1St Cold for 1St Child

I swear my daughter's had a cold forever, so I can understand how you feel. We use the Baby Vicks at night and that seems to help a lot. There are also plug in things that you can get. They are like Vicks. You just plug them in and it releases non medicated Vicks type stuff into the air. It really helps. They also make a Vapor bath, also non medicated. It helps to loosen things up in their nose. Do you use a nasal aspirator? Our daughter HATES it, but it gets some of the nasty stuff out of her nose. The humidifier will help too. Don't forget to sanitize all of her toys. Other than that, all you can do is give them lots of love and plenty of fluids.

I would not give a baby that young any kind of cold medicine unless prescribed by your doctor. There has been alot of negative stuff in the press about such meds for young kids even. Your baby will recover quickly, the only thing you need to do is treat her fever if she has one. There are homepathic remedies that I use but again for an older child I think.

You could go with homeopathic meds for colds and coughs, they work miracles with NO side effects unlike ibuprofen, tylenol etc.

Unless she's running a fever, there's no need for ibuprofen. There is Baby Vicks and that should help her at night, as well as a humidifier in her room. Also, saline drops will help with the runny nose, and you can also use a nasal aspirator to help with the discomfort of a stuffed nose. They usually hate it but it works.

When my boys were babies, we would give them a warm bath with Johnson & Johnson's Vapor Bath? I don't know if that's the right name for it. But it's the bath soap with the vapor stuff in it, so it would clear things up, then we would get those Pedia Care Vapor plug-ins. That usually worked pretty good at keeping them cleared up through the night. Those vapor plug ins are strong, they'll clear up your sinuses as soon as you plug it in. :) Hope this helps!

Hello -

One bit of advice I didn't see in the other responses was what we do for our son - I put a flat pillow or folded blanket UNDER his crib mattress so his head is slightly elevated at night and during naps. It always helped to make him more comfortable when he had a head cold. When he was very young (3 to 5 mo.) with his first cold we also would let him sleep in his car seat - again, it kept his head elevated so he could sleep more comfortably. Of course the humidifier is also key.

Good luck.

For babies under one, my doctor suggests saline spray and suction 3-4 times a day for the nose and a humidifer in the room while they sleep. Tylenol for fever. The virus just has to run it's course.

We also normally do a cool mist humidifier in the room and I use Tom's of Maine version of Vick's and cut it with vaseline. Baby Vick's doesn't do much but smell nice.Real Vick's has terpentine in it. we also use nasal saline drops adn a bub syringe if they are really stuffy.

Also you can try saline drops and sitting in a bathroom with the shower running - steam shower - for 15-30 mins.

I have 2 kids and this is what I do with them. I use a safe humidifier/vaporizer. One that emits cool air. The warm air ones use heat and could be dangerous. If you can add anything into the water that is in the vaporizer, I use Eucalyptus oil. It works great! It's basically a natural version of Vicks. One thing I wouldn't do is use any medication. Infant Motrin or something like it works well. Elevate tyour child's head as well. I use a wedge that is made for cribs and it works great! Oh and lots of cuddles! Good luck!!

I think everyone has a cold right now, my 2.5 yr old has one and I agree....I went to Walgreens last night and bought her the PediaCare Gentle Vapors thing, and she woke up and has no runny nose today....the last 3 days she has had a runny nose....so I suggest that.

I second the plug in vapor thingies. You can get them at the grocery store, Target, Walgreens. Around 9 bucks for the unit and I think around 6 for 5 strips that go in the unit.

My son has a cold - I've been plugging them in when I lay him down at night and he's sleeping like normal...prior he was so stuffy he was waking up a lot.

Good luck!