Forever with Flu

Have you tried Mucinex? Everyone I know who has had really bad coughs with congestion, major or minor, if they have used one treatment of mucinex according to the directions, their congestion and coughs went away within 3 to 4 days and their colds were over and done with in about a week. Its a tad more expensive but it does work.

My best friend has a 2 and 4 yr old in daycare and they are sick all the time. She will get one of them over one thing, then the other will get something else from daycare. This is just a horrible time of year bc we keep them nice and toasty indoors then have to get them out in frezing cold weather. My 3 yr old goes to preschool 3 mornings a week and hasn't been sick this year (as I knock on wood) but I think it's a different story when they are there every day all day. Just keep doing what you are doing and warm weather will hopefully get here soon!! Good Luck!

I'm right there with you. My daughter started going to daycare when she turned 1 yr. Now she is 19 months old and she has also been sick a lot this year. I think it goes along with daycare. I think a lot of parents bring their kids to daycare sick because they have no choice and must go to work. That's why there are so many viruses at daycares. But you can't fault those parents, if you work full-time you can't take off every other day. Your doctor is right regarding no antibiotics and having to run it's course. Frustrating but true. I try to remind myself that these viruses will build up her immune system. I do think that some daycares are cleaner than others...ask about their cleaning and handwashing policies. Good luck.

i would take him out of daycare. its a proven fact that kids who go to daycare get sick more. find a babysitter who will work with u and watch only your kid when he is sick

Hi! I have been there done that with doctors and daycares. It might be a allergy to something in there house or in the air. All my kids have been in this situation with the medications and treatments. When they get a this cough its hard to let them run its course. Try a decongesant or strickly cough medicine. It works! Really check into whats different at daycare than at home.

Not sure if you've explored this yet, but have you considered eliminating dairy from his diet? My daughter started having "colds" all the time when I quit nursing and started using formula. She finally got a sinus infection at 11 months, and another soon after that. We took her off cow's milk and put her on goat's milk (would have done soy, but there's no fat in soy, and babies need the fat...). She hasn't had hardly a sniffle since. We switched her to soy at age 2.

Also, my son had bad sinus problems last year at this time (actually, beginning in October). After about 5 or 6 antibiotics we had his adenoids removed. He was sick once after that. This year, he has had just 2 antibiotics since September. We have determined that he's allergic to something that happens or begins in October (maybe some sort of mold). Also, any time we give him Benadryl he ends up needing a course of breathing treatments. So, this time around we have not used Benadryl and he has not needed breathing treatments more than once. We keep him on Zyrtec to help control the allergies, and when the congestion starts happening we only give him children's mucinex (you have to find out the right dose from your doctor).

There's a great allergist in Flower Mound that helped -- Dr. Hudelson at Family Allergy and Asthma ###-###-####, and then Dr. Alan Murray is a children's ENT in Coppell -- www.entforchildren.net ###-###-####. They are both great!

I've had the same experience with my 3 year old this year. The cold/flu season seems to be especially bad this year! She finally got well (as with the rest of the family) over x-mas break when she wasn't exposed to lots of other kids, but now she is sick again with another cough.

It's important to remember that colds and flus are caused by VIRUSES. ANTIBIOTICS DO NOTHING AGAINST A VIRUS (Antibiotics are only effective on Bacterial infections like Strep or Staph). YOUR DOCTOR IS CORRECT in saying that a cold or flu just needs to run its course.

If it is not some sort of allergy as the other writer suggests, then it is just a cold and you can't do anything except give tylenol.

Know that you are not a bad mommy for giving medication in these cases. In fact you'd be helping the world by not giving so much antibiotics which help resistant strains of bacteria to develop!

I support staying off the antibiotics, they can totally screw you up and do nothing for a virus.

A friend of mine used to work in pediatrics at a hospital and when she'd come home from work, she'd strip in the garage and shower before she'd interact with her family. She said that even clothes can have a lot of germs on them.

Why don't you change the baby right when you pick him up, maybe give him his bath and then change his clothes. And then use gentle steam, bulb syringes etc to keep his nose clean.

Maybe it'll reduce his coughs, but at least it'll make him feel better.

I remember being sick for years with colds until the kids were about 10. It seemed to go on and on forever. Keeping them comfortable was our only solution and watching for bacterial infections (which can happen even with a cold caused by a virus).

Good luck.