How should I interpret this sentence?

Question

The only time one of my children had been ill was like that.

She was comparing the way one of her children had been ill to another child when she says like that as a reference to her own past experience.

I'm not sure whether she means that only one of her children had been ill before, or that more than one of them had been ill before as it is worded very loosely and could be interpreted in a few different ways. Is she stating that she has more than one child or that more than one of her children has been ill before when she says 'one of my children'?
What do you think her meaning was?

Answer 1

The fact that she states one of my children means that she has more than one child.

It would take some very original interpretation of the sentence to read it as if her other child or children have also been ill, but she is referring to the one time this specific child was ill. One of my children here refers to any of the children.

So the most likely reading is that there has been one instance where a child of hers has been ill - and that was like the situation she described.

If her other child or children have also been ill, but not "like that", she would have specified which child she was talking about:

The only time my oldest son had been ill was like that.

In that case, a younger son may have been ill as well, but it was not "like that" - or at least not so much 'like that' that the writer feel it should be mentioned.