5 Month Old with Bad Cough

hey M....try a spoon full of honey before bed...it works really well...continue with the vicks and humidifier and keep her out of the cold as much as possible until she is doing better...my daughter is 3 and i just went through the same thing...best of luck

Believe it or not, putting vicks and socks on her feet will help cut the cough down. I have tried it on myself and my 4 year old. Good luck.

If she really starts in, sit in the bathroom with the shower blaring hot water. Let the room fill up with steam and sit in there with her. It works great. Also, sometimes the cold night air can help. It sounds crazy, but if her throat is a little swollen, like it gets during croupe, then the cold air reduces the swelling and works like magic on coughs. I have spent many nights outside with one of my kids wrapped up in a blanket to stay warm.

hold her. hold her upright as much as possible. get one of those chest carriers and keep her on your chest as much as possible.

good luck!

You could also try a little saline in her nose to help thin the mucus and sticking a folded blanket or flat pillow under her crib mattress so her head is raised up to help with drainage. My doctor prescribed a cough/decongestant for my little guy when he was 5 months old called Donatussin. It was before all the recalls on infant cough medicines so I am not sure if it is still something they prescribe but you could ask. It was formulated for infants up to 2yrs.

Otherwise I think the vicks and humidifier are probably your best options.

Not sure where you are from but I have always been told to never take a child out in the cool air with Vicks on. I'm told it will make things settle into their lungs. My son (15mo) had a cough recently. I tried to take care of it at home but it progressed rapidly. Before I knew it he had a double ear infection, sinus infection, sore throat, sneezing, coughing, occasional fever, and loss of appetite. If what you're doing doesn't help very soon, I would give the doc a call. My son never pulled on his ears or anything like that. I just saw that he would lay his ear against his shoulder. Keep your eyes open and good luck. Shannon G.

sounds like your daughter has coughed so much she has irratated her respitory track and you need to keep moisture in there for her cough to stop that is why the pool air and vaporizer is working so well. You have to choices Doctor visit or something natural. Honey is a natural for coating the throat but don't follow with liquids. Liquids will was it away. Warm liquids help sooth the cough also. Milk will not work that will just gum up the track and could make it worse. I use to use decaf warm green tea with honey to slow the cough and 1/2 teaspoon of honey when they were done with the tea. Only let her drink about 2oz of tea. just enough to wet her whistle. you dont want to fill her up on tea and not leave room for food. I'm not sure how you feel about sugar in your childs diet but I weighed the opions of honey or meds. It was an easy choice for me. I got this information from my husbands grandmother who was the daughter of a black foot medicine man so make your own choice on that but it worked most of the time for my kids. As far as the vicks goes uses it freely. Even the bottem of the feet. the secret to using vicks is a one piece zip up sleeper and wash it off the body before you go outside in the weather. I'm almost 40 and when I get a cold the first thing I do is vick's the bottem of my feet really thick and slap on a pair of socks on and go to bed. Most of the time that is enough to break down the cold so I can fight it off. I'm not claiming to know what is best just passing along what I used for my 4 kids. Good Luck M..

Sorry little one is sick. Ask about pneumonia or bronchitis. I found out with my little ones recently that they usually will present with no other symptoms other than fever and a horrible cough..mine ere coughing so hard it was casuing them to vomit. The other thing is croup I know that's been going around a lot this year.

I have 3 children ages 7, 4 and a half, and 1 and a half, and feel blessed to always have success going the natural route. I keep echinacea goldenseal on hand and this works GREAT fighting colds and building immune systems. I know firsthand that it helps because when I would start coming down with a cold, I would double dose on it(its safe) and take it every once in a while during the day and most of the time the cold would completely pass me by. Natural health food stores would carry it and natural healthier cough syrups and other immune builders. Also I think it seems to help just keeping the little ones out of the cold air, going in and out as little as possible, or just making sure they are well covered.

My Doc always says to make sure the humidity in the house is high, lots of clear non caffinated drinks and hot steam when ever possible. Hope she feels better soon!

M.,

I understand that Arbonne International's Herbal Vapor Rub (like Vick's, but natural) works wonders for what you're talking about. If you need some, please let me know and I would be happy to set you up with some.

Merry Christmas and God Bless!
G. Browand
Auburn, IN

Peace Meg,

Do you have any pets? It's possible that your little one has allergies. My daughter and I often have coughing fits for a couple of weeks after, whenever my daughter goes to visit her grandma who has three cats. Also, I had a cough for about four weeks that turned out to be an upper respiratory infection once. I didn't have any green stuff either, so I wasn't very concerned, but I eventually went to the doctor because it wouldn't go away, and ended up on antibiotics. I've had good results from a natural remedy that I've come up with for coughs is a tea made from fresh ginger, honey, a bit of cayenne pepper, and lemon, however, since I don't know how old your child is, I'm not sure about this. If your child is at least two years old, this would probably be OK. Have you taken your child to the doctor yet? I hope this information is helpful, good luck, and Happy Holidays!

Peace,

M.

When my son had a cough at that young age, we just spent a lot of time with him in the bathroom: steam it up! We just sat in there while the shower was running hot hot water to let the steam help clear him up. It helped a lot (along with the humidifier). Sometimes these things just need to work themselves out as well...but here's hoping its gone in the next day or so for the holiday!

NONONONO please please do not give your baby honey! It is absolutely forbidden in children under a year because it cannot be processed to remove the botulism bacteria. If you have given her honey already call your pediatrician ASAP!

It sounds like maybe it's time to visit the doctor for her cough. Again, I'd call your pediatrician and see what they say, but this time of year RSV is rampant and it can really be bad.

Good luck and sorry to be so adament about the honey.

It sounds like your daughter might have croup and you need to take her to the doctor.

during this time of year we always set up a humidifer in our daughters room, it does the same thing the pool does, but without all the clorine in the air...the one we use has a place to put essencial oils that help with coughs & germs,
it also uses UV light to make sure it doesn't develop mold...
blessings on you & your family &
Peace -
H.