How we stay well during Cold and Flu season!

As many of you know this Flu season has been pretty rough. With 2 different strains that are only 10% covered by the vaccine a lot of people are catching the yuck! In this post I will show you my must have preventive measures that I am using like a crazy person!!

Hand Sanitizer Gel and Antibacterial Hand Soap!
     During cold and flu season my husband and I revert back to our NICU days in the sense of "gel in, gel out". Meaning every time we get in out out of the car we sanitize before touching everything! I have small bottles of sanitizer in both of our vehicles in easy to reach places for this!! We also keep a bottle of sanitizer in the house for in between hand washing! Also we love Dial Coconut Milk Antibacterial hand soap! it is much more moisturizing than other antibacterial soaps we have used and we love the fresh coconut scent!!

Clorox Antibacterial all purpose wipes

     We go through Clorox wipes like crazy in our house! Every day I make sure to wipe down door knows and light switches. Usually on the weekends I will wipe down nearly every surface in the house with these bad boys! I have also used these wipes to pre-sanitize toys before soaking then in a vinegar and water solution!

Wet-Nap Antibacterial hand wipes

     My mom bought me a box of these hand wipes and I will never go anywhere without them now!! They are great for both my hands and also Mel's. I also use them to wipe off tables, chairs and anything else we touch while out! 

Antibacterial wipes at grocery stores

     Many stores now have a little area at the front door with complementary wipes for your shopping cart. Before I had Mel I would see these stations and kind of laugh to myself thinking people were just germ freaks. Now that I have a child that has been through some pretty rough stuff I am that person standing at the door holding a baby, cart cover and sanitizing my cart for 5 minutes. And I am not ashamed! I don't have a picture of the sanitizing station at our local store because I am always too occupied with scrubbing the cart down! lol

Shopping Cart Cover

     Speaking of touching things shopping carts are disgusting! I can practically see the germs crawling around on them! When I go to the store with Mel I hate having her directly touch the cart. This is where our Floppy Seat cart cover comes in super handy! I also use the cover when we go to a restaurant for the high chair! on top of it making it more safe for Mel germ wise and also being freaking adorable it seems a heck of a lot more comfortable then sitting on a hard plastic shopping cart or wooden high chair!

Diffusing Essential Oils

     Yes, I use Clorox wipes and I wipes my kids hands with hand sanitizer but I do like the more natural route as well. I have been diffusing Young Living's Thieves essential oil and also their Orange oil in my Dew Drop oil diffuser. It smells so good and the Thieves has been proven to kill bacteria. So I feel like this is a win win!!

Black Elderberry Syrup, Vitamin D and Probiotics 

     I started Mel on Black elderberry syrup around November and I really believe it has helped her little immune system with all the nasty floating around in the air. The elderberry syrup I am currently using is purchased off Amazon, but I recently learned that elderberry syrup can be made at home so I will be exploring that option soon!! Vitamin D is an essential vitamin for all people. I personally have had Mel on a vitamin D supplement since she was tiny but I still keep her on it because we have not been able to go outside much and soak up sun. Finally probiotics. We use the Culturelle Kids powder packets and they are so so easy to mix in with her food and give her through her tube. I can really tell when she misses a day of probiotics because her poor tummy gets so torn up! I also purchase her probiotic from Amazon! 

Keeping our distance!

     The fact is that we can't trust that everyone who is sick is going to stay home from work or school. and obviously if we are going into a store that has a pharmacy you can bet that contagious people have walked around and shopped for things while picking up a prescription. Because of this we have tried try to stay home as possible lately. Sonic drive in has been our new favorite place lately because it gives us a chance to get out of the house without coming into contact with too many people. 

My mom recently came down with the flu and if you know us in real life than you know Mel and her Honey are inseparable when they are together. And my mom is my best friend so we are together a lot! As hard as it was for everyone involved we didn't see each other for 14 days from the day she was diagnosed. I know this sounds a little like over kill to some people but after seeing Mel go though everything she has we are very cautious then it come to things like that! 

Here are a few photos of Mel with her beautiful Honey!! Can I just take a second to say there is no way I could have handled everything we have been through without my mom. Seriously I would locked in a padded room of it wasn't for this angel of a woman!! Also say a prayer for my eye ball because she is going to poke me in it when she knows I put pictures of her on my blog! ;)

We try to protect Mel from all the nasty germs out there. But we are fully aware that these measures can only do so much. Mel has had her Flu vaccine and we know what to watch for and what steps too take if she does get sick. (Although I pray daily that will not happen) 

I would like everyone to remember. RSV is not just a cold to an infant. And the flu is not just an inconvenience for someone who has compromised immune system. So stay home if you feel like poop, sanitize the HELL out of EVERYTHING, and thank God for another day with those beautiful babies he gifted to you.

What precautions do you take for your family during the winter months? I would love to hear your strategies in the comments!

Love until another day,

 Shelbi

Cleaning your tubies Stoma!

When Mel first had her feeding tube placed I was super intimidated by it! Up until that point I had never seen a G tube in person or even a stoma of any kind. And I did not want to hurt my little nugget by doing something incorrectly. Since then I have grown very comfortable with Mel's site and in this post I will show you and explain how I clean and dress her site daily!

I would like to preface this post with the fact that I am not a doctor and I have had no formal medical training. Everything I know is from my own research, being shown by medical professionals, and what works best for our family. If you have any concerns about your child's stoma or button I suggest you consult your child's physician.

I clean Mel's stoma every night before bed and also every time I give her a bath. This is the first step I take in her nighttime routine so that I can insure my hands are freshly cleaned every time!

Gather every thing you will need and have it laid out beside you so it is easy to reach. I don't like to leave the button exposed to go grab something I forgot because Mel loves to pull on it! if I do forget something I cover her button back up with her onesie and then go grab my forgotten item!

The Items I use every button change!

Q-Tips, baby soap, warm water, Desitin, 2x2 split gauze and a fabric tube pad. 

 WASH YOUR HANDS! Your child's stoma can become infected just like any other opening into the body. Stoma infections can be very serious and lead to complications. 

• First I take off the dirty fabric tube pad and split 2x2. I just set these to the side for the time being.
• I then dip a Q-Tip into the baby soap and I clean around her stoma. I make sure to get all the "tube boogers" loosened up.
• Then I take a clean Q-Tip and I dip it into the warm water and wipe around the stoma to further remove any crusties and make sure the bottom of her button is clean.
• After it is clean I take a dry Q-Tip and make sure I dry off the whole area really well, sometimes this takes more than one Q-Tip.
• Next is the Desitin or whatever barrier cream you use. I like to pull our Desitin up in a 3 mL syringe so I can "pipe" it around Mels stoma! is is so much easier and way less messy!
• Place the clean 2x2 around the stoma.
• Finally place the clean fabric tube pad over the 2x2.

I like to use a 2x2 and a fabric tube pad for a couple reasons. Desitin is some crazy stuff and it is hard so wash off of our tube pads. Also I feel like using both pulls Mel's button up to where it is snug and it does not move much. 

Desitin or barrier cream is used so that if the stoma leaks stomach acid or the button leaks formula/food the healthy skin around the button will not get burned and irritated. 

Ever since Mel was converted to her GJ tube she has had a decent amount of Granulation Tissue around her stoma. This is a very common thing with stomas and some cases are worse than others. Granulation tissue is not painful but it is very very vascular so it bleeds very easily. Some doctors and parents like to treat granulation tissue with Silver Nitrate. Which looks like a long matchstick with silver on the tip. When the silver touches skin it cauterizes the tissue. A lot of people have had great results with silver nitrate and had minimal discomfort. When Mel was about 7 months old we went to a GI appointment and he used the silver nitrate. Mel screamed like she was in pain and her stoma was sore and irritated for days afterward. Also I saw little improvement with her granulation tissue. There are other ways to treat granulation tissue if needed. (Always consult your child's doctor about any problems with your child's stoma or any treatments.)

Steroid Cream- We have Triamcinolone cream that we were prescribed for granulation tissue. this cream can only be used for a few days at a time every couple weeks.

Alum & Calmoseptine ointment- Alum powder can be purchased from the grocery store in the spice isle and the cream from the pharmacy area. These 2 items can be mixed into a paste then placed around the stoma. I have yet to try this method but I will be soon and I will update on how it works!

Essential oils- I have read that a solution of 1 drop Frankincense, 1 drop Lavender and Coconut Oil are good to help heal granulation tissue. I have been using this method on Mel for 2 weeks now and I see slight improvement but not much. I wanted to try this method as it is more natural. I just placed a drop of each essential oil in a 10mL roller bottle then filled the bottle with fractionated coconut oil. ( I saw no improvement with this method, I will be trying the Alum and Calmoseptine soon!)

I tried to get pictures as I was going through the steps but umm wrestling a 16 month old while protecting a G button and trying to take pictures is NOT easy! I will work on getting pics and will add them if I am ever successful!

As always if you have any questions put them in the comments and I will get back with you!! 

Hug your little people tight and have a big ol' glass of wine ladies!!

Love until another Day,
Shelbi