A few things:

• Don’t share the worst case unless they ask. “What if” has no place in a child’s thoughts, and things have as much chance of going better than you hope, as worse.
• Keep it simple. Answer direct questions honestly, but as simplified as possible. For example, “He’s sick.”, And “We don’t know, but we have doctors helping us care for him.”
• Be honest, but not brutally honest. You want them to not feel burdened and to not feel lied to.
• When choosing between truth and gentleness, chose gentleness. They’re not going to truly understand accurately anyway, so don’t burden them unecessarily.

Edit: Sending you positive energy.

In case you haven’t heard this today:

• You deserve some time with some earplugs in.
• It’s okay (and wise) to set baby down somewhere safe and contained and go take a break. If you’re worried about it, set a timer and take breaks on a regimented schedule.
• You will sleep well again.

I’ve compared notes with other parents, and we discovered that all children are essentially identical, and every parenting idea that worked for any one of us has worked for everyone’s kids equally. It’s pretty great how easy this turned out to be. /s

I have found that mentoring through these moments helps. So I’ll blearily get up and walk with the kid to the kitchen and make sure they have access to a cup for the water, and coach them through getting some water, and heading back to bed.

Sometimes it’s just an excuse for some time together, but usually it’s a real teachable moment. (A teachable moment which invariably repeats five or more times because their little brains aren’t developed yet.)

For the stuff that is just an excuse to spend time together, I try to ramp up my “time together game of chicken” during our bedtime routine. That is, I try to spend more time at bedtime, but with the goal of both satisfying that need, while also being the least interesting person on the plant (at least during bedtime).