Newborn with a Bad Cough

A.,

I have a 3 month old with the same problem. I took him to the dr & had him tested for RSV which he had. They almost admitted him to the hospital but sent me home with a nebulator instead. If your doc hasn't tested her for it you should. Also, ask them for a nebulator because it helps with breathing.

this is very serious if she has it. a small baby could stop breathing. If your dr isn't giving you attention, find another or take her to the hospital. Don't take this lightly.

good luck.

1 mom found this helpful

I would get a second opinion. There are several things she could have including RSV - not to scare you, but you want to make sure that it really is just a sinus cold and not something more serious. You should also make sure that she has a humidifier (unless your home has TOO much humidity - then you need a de-humidifier). My son is going through the same thing right now. He has a cold with a lot of "snot" and it has drained so much that it gave him an ear infection and an awful cough that causes him to throw up. I hope she feels better soon.

My son was born 5 weeks early with undeveloped lungs. Well all in all he started the same thing with wheezing. I was taking him to the doctor almost every week. They put him on a nebulizer machine to treate the wheezing. My chiropractor told me that I should switch him to soy milk to help with the congestion.
You might talk to your doctor about switching her to soy milk and the possiblity of "asthma" or an allergy to something. My son now goes to an Asthma and Allergy specialist.
Hope this helps. I know its rough when yu can't do anything.

Hi A.,
When my daughter was 9 weeks old and had the same symptoms..the doctor told me it was nothing to worry about ..But then she discontinued eating and drinking so I took her back 3 times and finally they've tested her for RSV and it came out positive so she ended up taking Xopenex
(it's a steroid of some sort & it clears her lungs ) in her nebulizer ..Now she is 18 months old and every tine she gets a cold I have to put her back on the nebulizer Good Luck
R. K

I went through a similar situation with my son last year. (He turned 1 in Nov) It seemed like the only thing that really helped him was running a humidifier near him while he slept and attempting to keep his sleeping surface angled somewhat. Poor baby. :(

Try and elevate her bed a little. Put a pillow under her mattress under the side where her head lays. This will help her sleep at night and help the mucus not settle in her throat and not throw up. If she is in a bassinet, you can try the same thing but less elevated with just a folded blanket or something less thick. It might help. Also, getting some Vicks baby vapor rub. I always found mine at Wal-mart. They make it less intense for little ones. If you don't want to put that on her, try and get the Vicks vabor things that go in the room and put the vapors in the air for her to breath in and help her breath a little better. Hope this helps a little.

A.,

It has been my experience that one doctor's opinion is not always enough. I would recommend that of course you try infant "cold" medicine to help decrease the secretions, I would raise the head of her crib mattress with towels underneath it so she can sleep with her head elevated or let her sleep in her car seat, use a humidifier....but if it continues take her to another doctor even if you have to drive out of your way. If she gets too congested her little tiny airway can easily become obstructed so even if you don't want to give her "meds" you should consider a little over the counter cold medicine is better than what they will put her on if this little cold gets out of hand.
good luck!
C.

Congratulations on your new one! That is really young to get sick, poor thing! I have been doing the nasal drops on my boy since he was 2 months old and it just doesn't work very well! The number one thing for us was sleeping him in his infant car seat. We would put it in his crib and put a soft blanket under him. He couldn't sleep unless we did this! A steam room with shower soothers works great while using good old suction. Rubbing baby vics (has to be the babby kind) on his clothes if you don't want to actually put it on him works great too. We are HUGE fams of the plug in vaporizors from sudacare, but pediacare has some too. I just don't remember what the min age on those are. Good luck and I hope he feels better soon!
Oh yeah, when he was that young, the only way I got any sleep was to sleep in the room with him (we had a bed in there). That way I knew I woudl hear him if he needed any help!

Have her sleep in the carseat so she's upright. She'll sleep better.

Hi im a mom of 5 and when all mine were little like that and had hard time breathing i always elevated the crib mattress to raise them up a little to be able to breath easier. Just like us when we have a head cold when laying down we stuff up but if we are sitting up a little it clears some. It always helped my little sleep better. Just put a few rolled up blankets under the matress to raise it temporary or use a pillow under it. HTH

I would try going into the bathroom and turning your shower full blast on hot sit in there with the door closed. You will sweat to death but it will loosen up the congestion and help her breath. i have done this afew times with my son it works. Sounds like croup, does her cough sound like a bark? if so, its croup. check with her M.D first but I would try the steam. I personally love the sudacare plug ins for kids too.

Let her sleep in her car seat or somewhere where her chest will be raised. My doctor told me to do that when my son had a bad sinus infection and was throwing up. It helped alot. My son will not sleep on his back just his stomach, even though they teach us not to put babies on their stomachs. The doctor told us that that would also help him breath better and sleep better. Try a warm humidifier about 10 feet from where the baby sleeps. It will help open up her lungs and breath better. You have to be careful where you put it and keep a towel under it because it will perspire and dampen its surroundings. I wish you the best of luck.

hello I too am going threw the same thing my son was born 11/16/2006 and was 2 weeks early he weighed 4lb 8.3oz and my 3 year old came home sick from daycare she had a viral infection and my son ended up with what they call RSV respitory virus the doctor informed me to saline and suction and to keep an eye on him I found that elevation while they sleep works well with there sleeping.My son is getting better hope your little one starts to get better too

I have used natural homeopathic remedies with great success in treating my children's cold symptoms. This is the one I use for my baby: http://www.hylands.com/products/cplus.php You can get it at a health food store.

Another thing to consider is your baby may be sensitive to dairy. Cow's milk (either formula or what you drink if breastfeeding) could cause increased mucous production.

cool mist humidifier will help with the nose congestion and in case she has a sore throat it will help too!!! that is what I did for my baby boy and still do it (he is now 13 months old) Hope this helps

I know most doctors will tell you at this age they don't have allergies but my daughter had a lot of throat congestion at that age as well and it lasted for awhile. Once we got rid of our cats and moved she was a lot better. During the move I brought her in the house to for a little while so I could do some cleaning and I noticed the difference right away she was so stuffed up. My doctor kept telling me she was too young but it helped her so I would look at possible things your baby might be allergic too. As for the saline drops they never helped my daughter at all, she had to have a machine that sprayed medicine into her nose when she was a little older like 4-5mths. Good luck and congratulations!

Have you tried a cool mist vaporizer? Keepoing her upright all the time should make it easier for her to breathe as well.

All good advice. You may also want to try a cool mist humdifier in her room. Cool not warm. I have 5 month old baby girl and she had the same thing a month ago. She threw up as well. The doctor told me she would and sure enough right on cue he threw up :). However, yours is still so tiny, I would probably have her checked out again. There is probably not much you can do about it. It's a nasty cough going around. One more thing. My husband and I have had the flu the past two weeks and it is nasty. It being the holiday season, I would be very careful about passing her around at parties. Your family should get the flu shot. She is too young, but be careful about passing her around to people. We went to a party and were fine, two days later we were really sick. You never know.

A.,
We had the same problem when my son was too little for even over the counter things. Even the baby vicks vapor rub say 2 months or older. We have a cool mist humidifyer that was a life saver. Adding heat and mist can be dangerous, so they make cool mist. Vicks is the brand we bought and we like it because you can set the humidity and how hard the fan works. The only thing is it makes the room slightly cooler so you will want to make sure she is comfortable.
Does she have a swing that she can nap in? Sometimes being elevated that way lets them drain better and sleep better.

Try placing a vaporizer in the room. I have an 11 yo daughter who had child hood asthma. This helped us alot.

saline is what the doc told me too. i also got a humidifier to help with the stuffy-ness. That helped a lot. There really isn't much to do.

M. C.

I suggest you bring your baby into a closed bathroom a few times a day to let the steam keep her congestion loose. Also, like others have said sleep upright with her, either in a recliner or built up with pillows. Pat her on the back as if you are burping her several times a day.

Good luck!!

My two sons who had a thing when they coughed, mostly at night it turns out they were allergic reaction to something in there room. Doctor said it could of been mold. I know they are older so that helped but just check the humidity in the house.If it get really serouis take to a diffrent doctor and get a second opinion

Dear A.,
Sorry to hear your little one is sick. My suggestions would be a cool mist humidifier, Baby Vicks, homeopathic medicines (Hylands makes a whole children's line and they are safe, just follow the dirctions on the bottle. You can get them at a healthfood store). I also love the Sudacare Vapor plugs and I think Triaminic makes one too. You may also consider getting an air purifier/ HEPA filter. It could be allergies too. Good luck and try not to worry too much. K.

This happened with my daughter when she was a newbie. Just keep her suctioned out as much as possible and sleep upright with her to allow for draining. We slept on the recliner for 2 weeks with her. Luckily these things usually only stick around that long. Did they tell you if you should use a vaporizer or anything like that? I was in Chicago and would run a hot shower to help bring on some relief occasionally too. Good luck and just keep an eye out for any changes.

K.

OUR SON WAS THE SAME WAY. THEY SAY THEY'RE JUST GETTING THE REST OF THE FLUID OUT OF THE SYSTEM. IF YOU HAVE A BOPPY OR A WEDGE PLACE IT UNDER THE BABY WHILE SHE SLEEPS. TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH THE COUGH WILL GO AWAY ITS JUST ROUGH.

Have you tried sitting with her in the bathroom while the hot water is running in the shower? They also make vicks vapor rub for infants now~ that stuff works wonders. I hope she is feeling better soon.