Tonsillitis Terror

Image from here

This week tonsillitis entered our household for the first time, so we have a very sad little monkey lying on the lounge attempting to get better.

Rewind two weeks and Little Miss 4 started complaining of a sore throat.
"Is it really sore or do you just want a butter menthol," I asked.
"This is real life!" she replied.

Add a temperature, which lasted several days and she was right, this was real life. However, it seemed to go away so off she went to preschool.

Her preschool teacher told me that she seemed tired and had been told that Little Mr 0 had been waking her up at night - this is not real life (thank god she actually sleeps through Little Mr 0 waking up).

Last weekend the temperature returned with full force, as did the sore throat, sore ears and extreme tiredness.

Off to the doctors we went and BAM tonsillitis was confirmed. I used to get tonsillitis a lot as a child and ended up having them removed when I was ten - so I now knew how miserable Little Miss 4 was really feeling.

So what exactly are tonsils - they are the two fleshy bits of tissue that lie at the back of the throat and are part of your immune system. Their job is to catch the incoming germs and prevent infection getting into the throat, mouth and sinuses.

Some tips I have found to help deal with tonsillitis:

• Keep up the fluids (isn't this the case for everything!). I have found room temperature warm water is best on the throat. Also, a little bit often is good. With Little Miss 4, I get her to take a certain number of sips every 15-30 minutes. Also, sometimes we make it into a game and pretend that her water bottle is her cup of tea or coffee and she is a grown up - the last couple of days this has worked a treat and she has drunk so much!


• Soft foods. Apparently citrus fruits are good and vegie soups. Little Miss 4 has also enjoyed avocado on bread without the crusts for lunch and vanilla yoghurt for snacks.


• Calm down. The last few days we have watched a bit (ok, a lot) of TV and movies. Also we do "calm play" like drawing, craft, play dough. There is no dancing, jumping, running, hopping, or chasing at the moment (at least I am trying for there not to be!).


• Ice blocks. I bought some Hydralyte ice blocks to keep in the freezer. These are nice on the throat and also assist with "keeping up the fluids".


• Gargle. Gargle with warm salt water a few times a day. 

Do you have any tips for dealing with tonsillitis?