When it comes to sickness, nothing comes close to the severity of a sick baby.

Mention that to parents, everyone invariably remembers the first time one's child got sick. I wasn't that impressed with the chapter on "When Baby is Sick" when I first read What to Expect the First Year . I managed to read that chapter again today; I fetched the book whilst packing the bag in a hurry to bring my febrile princess to the hospital last night. (What else could I smuggle when there was a full truckload of worries?) Though I had never called sick when I fell into pieces, I stayed with my baby this time and requested an urgent leave today.

I learned a lot from this reading. Perhaps I wasn't paying attention because I didn't need the book to teach me the ropes to manage a daughter running a temperature of 39.4 degrees. That bit, yes, I know. Believe it or not, the most difficult bit is how to be parents of a sick baby. How strange! Now I understand what the authors meant by "An infant's illness, even a mild one, usually hits mummy and daddy harder than it does baby."