Medicine

Nope, not since they pulled all the cold meds off the shelf for little guys.

Tylenol & Motrin for fever & aches. Humidifier/vaporizer to help with breathing & congestion. Saline drops in the nose also helps to break up congestion. Lots of fluids, lots of rest. It will run it's course in a few days... hopefully the worst is over. My doctor says "3 days coming, 3 days here, and 3 days gone" for colds.

I hope he feels better soon and no one else gets it!

Hi J.,

Please discuss with your doctor that your child has may allergies. My daughter has them every spring and fall and we are able to alleviate her symptoms with doctor prescibed or suggested OTC medication.

Take Care,
M.

Hi J.,

When my kids feel sick or uncomfortable in any way, I try the basic, humidifier, plug in devices that helps the kids to breath better and sleep, saline drops,water or natural juices, soups, etc. Colds take time and rest, usually 3 to 4 days However, when any of this does not work, and I see that symptoms last more than that, I just call to the doctor's office and they would suggest something else by phone or ask me to get over there to see what is really happening if the first did not work. I think is the safest and fastest thing to do to relieve my kids and worries.
Take care, and talk to the nurse.

A.

Something that works for my kids...

I warm about 1 cup of water on the stove and dissolve a cough drop in the water. When it is completely dissolved, I let the water cool a bit and just put it in a sippy cup. As they drink, they get the benefits of the cough drop without me worrying that they'll choke.

At night, humidifier, Vicks on his feet or his chest (just make sure he can't reach in and accidentally eat any of it), and raise the head of his bed.

Good luck!

Tylenol and Motrin are for pain/fever, not a decongestant or cough suppressant. They're not going to help with his runny nose or cough.

You might talk with your Dr., see if they can give you a dosing chart based on weight for children's sudafed. Ours did, but that was 3 years ago. Whenever possible, we try to dose by weight, not by age.

The reason they say children under 4 years shouldn't have Sudafed anymore is because there were too many parents over-dosing their children! The harmful side effects were in cases where the children were given too much, or given doses too often. Appropriate medication when you're sick allows you to rest and your body to heal faster. But it's for you to decide what's appropriate for your son.

The only thing that works for our son is real pseudoephedrine. When he was little, we gave him a half-dose at bed time*. He's 3-1/2 (and 34#) and we give him a full 1 t dose.

Here are the other things we'd do to make him comfy:

-Cool mist humidifier (our son loves his froggy, bought at Target for $40)
-Baby vic's on soles of feet with socks on, and on chest/neck if he'll put up with it.
-Warm bath before bed
-Folded blanket under the matress to elevate his head.
-Saline nasal spray. He won't like it, but it breaks up the mucous so it can drain! There are also Little Noses brand decongestant drops - at Target. You can't combine with another decongestant though.
-Slightly warmed veggie or chicken broth in a sippy cup
-Lots of popsicles - when he's sick is the only time he gets as many popsicles (and tv shows) as he can handle!!

(*We limited dosing to bed time when he was little. If his sinuses drained while he slept, it developed into a cough and then bronchitis - then we had to have a prescrip and use a nebulizer to break up all the gunk in his lungs! Better to just appropriately and responsibly dose preventatively than have to go thru all that later!)

Hope he's feeling better soon - so you can both have a good night's sleep!

T.

The thing that I've found to help my son sleep well in these cases is the plug in vaporizer thing that puts out the vapor smell (like vics vapor rub). Also, I'll rub the children's vics on his feet and put socks on. It does seem to help.

The best thing you can do is treat the symptoms, a cold just basically has to run its' course. Tylenol or Motrin for the aches and pains, maybe a little honey and lemon for the coughing, humidifier in his room, mentholatum on his chest to help with the congestion. And lots of fluids and rest. As our pharmacist likes to say...an untreated cold should last about a week but if you treat it....then it will only be 7 days!!! lol

my doctor told me 1/2 a teaspoon of benadryl. also what helps is the vapor bath it has euqulyptus in it and helps clear up the congestion. I mixed the vapor bath and the lavendar bubbles together so it worked great calmed my girl way down and cleared her right up.

This is going to sound nuts, but put vapor rub on the soles of his feet then put socks on him at bed time. I don't know why it works, but it works with my kids to calm the cough so they can sleep. I even tried it on myself and it helped.
This is something I read in a magazine and I figured it couldn't hurt. Couldn't believe it actually helped.
Just make sure to use the baby kind if he's got sensitive skin.

Since they said that children under 4 shouldnt have cough and cold meds, you really cant give him anything. which really sucks! They say it could actually harm him more in the long run.

My son is ALWAYS sick! Get a cool mist humidifier, you can do the Tylenol, Motrin. If he doesnt have any respitory issues or asthma you can buy Johnson & Johnsons Vapor Bath (ASK YOUR DR)Or Baby Rub could help him clear it up. also Bendryl but with that too they ask that aks a Dr. Because they also changed the age on that to over 4.

Good Luck! :) and Hope your little guy gets better!

Tylenol Cough & Runny Nose worked great for us. At that age, I started with 2.5 ml. I have also used Benedryl to dry up my daughter's nose, which helps with the cough (same 2.5 ml dose). Added bonus - it causes drowsiness so she was always able to get some sleep.

I know it sounds weird, but a thick coat of Vick's on the bottom of my daughters feet, and cover with a pair of socks also helped the coughing at night when she was trying to sleep. It always works better on her feet than on her chest.

Another thing we have used are the plug in Vick's vaporizer. Fills the room with the vicks scent and always seemed to help congestion.

I also have to admit that my daughter's pediatrician told us not to do any of this stuff when my daughter was sick. He always tells us that it just has to run it's course. But one of the other doctor's in the office said they were ok to use (and gave us the dose that was OK for my daughter). Of course, it's hard to feel better when you're so sick you can't even sleep. So, in my opinion, sometime's Mommy knows best. Good luck and I hope everyone gets some rest and feels better soon!

when in doubt, call the doctor.

My grandson's pediatrician allows children's benadryl.

Ask your doc for sure! Sometimes they have little remedies that work :) Mine had us give 1/2 tsp benadryl mixed with 1/2 tsp Mylanta. The benadryl helped get the baby to sleep, the Mylanta soothes their throat and helps hold back a cough for a while. Good luck!!

Ask you doctor, but mine told me Benadryl and the amount depends on his weight. Hope he gets better.
Steph