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First, let’s get one thing out of the way: The flu isn’t fun at all. For anyone. That said, there are definitely ways that you can make the experience more tolerable for your kid. Here’s how to tell what’s truly going on with your kid, as well as some tricks from real moms about what to do when the flu does it.
How to tell if your kid has the flu
In terms of basic symptoms, the flu has an awful lot in common with a nasty cold. The way the two illnesses present and the severity of those symptoms, though, can help you tell one from the other.
“Flu often has an abrupt onset with fever, cough, and body aches,” Dr. Joshua Schaffzin, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center director of infection control and prevention, told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “People often describe feeling as though they were hit by a truck. Children often have very low energy, and will often stay in bed or on the couch when they normally might be up and playing.”
Other common flu symptoms include sore throat, congestion, headache, fatigue, and, particularly in children, vomiting and diarrhea. Among these symptoms, different people — even siblings who live in the same home — can experience different combinations. Unlike colds, which start slowly with just one or two symptoms at first, the flu announces itself all at once. At five to seven days, the major symptoms also (luckily) have a shorter average duration than colds, which tend to last for seven to ten. And, while many symptoms of the flu overlap with cold symptoms, they tend to be much more severe and debilitating in cases of the flu.
When to go to the doctor for the flu
As terrible as the flu can feel, it actually doesn’t always require a trip to the doctor. In a standard case, you can expect to see the fever go down in three or four days, and the cough resolve itself within two weeks.
“If this is what a parent is seeing, it’s probably fine to have the child stay home and not go to school; you want them to rest and stay hydrated,” Dr. Shika Garg, who serves as a medical officer in the influenza division of the CDC, told the New York Times. “The majority of healthy children who have a mild course of disease do not need to go to the doctor, and they do not need to go to the hospital or the emergency room.”
In fact, she says, it’s not even a necessity that your child undergo a flu test. The main thing a doctor can do is prescribe Tamiflu, but only if it’s within the first 48 hours of onset — and even then, some people prefer not to take it as side effects can include nausea and vomiting.
With that in mind, there definitely are situations that merit special attention and a trip to your medical provider. According to the CDC, if you notice any of the emergency flu symptoms below, talk to a doctor right away. Keep an especially careful eye on kids with existing medical issues, like asthma or diabetes, as well as children under the age of 5 (and in particular, babies under the age of 2), as the listed complications are more common in these high-risk groups.
- Quick or labored breathing
- Blue tint to the skin
- Chest or severe muscle pain
- Fever of 104°F or higher (or any fever at all for babies under 3 months)
- Dehydration
- Decreased alertness or lack of interaction
- Symptoms that subside and then get worse again
- Seizures
What to do when your kid has the flu
Like we said, you don’t automatically need to take your kid to their pediatrician if you suspect they have the flu. Kids should still stay home from school when they have the flu, though, as they’re contagious throughout the illness.
Other than that, “Most of the time, the treatment for healthy kids with flu is really supportive care: fluids, rest, steam, and pain and/or fever reducer, as well as a lot of TLC,” pediatrician Dr. Jen Trachtenberg told Good Housekeeping.
One of the main differences between adults’ experiences with the flu and kids’ experiences with the flu is stomach discomfort. It’s not unusual for kids to experience nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea when they have the flu. Tumeez organic tummy soothing pops can help with a variety of tummy troubles!
For different moms, home remedies for the flu look different. “No matter what the sickness, I always give my daughter honey and tea, and wrap her up in blankets,” says Jeanine Edwards, mom to an 11-year-old girl. “I also rub Vicks VapoRub on the soles of her feet and then put socks on — my grandma says it draws the sickness out of the bottom of their feet. Whether or not that’s true, at least one of the things always seems to work.”
For Anne Young, mom to a 4-year-old boy and a 4-month-old girl, an illness like the flu is reason to relax the normal rules a bit. “I give lots of popsicles, and maybe some watered-down juice, which he doesn’t drink otherwise. I also am definitely a little looser with screentime when he isn’t feeling well.”
