A common cold is a viral infection of your baby's nose and throat. With most little kids, you can expect about six to 10 colds a year. The good news is you can usually treat cold and flu symptoms at home with a few remedies and lots of TLC.
- Symptoms of a common cold:
The first indication of the common cold in a baby is often:
- A congested or runny nose
- Nasal discharge that may be clear at first but then usually becomes thicker and turns shades of yellow or green
Other signs of a common cold may include:
- A low-grade fever of about 100.4 F (38 C)
- Sneezing
- Coughing
- Decreased appetite
- Irritability
- Difficulty sleeping
- Trouble nursing or taking a bottle due to nasal congestion
- Ways to ease discomfort for Baby during a cold:
It takes energy to fight an infection, and that can wear a child (or an adult) out. When your child's resting, he's healing, which is exactly what he needs to do.
2. Steamy air:
Breathing moist air helps loosen the mucus in the nasal passages. A warm bath has the added benefit of relaxing your child. You can accomplish this with a humidifier or even just closing up the bathroom and running a hot shower. Make sure to clean your humidifier often because they can accumulate mold and spray it into the air if not cleaned often.
3. Saline drops and bulb syringes:
Drops clear the nose when kids are too young to blow their nose. For babies, a bulb syringe really comes in handy if a stuffy nose interferes with breastfeeding or bottle-feeding. Try using it about 15 minutes beforehand. There is no good way to clean a bulb syringe unless you buy one designed to come apart to clean. They can grow mold as well once wet on the inside.
4. Vapor rubs (3 months and up):
Vapor rubs may help kids sleep better at night. Many of us remember being rubbed with a potent eucalyptus, camphor, and menthol vapor rub when we were sick as children. Research suggests that these ingredients actually have no effect on nasal congestion, but they make the cold sufferer feel as though she's breathing better by producing a cooling sensation in the nose. With babies, I suggest using Baby Vicks because it has no menthol in it. Sometimes the menthol can make breathing worse for babies.
5. Extra Fluids (6 months and up):
Drinking plenty of fluids helps prevent dehydration and flushes and thins your child's nasal secretions. Water is best but you can use 100% juice and pedialyte to help avoid dehydration.
6. Chicken soup and other warm liquids (6 months and up):
Warm liquids can be very soothing and help relieve congestion. Studies have shown that chicken soup actually relieves cold symptoms like aches, fatigue, congestion, and fever.
7. Elevating the head:
Elevating your child's head while she rests can help her breathe more comfortably.
8. Honey (12 months and up):
Honey coats and soothes the throat and helps tame a cough.
In a study conducted by Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine, parents of 105 children ages 2 to 18 rated honey helpful and better than cough syrup for treating children's nighttime coughs.
9. Nose Blowing (2 years and up):
Clearing the nose of mucus helps your child breathe and sleep more easily and generally makes him feel more comfortable.
10. Neti Pot (4 years and up):
A neti pot flushes a mild saline solution through the nasal passages, moisturizing the area and thinning, loosening, and rinsing away mucus. Think of it as nasal irrigation.
According to one European report, researchers studied nearly 400 children ages 6 to 10 and found that a nasal spray made from seawater relieved cold symptoms faster than standard cold medications.
It's not certain whether the salt water simply helps clear the mucus or if trace elements in the water are beneficial. But other scientists who studied the effectiveness of saline nasal wash solutions also found benefits.
11. Gargling with salt water (4 years and up):
Gargling with salt water is a time-honored way to soothe a sore throat. It also helps clear mucus from the throat. While scientists haven't determined exactly why it works, studies have shown that the remedy is effective.
PLEASE, AS USUAL, MAKE SURE TO DISCUSS ANY ACTION YOU DECIDE TO USE WITH YOUR CHILD'S PEDIATRICIAN. WE ARE NOT DOCTORS AND CAN NOT DETERMINE WHAT IS BEST OR SAFE FOR YOUR CHILD. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE AGES BESIDE EACH SUGGESTION AS WELL.
- When to call the doctor over symptoms:
- Not feeding. Call the doctor if your baby’s symptoms are so bad he or she isn't eating normally. "A good rule of thumb is to make sure your baby is wetting a diaper at least every 6 hours or so," says McCarthy.
- Strange sounds or breathing problems. "If your baby is making strange noises when taking a breath in, or making loud noises during sleep, that’s a concern," says Swanson. You should also get the doctor on the phone if your baby is breathing fast for more than a few moments or having trouble breathing.
- Fever. If your baby is 3 months or younger, call the doctor for any fever of 100.4 or higher, or if fever lasts more than 3 days. "Babies under 3 months are at higher risk for more serious problems when they get sick, so we like to see them right away," says Swanson. For older babies, call about any fever of 102 or higher, as well as any milder fever that lasts longer than 3 days.
- Extreme sleepiness or crankiness. Nobody likes feeling sick, so you can count on some crankiness from your little one during a cold. But if your baby seems especially sleepy or irritable, it’s a good idea to give the doctor a call.
- Bad cough. Coughing is good because it helps clear mucus from the lungs. But if your baby has a cough that doesn’t go away after 3 days, or a cough that’s so bad it causes vomiting, call the doctor. Another red flag: your infant has cold symptoms and there have been cases of whooping cough in your community. Call the doctor if your baby has noisy or troubled breathing, or doesn't seem to be drinking enough.
- A cold that doesn’t go away. If your child’s cold symptoms don’t seem to get better after a week, call the doctor to make sure it’s not some other type of infection.
- A chronic runny nose. When a runny nose doesn’t get better, or if your baby is sneezing and has red eyes along with a runny nose, call your doctor. It could be a sign of allergies.
- Other symptoms. If your child has serious ear pain, blue lips, or a sore throat with a swollen neck and a fever, call your doctor. These could be symptoms of another type of illness.
WHEN IN DOUBT, CALL YOUR CHILD'S PEDIATRICIAN!!!!
Sources: Web MD, Mayo Clinic, and BabyCenter
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