grandkiddies sleep better if there is another child with them. My oldest grandchild when sleeping over by herself would often come in my room during the night so I would decide at 2 in the morning to go to the guest room bed and stay with her for the rest of the night. Now it is not an issue. Perhaps the different house and noises concerned her. As other grandchildren started to sleep over, the same pattern emerged.
So being well fed and tired may help  your child to sleep better. Trying different approaches is the best remedy. Reassuring your child the home is safe and you are nearby. Sometimes just time and a changing child is the answer.
Any thoughts or comments are what you have tried to get your child to sleep? Parents need all the help and support they can obtain.

DO YOU SLEEP WELL?

What keeps you awake at night? Do you have vivid story line dreams? Do you worry? Poor sleep can be a reflection of what happens during the day or in one's life. Grief reactions bring poor sleep. Do you fall asleep then wake in the early hours? There are often many suggestions of how to sleep well. Some work and some do not work. Some people need to get up at night, have a hot beverage, read then go back to sleep. We are told as we age, we have many naps and a shorter night sleep. Eight hours of sleep is the golden amount of sleep. Some sleep more, some sleep less. Having a normal bed time and routine is supposed to help with sleep. In couples, there can be two separate sleep habits. One person keeps waking up the other person. Thus the separate bedrooms-more to do with sleep habits. Those mattresses divided in the middle but connected so when one fidgets the other does not get the movement. Of course, there are medicinal aids- sleeping pills. Do they work and for how long? Having a busy exhausting day and being very tired can backfire. Sometimes we can be too wired to sleep! Along with talk about the weather, sleep talk can be part of a conversation.  How you sleep is part of a assessment of depression! Poor sleep can be an indicator of health issues! Anxiety and sleep do go together! However, some people always sleep well and others always have problems. So do you sleep well?

END OF LIFE ISSUES

Once a month I present to the new group of nurses hired at the hospital- End of Life Issues. I give a clinical Social Work perspective along with the need to be part of the team who cares for our patients and supports our families. Looking at clinical strategies, needs, feelings, instrumental tasks (example-is there a will) and support of the team are a few of the areas I focus in my discussion. Case examples that are relative to the areas where the nurses may be working. If in the Woman and Child Program, a case or two involving a baby death. If ER, maybe a case I handled while covering for my colleague when she is on vacation or away. It is a tough presentation as it can trigger issues with the audience as well as being the last talk of the day. There are always one or two people fighting sleep who hear the whole presentation with their eyes shut and nodding. I use my photos to illustrate some points as my wholistic approach to treatment is presented as well. It is interesting too that I really do not use my own personal experiences as clinically I feel they do not belong there. It was one of the first tasks I had when returning from the week out west at my own mother's funeral. For me, there is always a case or two that I am supporting on one of the floors where a person or family is facing this dilemma. Along with realism, the need for hope is always allowed.

Why do you think I use a picture with a Monarch butterfly in my talk?

Or a picture with raindrops?

I always use this picture to end my talk. Sometimes the group will have comments and ideas but often just look with no participation. Lately I have been taking some photos that perhaps could be incorporated into the presentation. It is a tough area to present. It can trigger feelings. Any thoughts or ideas? Did it trigger anything with you and your loved ones?