How to Get Over Your Mom Cold

This post is sponsored by HALLS. All opinions are my own.

Just when I started to notice my twins not feeling well a couple of weeks ago, I thought to myself, “Well, it could be worse. At least I’m not sick, too.” Famous last words.

The next evening, I suddenly felt the dreaded sore throat. As a nurse practitioner, I’m exposed to sickness all the time. But this one was different—and it was a rough one. And it was only Wednesday! I wondered how in the world I was going to make it through the rest of the week with the twins. And we were in the middle of potty training to boot!

Since it’s that time of year, it’s important to be prepared for when that mean cold might hit. As we all know, moms often don’t have the time to slow down and have to push through their coughs and colds without missing a beat—or at least we try to! And now I’m proud to report that I survived my first “Mom Cold” and I’m here to tell you how I made it through so you can do the same. Here are the 12 steps I took!

1. Call in reinforcements if you have them.

In our 3 years of being married, I had never once asked my husband to stay home from work—until this cold. He stayed home from work the next day to help with the kids so that I could recover. I continued to be sick, but at least that one day of help kickstarted my path back to health!

2. Rest as much as your kids will allow you to rest. Conserve your energy!

After that first day of help from my husband, I was on my own again—still not feeling well and having to look after 2 sick twins. We stayed inside—no walks around the neighborhood or trips to the mall. I essentially laid down on the couch and kept the kids nearby in the living room with me as much as I could.

3. Be prepared and make sure your medicine cabinet is full of what you need ahead of time, especially a HALLS Cough Drops package for temporarily relieving coughs and soothing sore throats!

HALLS Cough Drops were definitely my key to temporary relief (like it always is every time I get a cough!). When when my cold progressed from a “scratchy throat” to a full-blown irritating cough, I used HALLS Cough Drops all over again to temporarily relieve my cough. By the way, the cough drops are available in several flavors, such as Cherry Flavor, Honey Lemon Flavor, and Metho-Lyptus Flavor, and they’re also available in sugar-free varieties. I always have HALLS cough drops AND all of my other important cold remedies in my medicine cabinet BEFORE I get sick. You can find your own HALLS cough drops package here!

4. Explain to your kids that Mama doesn’t feel well.

I definitely explained this many times to my twins when I was sick. I wanted them to understand that they weren’t the only ones that felt a little puny. I also wanted them to understand that rules were bending those days—and only those days—because Mama was sick.

5. Eat soup.

I know I’m not alone in thinking this--but there’s just something about chicken noodle soup that seems to make a cold feel manageable, right? It’s always worked for me! So, that’s what I was eating for dinner when I was sick recently. I always keep a couple of cans of soup in the pantry just in case.

6. Stay hydrated!

Whenever we have a cold and fever and our appetite is down, we are at risk of getting dehydrated. Try and stay ahead and drink plenty of fluids!

7. Have low expectations for the kids’ meals and snacks—make it easy!

Order a pizza, get delivery, make a sandwich—just give the kids something to eat that’s easy on you.

8. Don’t be picky about how your kids are being entertained.

If it means that your kids get a little extra screen time for a day or two, then do what you need to do to make it through your cold.

9. Keep a special stash of new toys in your closet for days like this.

Whenever I give the kids something new to play with, it usually keeps them preoccupied for a decent amount of time. This will buy you some time to just relax for a few minutes.

10. Let everything go. The chores can wait.

Bathing your kids, cleaning, doing the dishes, folding laundry, etc.—it can all wait a day!

11. Press pause on things like potty training.

As much as I wanted to power through the potty training, it was just terrible timing for us. There’s nothing worse than having to clean up accidents all over the house when you’re feeling ill. And in our case, my kids didn’t feel well enough either to keep training that week.

12. And obviously, wear PJs all day!

If you’re going to do it right, then just stay comfortable in your pajamas. ;)

Hang in there, friend. “Mom Colds” aren’t fun and they’re never convenient, but at least now you’re prepared. Between your HALLS Cough Drops package to temporarily relieve coughs and soothe sore throats, a pajama party, and everything else on this list—you’ve got this!