Sick Baby, Little Sleep

Everybody warned us that when Jesper started daycare, he would get sick - a lot. However, I think Josh and I have been a little surprised at how true that has been.

The second week Jesper was in school, I got a text that said "Jesper's eye is red" along with a picture of my little boy and his pink eye. After picking him up from daycare and a trip to the pediatrician, it was confirmed that Jesper did indeed have a case of pink eye. I asked the doctor if it was likely to travel from eye to eye and he said, "No, that's very rare."

Uh-oh.

So, we started the eye drops (Jesper was a trooper!) and Josh came home to babysit that afternoon while I worked from home to finish a proposal that was due to the client the next day. The next day, Friday, I worked from home while watching him (not something I want to do very often!! What a crazy day...) and got my proposal turned in.

Hanging out with Mom while home with pink eye

Pink eye, happy baby

He recovered nicely that weekend, only to have a little pink in his OTHER eye on Sunday night. To be safe, I started drops in the right eye. Unfortunately, he got sent home from daycare 5 min. after I dropped him off on Monday morning. It hadn't been 24 hours since we started drops in his other eye, so he was not ok'd to be there that day. So much for going to work... I stayed home with him and took a PTO day on Monday.

That Thursday, I get another text from one of his teachers, "Jesper's eye is pink again". Great. Josh picked him up and took him to the pediatrician, but this time they said that he did not have pink eye - it was just an irritated eye from his clogged tear ducts (they also said that it might have just been a clogged tear duct the week before, but they had given eye drops just in case).

Again?

Another week goes by. The next Friday (July 22), Jesper didn't eat well at daycare. He also didn't sleep well on Friday night. And when I picked him up from a nap on Saturday morning, he felt very warm. Uh-oh. After checking with my mom and sister about how to take his temperature (do I REALLY have to stick that THERE??), I discovered that my little man had his first fever. We took another trip to the pediatrician and they confirmed that there was a virus going around with the same symptoms (upset stomach, diarrhea, fever) and that we could expect it to last 4-5 days.

Keeping cool during his first fever

Super cute sick baby

So, sick baby = very little sleep. The illness only lasted through Sunday (which meant another PTO day for me on Monday), but Jesper's routine has been turned upside down. My good little sleeper who could do 6-8 hours at night was now only sleeping 1-2 hour stretches. Jesper is back to his happy little self, but Josh and I are dragging.

Any suggestions on how to get him back to his long stretches of sleep? After a week of getting only 4-5 hours of sleep a night, we'd be happy to try them! Here's hoping that this weekend brings some relief (or at least a nap or two!).