Humidifiers

I have a 6 month old daughter who recently had a cough and stuffy nose and I will swear by the Vicks steam vaporizer, it works wonders. Even now I will sometimes put it on because she had sinus problems and it helps her sleep at night.

We use both warm and cool mist humidifiers. Warm mist for the two we have for the general living areas (living & dining room) and a warm/cool mist one for the babies' room. It's a Venta and it has a both a warm and cool setting. I generally leave it at a cool setting because the trio have been congested lately.

I guess it depends on what you need. My son had croup back in September and recently had it again. The cool mist helped him breath easier and it was what was recommended by our pediatrician.

I have 2 cool mist humidifier in my home. I can tell the difference between the warm and the cool mist but that is because I have asthma. The cool mist is what works best with myself and my children. I have a small on in the dinning room and a large one in the living room. They are always running. I have found with my 14 month old she had a bad cough and was plemlemy also I used some baby vicks rub. I used it on her for about a day and a half and she was feeling better.

We just went to the doctor yesterday, she said cool mist. I just bought new ones for the kids rooms. So far I like it. It is by vicks..invisible mist. Good luck

Doctors recommend cool mist mostly because, I think, the fear that warm mist might accidentally burn your child. We bought a "cutesy" cool mist once from Bed Bath and Beyond that was a little frog. Cute, but got moldy/calcium deposit really fast. I hated it - it was such a pain to clean all the time. So we got rid of that and went with a warm mist that was hypoallergenic and easy to clean. We are now considering a cool mist for our son's room because he is so active, he's harder to watch around the humidifer. One thing I would look for is one that you can put water into two parts so its not as heavy. So that's my advice: be it warm or cool mist: look for a high quality, easy to clean/self-cleaning, hypoallergenic, quiet, and easy to fill humidifier. Its worth the extra money.

Side note: Plug in vapors for kids also help clear up congestion (sudacare, vicks, etc.), as do saline nasal sprays.

I don't know if cool or warm make much of a difference, I konw when I had a warm one the room was warmer and with a cool one it pretty much stayed the same as the rest of the house. I was told to put apple cider vinegar in the water about a half a cup to prevent germs, bacteria, and mold from being put back into the air. Also an old southern remedy for coughs is to put vick's vaporub or and organic(if you prefer) menthol rub on the bottom of the feet at bed time and cover with socks or footed sleeper. I've used it on my 1yr. old when she was about 10 months old and it seem to help quiet and relieve her cough so she could get a good nights sleep and she seemed to clear up a littler quicker than wheh I hadn't used it. It's also good for any age infant to adult, to quit and relieve coughs for a good nights rest.Good luck. I hope this helps.

My doctor has always said cool mist only for the humidifier. As for clearing the cough, I'd try a steam shower too.

Ok I just put this question about a bad cough online and I did all the humidifiers etc. but in the end she has kept coughing. I couldnt handle it anymore so I took her to the doctor only to find out she is having bronchial spasms which left untreated can lead to asthma. So I would take your little guy directly to the doctor!!

My doctor has always said to use cool mist. I think it has more to do with the mold or bacteria that might grow in it than anything. Any extra moisture in the air should work to improve those kind of symptoms (we are using one now to help fight sinus infections).