My daughter finished up what I was hoping would be her last cold of the season about a week ago. My husband picked her up from the sitter yesterday and her nose was a little faucet. Another cold!
Anyone else still facing back to back colds? Will we ever get a break?
We are desperate for doing what we can to prevent more illnesses in our house. What advice do you have aside from quarantine and extreme cleanliness?
Thanks for the help!
J.
Thanks everyone for the great advice! Fortunately, whatever it was this time, it resolved within 36 hours. Makes me think that a lot of what people suggested (allergies) might be true. I don't suffer from seasonal allergies, but my husband gets them pretty bad. However, he isn't suffering now like he was earlier in the year. It could also be molars. She has one in and at least two of the other three are about to erupt (you can see the white spots top and bottom where the teeth are pushing through the gums).
We are going to see a naturapath in a couple of weeks and I'm curious to see what she says. I'll definitely try the vitamins suggestion -- I figure it can't hurt.
Thanks everyone! Happy Father's day!
I know you have a lot of replies, but just thought I would chime in. My family is just now getting over some 'junk' that we have all had for a few weeks. Cold like symptoms, chest congestion, headaches, slight runny nose, cough in the morning and evening. Called the ped and I guess there is a lot of this lingering cold stuff going around. Hopefully, this will be it til next fall! I am tired of wiping runny noses. ;)
Not much advice here either. Just you are not alone, we just got over a throw up festival this past week, each of my boys had it for a day. Nothing too major, but frustrating because it's June! And like you said, when are we gonna be well again? Anyway, I was told by my doctors to clean my toys every day. Good luck to you on that! ;) And I also like to use the hand sanitizer. I know there have been some contradictory articles on it, but as long as it is at least 62% alcohol it does work. My son was in the NICU for 3 weeks, and they use it there, so it must be effective. Good luck.
J.-
My daughter is 19 months and it seems that every time we get her over one cold, another pops up a week or so later to take its place. I don't have any advice, but hang in there. These constant colds are helping build her immune system. I know it can be very tiring, but I promise that you and your little one will get thru this.
Oh, with the weather improving, time outside in the fresh air will help ease the cold symptoms. Plenty of playtime in the open will help get her over the colds faster. I still haven't found anything to really prevent the back-to-back cold thing (I have 3 - 5yrs, 3yrs, 1&1/2yrs).
Good luck to you!
-B. M.-
I was working full time when my 12 year old was a baby, up until he was 2 1/2 years old. He was at a Day Care. I felt like I was taking him in to the pediatricians office alot. He would get sinus infections, ear infections (from the sinus infections), coughs, stomach flu, I felt like it never ended. IF you live near the Seattle area, we are experiancing the coldest spring we have had since 1917. So cold and flu season I think are extended because of our unusual cold weather. When summer came, I would get a little break from the cold season. When it starts to warm up, we (and our kids) don't get as sick. However, having your kids at the sitters, with a bunch of other kids, who have colds-your daughter will get sick. When I quit my job, and my son wasn't going to day care any more, he rarely got sick. Day Care kids I feel don't have a chance of not being sick. Parents have to go to work, and unless thier kids are running a fever or vomiting, they take thier kids to Day Care exposing all the other kids. It's a vicous cycle, that I always felt, I was never going to get out of.
You could try giving her Childrens vitamins and multi vitamins (from a GNC or health food store), don't give her Flintstones-they don't work.
Good Luck.
You might try giving her half or a fourth of a tablet of Airborne every morning, if you think it's a cold. Also, you could try the Zicam swabs. One swab has a lot of medicine in it, so if you open it you could use the same one (on her only - no sharing) several times a day on her. Just some ideas; I do it with my kids when I think they might be getting sick, or they might be exposed to sick people. It could be allergies as some have suggested.
Do you or your husband have allergies? My 15 month old has been having what I thought were colds pretty often. When I talked to the pediatrician about it at our last appointment, she figured that it was sometimes seasonal allergies (especially recently) and not colds. Just thought I'd pass along that information.
Hi J., Maybe it's just teething. Does your daughter have her molars yet? If the mucus coming from her nose is clear, then it's teething. If it's green, then she's sick. That's the general rule of thumb according to my pediatrician.
yeah - we are all recovering from a green sniffles experience this past week..... grrrr....
Hi J.,
Have you ever seen a naturopath physician, a chiropractor, or a wellness coach? It is amazing what any of those (preferrably a combination of them!) can do for immunity. I had so much energy during my pregnancy and haven't been sick for over a year, which was quite an improvement for me! My chiropractor is always talking about the children he sees that have ear infections colds, etc. and often the medicine only treats the symptoms but almost never the root cause. Look for a Gonstead chiropractor in your area, those are the most holistic. I know all of this may sound strange, and I never thought I'd be saying things like this just a year ago. But I have learned so much over the last year! I was able to get over mastitis just recently with only natural methods and avoided taking antibiotics with a 5-week-old I'm breastfeeding. I hope you are able to get some information from some of these professionals where you live! You can also go to http://www.naturopathic.org/ and http://www.interurbanchiropractic.com/ (check out "Wellness Approach")
S. Whitney
____@____.com
I am sorry I have no advice for you. All I can say is I am sharing in your misery!! You are not alone. Our house has been sick with the same thing since January as well!! Hang in there, summer SHOULD be here soon!!! Take care!!
You may want to have her checked for allergies.
It seems that my 27 month old daughter's nose has run non stop since she was 6 months old. We even thought it might be allergies. But, she was out of daycare for 6 weeks (in the winter) and her nose magically dried up. So, now we know its the daycare germs and we are back to runny nose after runny nose. We even buy the expensive lotion tissues as we are nose wiping all of the time. I am hoping this will gear her up for excellent school attendance in the future. S.
In additional to the other wonderful ideas/suggestions I need to advocate hand washing. It's vital to stop the spread of contact germs. Make sure the sitter is using good hand washing techniques as well. Even if it turns out to be allergies there are still germs in the drainage. Good luck.
Have you considered the possiblity of seasonal allergies? My 2 year old take Claritin every day. You might want to talk to your doctor about this. Good Luck!
Coming from a bleach freak( there are some seriously deadly germs in the world now days) I would look at the sitters home- does she clean and sanatize the toys? door handles, walls, etc.... Does you child nap there? Is her bedding clean? Does the sitter allow sick children in her home? Do they run around dripping?
On another note, have you had your child tested for allergies? They can sometimes look like a cold.
Hang in there J.! It's not that it's a bad cold season, it's that your daughter's immune system is slowly building - and if she's in daycare at all it's just terrible! The good news is that it gets better and she won't miss a day of school by the time kindergarten rolls around. Just keep washing those hands and you'll make it.
What we thought was a run of colds turned out to be allergies in our household. Same symptons and it would even turn into an ear infection. Now my kids (& us) take Claritan each day and we are no longer sick all the time.
Have you eliminated all dairy products (preferably for your whole family)? They are the cause of many colds and allergies. Contrary to dairy industry propaganda, humans do not need cow's milk, in fact it is detrimental to our health in many ways (see notmilk.com).
