Hello. My 5 week old baby has a stuffy nose and a wet cough for over a week now. I called the doctor and he said it was just because of the humidity in the house. He told me to keep the temperature in the house at 68, use Ocean Nose drops, put her in the bathroom with steam, use a humidifier, boid water, giver her water after she eats and prob her up. I have been doing all of this and nothing seems to help. I took her to the doctor 2 days ago just to make sure she wasn't sick and he said I am doing everything I should be doing, but it does not seem to be going away. Any suggestions on how to speed up the process. Thanks for any help.
I just experienced a similiar situation with my daughter, now almost 2. I took her to the dr., he said no ear infection, bronchitis, it's just a cold. 11 days later she was not better, I took her back in, she had a double ear infection. Just keep a close eye on her, give her 5 more days. If she is not better, take her back in, and see a different doctor. You know whether your daughter needs to be seen again or not.
Try a new ped. We went through SIX before we found one that was decent. The first five failed to diagnose a total of three medical conditions that were making our life a living you know what, including the baby's. The first five were all women, the next two have both been men and been fabulous. Maybe its just a coincidence, but its what happened and I'm sworn off female pediatricians for good. All five belittled me and told me I was basically crazy, my baby was just fine. If your maternal instincts tell you something is wrong, which it sounds like there is, go elsewhere and dont let anyone tell you everything is fine until the problem is solved.
I, too, have a little one with a cold and it has been hanging on forever. Ot has been about a month now, but we are on the downhill slide. I haven't been to the doctor b/c my little one hasn't been running a fever and I'm sure he'll say the same thing as your Dr, that you're doing all the right things. The only other thing I can suggest is after you use the saline drops to use the blue bulb "nose sucker" to get out all that junk. She'll hate it while you're doing it, but if she's cleaned out she'll feel (and sleep) so much better.
Hope this helps, and I hope she starts feeling better very soon!
Hi S.,
In my opinion, I think it's worth a trip in to the doctor. I'd call back and get seen, just to make sure everything is okay. If the doc won't see you, find another one.
Better safe...
R. W.
I picked up those sudafed shower soothers and would turn the shower all the way hot and sit in there and let my daughter nurse. Also my sisters doctor told her to use pedialyte in place of water. Those saline nose drops are wonderful and use the nasal aspirator the hospital gave you to clear her nose out. Don't forget to hold the opposite nostril closed.
I am curious to see what other moms say.
I got 2 humidifiers, a cool one and a warm one.
The cool one helped a lot, she's 16 months and my son 4 months. I used the warm air one last night and she woke up coughing non-stop.
When I went into her room, I realized the humidifer was out of water, so I think the warm air one, which is a vicks one I got at target, did the job to allow her to sleep.
She did wake up once very stuffed up and coughed a little, I don't know that its perfect butonce as opposed to every 45 minutes of uniterrupted sleep rocks.
So, IMO, (they are both vicks) the warms one wins, also bc I have a 2 story home and it can get VERY COLD with her door semi shut - I do it so they don't wake each other up, the cool air humidifier makes it way too cold in there, she woke up soaked once, and other times her little hand and feet were freezing.
OK, first of all, don't give a 5-week old water!!! Whether you are breastfeeding or formula feeding, no child should get anything else to drink until after 6 months. She is getting the fluids she needs. The AAP is pretty clear on this, I don't know why doctors recommend things against their governing board:(
So, that aside, it sounds like you are doing what you can. If you think that maybe her throat is sore from the coughing, you can give her a small dose of infant tylonal. If she doesn't seem affected, I wouldn't worry too much. It can be icky to continually be cleaning her nose (especially if you ARE breastfeeding and she gets snot all over you every time - I know how that goes...ick...) A humidifier in her room will help a lot (or your room if she's sleeping with you...it will help you too!) If you want to keep track of how humid it is, you can get in expensive thermometers that will tell you the humidity. Usually you want to keep your house around 68-70 degrees and 40-50% humid, but if she's still having trouble, you could try to bump that up a little, especially in her room.
If you are breastfeeding, it will help keep her ears clear. Also, if you pump a small amount of milk and use an eye dropper to drip it into her nose, it's better than saline! I know it sounds gross, but breast milk is anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and sterile. Put a few stops in each nostril and wait a couple minutes, then use the nose bulb from the hospital to suck out what you can.
If her nose is red and sore from the salty snot and rubbing tissues, I use my purelan on my son's nose and it helps a lot. It both soothes and creates a barrier so the snot doesn't irritate as much.
I hope that's helpful. Keep your hands clean and give her lots of love, she'll get over it:)
