
Dear Mum, it’s Dr Lils: Nursery bugs to kissing newborns - Advice from a Paediatrician you NEED to hear
Dear MumShow Notes
Trigger warning & Disclaimer: This episode includes discussion of infant infections, hospitalisation, and childhood illness anxiety.
This episode is for general information and support only, not personalised medical advice. If you’re worried about your child, trust your instincts and speak to your GP, NHS 111, or seek urgent care if needed.
**
To the parents who are permanently wiping noses, side-eyeing a thermometer, and wondering if you’re overreacting (or not reacting enough) - welcome back to Dear Mum… This one is a proper deep exhale.
This week I’m joined by Dr Lils (Dr Lillie Parker) - paediatrician, mum-to-be (literally due any minute at the time of recording), and the calm voice so many parents trust when it’s 2am and you’re googling symptoms with one eye open.
We cover the stuff that comes up constantly in family life: the difference between viral and bacterial infections (and why you’re often told to “wait it out”), what’s normal when your child is catching every nursery bug going, and what you can realistically do to support their immune system without falling for magic-supplement promises.
We also talk fevers (and why the most important thing isn’t the number on the thermometer). Plus, we get into the question that brings up so much awkwardness for new parents: kissing newborns - why the first 12 weeks are different, how to hold boundaries without feeling “neurotic”, and what the real risks actually are.
Pop this on for the school run, a nap-trap, or while you’re cleaning the kitchen like someone’s about to inspect it (because one child has vomited and now you’re in germ lockdown mode). I truly hope it helps you feel more confident making decisions when your child is ill ❤️🩹
New episodes every Thursday - hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss one ✨
Follow Dr LilsInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/doctor.lils/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/p/Doctor-Lils-61566126069934/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.lillie.parker
Follow me (Charlie!)Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/charlielaunder And get to know my business, Bumps & Burpees - https://www.instagram.com/bumpsandburpeeswww.bumpsandburpees.com
Produced by Bear Lane Productions 🎙️Music licensed via PremiumBeat - 4WJJ2ROAVKXSJCGW
More from Dear Mum
Content Note: This episode includes an honest conversation about OCD, intrusive thoughts and anxiety in pregnancy. Take care when listening 💛 Dear Mum… it’s the last episode of Series 2 - and it’s with the gorgeous soul that is Steph Elswood. After whispering to me at a friend’s wedding that she was pregnant, and I’ve wanted her on this podcast ever since. We go back to the early days of Instagram, and she’s now mum to 18-month-old Elsie and the founder of Studio Glide Pilates. We talk about severe sickness in her pregnancy, the 25 packets of salt and vinegar crisps in her hen do suitcase, and living with OCD through pregnancy, including the intrusive thoughts she didn’t know were a thing - but how NHS therapy helped. It’s funny, honest and very reassuring, and - I know I always say it butttt… her Post-it for the mums might be my favourite yet. I can’t quite believe that’s a wrap on Series 2. Thank you for listening, for sharing these episodes, and for sending them to the mum who needed to hear them. Keep doing just that - and hopefully we’ll be back for Series 3 very soon 🎙️ Links Follow Steph: IG - www.instagram.com/stephelswood TT - www.tiktok.com/@steph_elswood YT - https://www.youtube.com/@StephElswood
A gentle heads up: this episode includes an honest conversation about a traumatic birth and time in intensive care with a newborn, in case that's a hard topic for you to hear right now. Dr Emily Jackman spends her days reassuring worried patients that their child's rash is probably fine…at 3am with her own kids? She's just as lost as the rest of us.
“The first thing she said to me was, can you pick me up now?" That's Giorgina Falcone on meeting her daughter Summer-Rae after her C-section.
"You're too young to be going through perimenopause." That's what Kelly Taylor was told the first time she asked for help — so the second time, she didn't ask.
Content Warning: this episode includes conversation around a serious postpartum health scare (sepsis). Please listen with care.