2 1/2 Month Old with Bronchiolitis

M.-
It won't hurt her to swallow the sputum...that way it just goes to her tummy, not her lungs...but I know it's worrisome. Try putting her crib mattress at an angle so that her feet are lower than her head. That usually helps with breathing and drainage. Sitting in a steamy bathroom for 15 minutes at a time can also help if she's really having trouble when she's feeding. Otherwise, just lots of holding, tenderness and understanding will help until her antibiotics kick in. But don't worry, illness happens to lots of babies and this year it's especially rough because so much is going around. My youngest started getting sick at 4 days old and I was terrified! Now she's a very healthy 14 year old who hardly ever gets sick! Hang in there-this too shall pass!
*K.*

I have a 10 Month old, and when she was 7 months I took her in to the Doctor, because she was coughing so much that she would throw up. The Doctor told me she had the same thing. They gave is a machine to give her breathing treatments. I tried cough med. and it didn't work. The breathing treatments was the only thing that worked for us. I am not sure if your doctor gave you the same things or not; or if she is to young for the treatments. I hope things get better for you. I live in Troy, MO I don't know if you are close to me or not. If you have any other questions feel free to email me back.

At night use a humidifier on the room. Before you suction her nose put drops in it. There is some made just for babies. It is called little noses. You just put a few drops in there and wait a little bit and then start sucking. It will help to losen the mucus. You can also get a vapor plug that will help control her coughing at night. If she is in a bassinet you can put a few blankets under the matress to elevat her head. I am a nurse so let me inphasize the importance of completing the antibiotics. It will ensure the bacteria is completely gone and decress the chances of it coming back more powerful. Try to get her to drink water in between feedings to help thin her secretion and she will be able to cough them up easier. Patting her back is also good to break it up, be careful not to do it over her spine,(for precaution) just pat on either side.

I had a baby with bronchiolitis. His also started at about 2 months. He had a constant cough and worse at night until he was about 2 years old. We had to take him to the doctor every 2 weeks for nebulizer treatments. Those do help out a lot but for some reason they would not prescribe one for him to do these at home. There are several suggestions that people have left on here but they were saying bronchitis. bronchiolitis is not the same as bronchitis. It is similar to asthma but they won't diagnose asthma for babies that young as most will grow out of it as they get a little older. I was told not to use vapor rubs or any hot vaporizers as it will settle into their lungs more using those and no suppressant cough syrups as that will suppress the junk into their lungs. They need to be coughing so the stuff loosens up.
My son had this and eventually as he got older was diagnosed with asthma as he did not grow out of it until we moved to a better climate that worked better for him. He was usually worse in the fall and spring seasons of the year. He eventually got a nebulizer when he got older. Hopefully your source of heat is not burning wood. When he was 4 years old we only had a wood-burning stove for heat and he got really bad so we had to use electric heaters and quit burning wood and don't have your baby around people that smoke, that will aggrevate it a lot too.

Running the shower and having your baby in a steamy bathroom does help. Also rubbing their back. Lay the baby on your lap and rub from their lower back up to their shoulders seemed to help loosen up the chest congestion.

Hope this helps.

hi, my friends son is three months and just went to the doctor and has broncitis?????spelling....the doctor put him on a breathing machine...it worked great..lungs are clear and no worries..and yes be careful..my friends doctor said it was serious because he is so little and can't get it out like a normal adult...thats why he was on a breathing treatment..ask your doctor...it only took a week...hope she feels better

Melonda-
My daughter has the same thing and it comes back over and over again. Prop up the head of her bed (to help her head drain while she trys to sleep) and also during the day take her in the shower with you when you and your husband get ready (the steam will also help break up the "yuckies". Suck out her nose every chance that you get. There is also a vicks vapor rub out there just for babies (ask your dr first because she is so young) and I put that on her chest to help clear her nose at night. It takes a long time for the cough to go away (we are probably on week three by now...).
Hope this helps
T.

Hi M.!

First of all hugs to you and your husband. It is a very stressful and worrisome situation because you want your baby to be well! My daughter was diagnosed with bronchiolitis around 5 mos. old. She had been on a nebulizer since 2 mos. Has your doctor recommended that? These breathing treatments have really helped her more than any other meds, etc.

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Patti

Hi, M.,
I'm very bronchial myself and what works for me is steam, get one of those new plug ins that are menthol and plug it near the bed and close the door. I think it's by vicks. Plus, I use a nasal spray at night. Blow or clean her nose out good before you use it. They have some ocean spray especially for children

I know how you feel! my daughter got bronchiolis when she was just 3 months old. we felt helpless. what we did was use the blue nose suction that they sent home with us from the hospital. we figured we would just keep suctioning the mucus out before it had a chance to even get into her lungs. she hated the process! she would cry and cry, but we had no choice. so don't expect this to be a pleasant experience. we started using a vaporizer in her bedroom. we also put a pillow under her mattress to help raise her head. she would cough so bad she would throw up a bit. it was sad, but we made it through it and so will you. best of luck.

M. my daughter rhiannon has just gotten over this samething. 1. did your dr say if you can give her anything for the cough ? and also when you hear her nose with stuff in it then put the saline in but sit her up so it goes in as a mist then sucktion her nose out and when you do plug the other side of her nose, she will be extremely mad but when you do you will get more out. the other thing we did was change our furnace filter and anything that can get a germ on it we washed, like blankets, the swing and covers and things like that, also we used pinesol to wipe down things like th swing itself it seemed to get all the yuckies out and we all breathed a little better, i caused her nose to run which made it even easier to get the nasty stuff out. i hope this will help you message me again if any questions W.

Hang in there, that is really tough! My best suggestion is Vicks Vapor Rub, or any kind of menthalatum, rub it on her chest to open her airways. There is also a soothing bath that has the same stuff in it. The smell is awful but it sure does help!

aaawww poor thing, its sad when the little ones get sick, you just want to kiss it and make it all go away, but we know that dont work. If you got that syringe the hospital uses to suction out the babys mouth and nose, you can use that, its what I used when my son has a stuffy nose, he doesnt like when I do it, but need to get the yuckys out. It was easier when he was younger.

Hope that helps

G.

My son got croup alot when he was a baby, and even though it's not the same thing, you might be able to help her breath better in cold air. We would be outside at midnight in February with him all wrapped up nothing showing but his nose and mouth. The dr said we might have the same effect holding him in front of the freezer, but is was no good to us. I agree with Gale on the bulb suringe (sp?). And it's kind of yucky, but even if she is swollowing it back down at least it's going to her tummy and not back into her chest. Gross I know.

Good luck, hope she gets to feeling better.

Hi M.,

Have a suggestion that may help you and may not but i was told to do with my daughter and she lived through it.
1. to help at night (where most of the problems are) I was advised to elevate the bed so we got common household bricks and put them under the feet of one end of the bed so she was still low enough in the crib she could not fall out. she customairly woke at the bottom of the bed but we started her at the top elevated
2. the vapor mist plugs are a great way to do the same things as the vicks vapor rub i had to do 15 years ago found out she was allergic to the rub itself so we did the awful rule according to pediatricians and bought a hot mist vaporizer and poured the vicks liquid into the top of the vaporizor as directed it did great and now the same is achieved by the vapor plugs and no dangers of burns
3. our pediatrician at the time (in California) truly believed in total climate change when baby was coughing if it was cold use a steamy shower if it was hot walk out into the cold only long enough to regain her breath it worked wonders 15 years later i do not know the recomandations but that is what was told then and well she lived through it and her cough healed faster and the climate change helped us rest too.
4. the good ole momma loving
5. persistance and good luck let us know

my 5 month old just got out of the hospital on wednesday for rsv and her coughing was so bad that she would turn purple and i couldnt get the nasty stuff out of her mouth or nose before she swallowed it either, so i took her to the childrens hospital at st. francis and they gave me a suction machine to help with the suction. it is so much easier that way. having it has been so much easier. it is a rental machine so you can keep it for as long as needed and then bring it back to the place where it is rented from. im not sure if you have to have a doctor rent it for you or if you can just call and rent one yourself, if you want i can give you the number for the place.

When my two younger boys got this at the same age we were told the same thing you were told to do. We took it a few steps further.

*one of us slept in a recliner with the baby on our chest each night to keep him upright.
*We applied the Vicks Baby Rub to ourselves so that they could get the results without having it on their skin.
*suction and back tapping was always done with their heads lower than their lungs.
*When one of us was going to shower the other would sit on the toilet with the baby to get the good vapors and then we would step out on the front porch too calm moisture induced coughing.
*we started using new filters in the central heat/ac every month
*the cute cloth decorations, dolls and stuffed animals went to storage for the next 2 months
*we cleaned all the pillows and bedding even decorative throw pillows to eliminated dust mites and their reactive airway causing excrement.
*the baby was not home when we used the vacuum cleaner for the next 2 months.

It takes a lot of effort but the care you take today will help eliminate the case worsening.

I know it sounds horrible, but take the blue syringe they gave you in the hospital and suck it out that way. My daughter is 2 and they just had me do it to her. It sounds horrible to do but that's the only thing that's going to relieve her so it's worth it.

My daughter had that at 5months she is now 6 months. Syring her nose. And when she coughs my peditrician also recommended turning her over and patting her on the back so that way she could get it up. He told us this was good because she has Down syndrome and that would help with getting it up and out because she has poor muscle control. Since your baby is younger you might want to try that when she coughs. My daughter also swollowed alot and this made her diapers more mucussy so if that happens don't be alarmed. We also got an neubulizer from our doctor for breathing treatments. If she really starts to wheeze really bad I would definately take her in and see about putting her on one. It helped within a day I could tell a difference! This stuff is going around really bad this year! Good Luck!!!

Hi M.-

I am a pediatric chiropractor in Kansas, and a "survivor" of bronchiolitis at 4 months old. I wish my parents had known then what we know now...

Of course, it is not a "magic bullet" or a replacement for your medical care, but I highly recommend looking into chiropractic care for your baby. In many cases, it can be helpful in speeding recovery. I recently had a 3 1/2 week old with RSV who was taken off oxygen and her respiratory treatments stopped after only one adjustment. Prior to her adjustment, the doctors were estimating her hospital stay at 7 days; after her adjustment, they changed it to 3 days. For more information, and to find a doctor in your area who specializes in working with infants, visit www.icpa4kids.org.

I would also recommend looking into naturopathy/homeopathy to support your baby's immune and respiratory systems once you get through this to prevent recurrence. Like I said, I had bronchiolitis at 4 months old... my family did not know about "alternative care" and I had recurrent respiratory problems for the next 20 years until I began seeing a chiropractor and using supplements to boost my immune system. In the last 7 years, I've had 3 "flare-ups".

Good luck to you, and good health to your family.

Yours in health-
Dr. Alyssa