IN tonight's episode of 22 Kids & Counting, Millie Radford revealed a major update on how she is finding life as a mum-of-three.
The seventh Radford child, Millie, has been trying to settle in to life with three children under three, but things haven’t been easy.
Elodie, nine months, is Millie’s newest addition, as she joins three-year-old Ophelia and one-year-old Chester in the Radford clan.
Beaming at her new baby, Millie said: “She is very happy. She likes to smile.
“She has the best smile and giggle ever. She’s just perfect.”
But while Millie explained “Ophelia is very good, she loves to help out”, she also added: “Chester is definitely the mischievous one.”
And having her hands full has proved to be tough for the young mum, as she explained: “It’s hard to watch all three. Going from one to two, I found that ok, it wasn’t too bad. But going from two to three, that was definitely hard.
“You could take your eyes off Chester for a split second and he’ll be up to no good.
“Tea time is normally the worst time. Chester is really hyper.
“Everyone refers to him as a Wreck It Ralph child.”
Millie’s mum, Sue Radford, then chimed in: “I think Millie is finding having three children with quite small age gaps, challenging.
“I remember when I had mine, I had three under three, oh my goddess.”
Opening up about her struggles with juggling her three youngsters, Millie shared: “I don’t think anything could have actually prepared me for this. It’s really not great.”
But things quickly went down, as Millie quickly found herself and her newborn baby Elodie rushed to hospital.
As Elodie experienced breathing difficulties, the mum-of-three shared: “I rang 111 first just to say that Elodie got worse and they recommended that we bought her straight up to A&E and that’s where we had the swab done.”
It was confirmed that Elodie was suffering from RSV - respiratory syncytial virus - a virus that can lead to pneumonia.
Whilst Elodie was given oxygen, mum-of-22 Sue stepped up and took Chester and Ophelia home.
She explained: “When you know that your kids need you, you just have to drop everything and go and be with them. When they’re going through something like that, they really need your support.”
Trying to be as strong as possible, Millie said: “You can’t sit around and feel emotional all day because you’ve got a little one’s childhood in your hands. You kind of have to pull yourself together.”
Upon returning home, Millie broke down in tears as she opened up about the stressful time.
Talking to Sue, she said: “[It’s been] stressful. The other day was a right off. I just burst out crying.”
Comforting her daughter, Sue chimed in: “Kids are stressful, aren’t they? It is tough Millie, it’s hard work.
“Chester’s not a naughty kid, he just craves his mums’ attention. They like their mummy’s attention constantly.”
In an attempt to try and control Chester’s outburst and tantrums, Millie made more of an effort to spend quality, one on one time, with each of her kids - which she later confirmed had led to a big improvement in Chester’s behaviour.
She explained: “Things are a lot better now, I definitely needed that advice and help from my mum.
“Chester is slowly starting to listen.
“I’m still learning whilst bringing them up, I’m learning new stuff every day. They’re coming on the journey with me whilst I’m growing up and they’re growing up.
“I’m definitely a lot happier. Now it’s more enjoyable being a mum.”
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