Tag: malaria

You’re a Strong Boy!

LagosMumLeave a comment

My kids have been sick.

One day it’s one and two days later, it’s the other. This has been going on for about a month. I’m pretty sure there’s something in the air.

Anyway, yesterday, Vins was complaining about a headache. He has NEVER complained about headaches before. He threw up a few times. He whinged and he whined and I started worrying about malaria, as he’s been getting fevers on and off for a couple of weeks.

Finally, he told me that he wanted to go to the doctor. “Mama, please take me to the doctor. I just want to get well now.” Vins wanting to go to the doctor? That’s when I knew he really wasn’t feeling good and was probably in more pain than I realized.

He threw up on the way to the doctor. And was pretty upset that his clothes were wet and dirty, and he started crying. My FIL kept telling him not to cry as he was a strong boy and that he should be brave.

This did not go down well with me – but I couldn’t say anything to him (directly, at least). The only thing I could do was tell Vins (in front of my FIL) that if his head hurt and he wanted to cry – he should cry. If something else hurt so much that he wanted to cry, then he should cry.

I will not have my son growing up thinking that in order to be a strong boy, or to be a man, he can’t cry. That is complete and utter nonsense and I won’t accept it. The boy is only five, for God’s sake.

He is who he is and I won’t change that. For anyone.

P.S. He has a tummy bug, not malaria.

Bloody Mosquitoes

LagosMum2 Comments

About three weeks ago Baby V woke up with a whole lot of mosquito bites on his face.

I felt terrible. But also a bit confused. I spray the room every evening. I use mosquito cream on him and I put a mosquito patch on his pjs. So how did this happen?

I used Sudocrem on the bites and hoped that they’d disappear. But of course, it’s not the marks on his face that I was worried about – it’s malaria.

After that incident I increased the number of patches to three! One on the sheet near his head. Then a couple of hours later I’d stick one on his sleeve and then at about midnight (sometimes later) I’d add another. But now that he’s moving around so much, I don’t stick them on the sheets any more.

Anyway, a couple of days after the bite marks disappeared I was feeling better about the whole thing when I thought I’d better check how long it takes for malaria to develop. When would I see the signs? Two to three weeks. That’s a long time to worry about whether your baby is going to get malaria or not!

There were no more mosquito incidents after that. Until two nights ago. He woke yesterday to a bite on each cheek, two on his chin and one on the eyebrow. WHY is this still happening? Even after spraying the room – sometimes twice. And after increasing the use of the cream. And after increasing the number of patches?

Someone did recommend using a mosquito net to cover the cot – but with the amount of times he’s been waking, I don’t think it would really help much. And wouldn’t he feel claustrophobic?

So yet again, I’m worrying.