March 2023 was a mix bag of overstimulation, sickness, and varying degrees of anxiety. It was a fun month for the family because we usually take a trip to Knott’s Berry Farm for Baby Hulk’s birthday. Unfortunately this year WE ALL experience being sick. From colds, allergy flare ups, flu/strep throat. It felt like your favorite action-drama movie. In the end, it was good but I need a break.
ASD Son Dealing With Sickness
I felt bad for Baby Hulk the most. He can get extreme anxiety when he sick. He caught a cold right before we went on vacation. Then the after effects of a cold resulted in pink eye. My poor baby. He didn’t like the feeling of goopiness, and dealt with me cleaning his eyes like a trooper. I can tell he is clenching his whole body when I have to take care of his eye. He’s very particular about things in his eyes, and doesn’t even like it when I have to wash his face during his baths.
To make things worse, he got a cold again coupled with stomach flu after spring break. Little Princess was sick too but she pretty walked around not caring how snotty she looked. Then there was me. I got the flu coupled with strep throat. I’m much better now. The only person who is sick still is Baby Hulk, and my husband ( got my flu/strep throat).
Autism Burn Out Sign
Since Baby Hulk is still under the weather he has been having a tough time in school. His teacher has also been sick so his schedule has changed with a substitute covering. Overall his behavior wasn’t the best, but it still got him to keep his Ipad/TV privileges. I know he is trying so hard. He has been having daily burn outs when he comes home. For a while, he didn’t even grabbed his ipad. He went straight to his room to nap for an hour.
The teacher mentioned he just seemed so tired. I started giving him melatonin ( very small dose) to help him regulate his sleep. I hope it helps him. I don’t give him melatonin on a daily basis. I usually give it to him when I notice his sleep is off.
Parental Burn Out
I’m not going to forget mentioning myself. Sometimes as a parent we experience burn out too. It feels so much worse when you are recovering from sickness. How I deal with with burn out is :
1). Take care of essential daily tasks only.
No projects that is out of making sure every one is fed, and laundry for the next two days. My kids had pizza, and leftovers for most meals I was sick. To be fair, the pizza is homemade by my husband who is a professional baker. It wasn’t exactly unhealthy. Chores got pushed back a few days.
2). Tell everyone I need to rest.
I gave my kids unlimited tv/screen time. They went through periods of boredom, but I needed to stay away from everyone. My husband wasn’t sick at that point so he took care of our kids.
3). Rest with medication.
Even when I’m not sick, I always feel better after one GOOD night of sleep. I’m diabetic, so sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night. Sometimes I take a benadryl to help me sleep through the night. I took a benadryl on a night I needed to just sleep.
I’m glad this March is over. Even though it was the month we went on a family vacation it still is one of the sickest months this year we had. I’m still feeling burned out. Baby Hulk is still trying to deal with his anxiety of the changes in school. Here’s hoping April fares better health wise.
