Happy new year... er well, not quite

So our new year hasn't started all that well. After finally getting to a point where the munchkin was voluntarily drinking 3 bottles of formula a day and beginning to chew and swallow solid food (not much more than a couple tbsp mind but it's progress), we're thrown back to square one! I had all the family over on New Year's Day and unfortunately there were flu and cold bugs abundant. Hubs, my sister, my mum, my dad and my Popo all got struck down with varying degrees of fever, chesty coughs and the like. Then the munchkin caught it too. We've had a week of high fevers, coughing, congested snotty noses and bottle refusal. Most parents would probably say that it's part and parcel and can't be helped, which is the case for most, but bugs like these really hit my daughter hard. She's skin and bone as it is, barely takes in enough calories to grow, and a cold at the best of times sets her feeding habits 10 steps back. As it is, this flu has been particularly nasty. She's battled a high temperature for 6 days running, only being kept at bay by a copious amounts of nurofen and calpol, both of which have aggravated her eczema and caused itchy scaly angry red patches all over her body and face. In the end we gave in and started her on antibiotics, but today we had to take a trip to the emergency clinic at the hospital thanks to her face looking like it was burnt. Massive red raw patches round her eyes, mouth, forehead and chin were causing her to cry and writhe around and we weren't sure if it was an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin or the colourings and flavourings in it. Now she's also dosed up on piriton, which has made her mega drowsy. My poor baby looks (and probably feels) like she's been through the wars. She's lost weight and I'm praying her good eating habits return once she's back to her old self. Only other mums with reflux babies and kids with eating disorders will probably understand the frustration and worry that accompanies a step back in progress, and it's so frustrating when it's caused by illness that could have been prevented! And the impact isn't just on her. She's refused to sleep in her own room so has been in bed with us for over a week while we were on fever duty (one night her temp spiked 40.5), so neither of us have had a proper nights sleep. I had to take an additional few days off work, as mum and dad were too ill to look after her, which was not ideal when I'd already had 2 weeks off, and now I have a backlog of work to go through and am playing catch up. 

All I want is for her to be well again now. She was still bubbly for the first few days but now it's worn her down and she's whiny and clingy and fed up. 

I hate winter and I hate winter viruses!!!!!!!