My 7 Month Old Is Sick! NEED to VENT!

Hi S.,
Have you tried letting him sleep in his car seat? My son got a cold when he was a newborn and he slept much better in his car seat because his head was elevated which opened his breathing passages better. Just strap him into it at night and let him sleep as long as he will there. It may not be a full solution but maybe it will help! --A.

this probably isnt much help, but did you talk to your doctor about the possibility of your child having rsv. It would make your child sicker than just a cold and the doctor may need to give him something.

I would try a new doctor. There's got to be something that you can do. Three and a half weeeks is way to long.

Trust me...it's good to vent about things. It makes you feel so much better in the end. :-) Anyways, unfortunately I have been in your situation and it kind of sucks. Especially after being used to sleeping through the night FINALLY and then, now, you are back to square one it seems. When my daughter was stuffy, I would use the vaporizer (put steaming hot water in it to start and then add Vicks to the water). I asked the pharmacist if it was ok for her to use Vicks (she's under two) and they said there was no problem with using it in a vaporizer. Then, in order for her to breathe "semi-normally" I had to lay with her in bed with my arm stretched out so she can prop her head up on my arm. This way...you both got to sleep. Even though it may not be comfortable after awhile...I'd rather get at least a little sleep here and there and forget about being comfortable...plus, your baby will feel better much quicker with the rest. We only let her sleep with us when she is sick..otherwise it's in her big girl bed. Well, I hope this may help you out a bit and don't worry...it won't last forever. :-) Good Luck and Happy Holidays!

Hi S., my name is A., I am the mother of 5 and grandmother of 2, and coincidentally my oldest granddaughter is 7 months old. She too has a cold, we have been putting vicks on her chest and the bottom of her feet, also I would suggest you try steaming up the bathroom and standing in there with him. When you take him out make sure you cover him up well when you take him out of the steaming bathroom. Also take a small amount of vicks inside his nose. I hope this helps..also just keep him inside as much as possible and warm. Elevating his head is also good advice.

I hope this all helps, I know it is frustrating because you can't really give him anything to clear up the congestion.

Good Luck.

Hi S.,
I know how you feel. I have 4 children and this has happened a few times to our family. The best option that has worked for us is to turn on VERY hot water in the bathroom in the shower or bathtub, shut the door, place a rolled towel at the base of the door, bring a good book to read, and sit with the baby in the bathroom (I would bring the baby in in their infant car seat while they were sleeping, an activity seat would work too) and catch up on some reading while the steam from the bathroom helps open everything up in your baby. This works a lot better than a vaporizer. I would do this for up to 4 times a day. I only had to do it for a few days when my son was really bad (the sooner you do it the less time you have to spend in the bathroom). It's going to be really boring so just take a deep breath and tell yourself you're getting a steam facial while making your son feel better. A week without sleep feels like an eternity but you and your husband will laugh about all of your trials and errors in the future.

A little about me:
I'm 31 a SAHM, own my own spa business, have 4 children 8, 5, 3, and 16 months, and I've been married to my Awesome husband for 12 1/2 years.

Vicks makes a warm mist vaporizer that you can put their VapoSteam liquid in. It is a semi-natural way to help open up the nasal passages, and it helps with coughing. We used it the last time my son had his cold and it worked like a charm! I know CVS carries the vaporizer and the liquid and they were actually pretty cheap.

I'm not sure if placing him in the car seat to sleep all night would be safe. The incline would be good but he may become too overheated. Try the saline drops, it helps clear some of the mucous, and try the vapor rub. A dab on the chest, and a dab on his feet.

Good luck.

Did you try the Vicks Baby Rub??? It isnt a miracle but it helps a little. Plus, try sleeping him in the carseat.... the incline will help him breathe

If the appointment was 3 and 1/2 weeks ago and he still has mucus running out of his nose, breathing is difficult and not sleeping, take him back to the doctor. We ran into a similar situation where our first pediatrician did not believe something was wrong at 3 weeks. He sounded like a 15 yr smoker. Needless to say we returned a few days later, got his partner and our son was diagnosed with asthma-like symptoms. He was put on breathing treatments plus a maintenance inhaler. Be persistent. No one knows your child like you do.

Try elevating his head when he is sleeping. Put him in his swing, car carrier or bouncy seat. All that mucus maybe causing a headache and the pressure on his ears may be too much for him.

I have 3 children (youngest is 3 months) and all have had breathing/mucus problems and the older two were ear infection gods. I actually asked my pediatrician to give tubs to my baby so we did not have to go through the ear infection year. Of course he declined with a chuckle. Good luck and let me know how he makes out.

S., I am sorry it is so stressful right now. I don't know that any hints I have will help, but I feel bad for you and know how hard it is to help babies who are sick, and how hard it can be when it goes on for weeks and weeks. Since he isn't getting any better, give the doctor a call. And, try and see if you can arrange his bedding so that he is sleeping elevated a bit. (This can be hard especially if he rolls around a lot in his crib.) Keep up the humidifier and flushing out his nose. Nasal saline really helps my little guy when he has a horrid cold.

Ask for help from a friend for you to have some self-care time, too. Even if you just go to the post office or go get a coffee. (The best would be if someone could watch your kids while YOU get a nap.)

Girl, yes, give that boy some infant tylenol drops! I gave it to my son at that age when he had a cold, and it did help hime with his discomfort, and he was able to sleep, and so was I! I also did the saline nose spray (make sure it's the saline though, just salt and water) and that does actually help wih a stuffy nose. The infant tylenol will be fine, that's why it says INFANT! I don't want to say don't listen to the doctor, but there comes a time when you must use your instinct, and this is the time.
SO go right out and pick it up....my son loved the cherry flavor!

I feel your pain. My son has had a cold for a couple weeks now too. His nose is like a faucet and he's been coughing at night too. It is rough. The lack of sleep is a pain. What we've done is run his vaporizer at night with the mela oil and solumel in it and i've also given him a cold med when his coughing gets too bad. He's 2 though so our situation is a little different. I have used the baby vapor rub.

I agree with the advice to get him to sleep with his head elevated. I also would check back with the pediatrician about the length of the infection, a severe cold that lasts longer than 3 weeks is something to look into. If it's still a virus, nothing else can be done, but it can't hurt to check.

As for the FDA and the medications, how parents used it in the past is less the issue and more the issue that the drug companies never tested these drugs in children under two years of age and there have been infants who were given the medications as directed and died from the side effects of those medications. They just are not safe to use in infants. I'm grateful that our FDA is a strict as it is, other countries that do not have a watchdog as diligent as ours have a higher death rate from medications across the board.

I feel your pain on the sleep deprivation, my son had undiagnosed chronic ear infections and I lost lots of sleep until I changed pediatricians. Then life was more normal. I was lucky, my son never got virus based infections, only bacterial ones. Definitely try the sleep sitting up routine, I do it now myself.

S.,

It is incredibly frustrating to not be able to do anything with them when they are this sick. I have two (1 and 2 y/o) and they are in day care, so they bring home every cold and virus then pass it between each other. I agree with the mothers that have said that you need to go back to the MD, since it has been going on for so long. It may have turned into something else at this point, so get it checked out. When my girls were little enough to sleep in a car seat, and they had wicked colds that would block their airways when they slept, I put them in the carrier to sleep. Just make sure that she is strapped in TIGHT (just like in the car), so she doesn't slip down and hurt herself. The extra bene of this method is that it can be next to you, you can rest and rock her when she gets restless, then go back to sleep yourself. For a few weeks last year, this was the only way anyone slept in my house. Use the other tricks to try to clear her up, too.

Good luck, and keep on trucking. Its fun to try to teach them to blow their noses :o)

S.