Non Sleeping Infant

K.,
My son does the exact same thing at 8 months. Its very difficult, but IMO you just have to wait it out. She will get over the cold and start sleeping better again. We have been through this with my son several times since he attends daycare. I know how frustrating it is. My son has always been a bad sleeper and it seems every time we get to the point where he starts sleeping through the night he gets sick and we start from square one. You will get through it. Good luck!

It may or may not work...but try the lavendar bath and lotion or the special baby bath for colds...it my sooth her to relax more at bed time.

I haven't done this but I've heard putting vicks vapor rub on infants backs and then a teeshirt over works great and it being on their back still works but they can't touch it or mess with it and eat it or anything. You might want to call a nurse line or ask your doctor first but this is what a few ppl have told me.

I'd try using a humidifier (maybe with some menthol drops) and elevating her crib mattress with a pillow underneith. Try taking her off the Tylenol Cough and Cold. Even though the bottle says they can have it at 6 months, our doctor said it tends to make babies under one hyper and/or restless sleepers. She said to stick with plain Tylenol and try other natural remedies.

It is perfectly fine to alternate tylenol and ibuprofen such as motrin, for your baby. My girls pediatrician has me do that when things get bad enough to keep them and me awake. find the correct dose for her age/weight, give the tylenol dose, and between doses give a dose of ibuprophen. IE: if tylenol says dose every 4 hours then give that, wait 2 and give motrin, then 2 hours give tylenol, etc,,,. an hour before bed, or the dose closest to bed time, give both meds at once. Just dont do this for multiple days on end. I have also found that a warm bath with a lavendar or menthol wash helps, or even just some vapor rub on the chest.

I agree, raise the crib up a bit so she can breathe better but other than that, the tylenol cold & cough never helped with my children. I would just do what it takes to make her feel better. She may want to eat now during the evening because she isn't eating as much during the day because of being ill.

She will get past this, it seems like forever now but believe me it will pass!

Good luck, I feel your pain!
A.

Hi there,

My daughter is also 6 mo. old (today actually :). I can definately relate to what you are going through. Sounds exactly the same as my daughter! I relate most of it to teething. Lillie too had a bad cough and just seemed to have a cold for quite awhile... at least 2 weeks. She would cough at night so badly, we were scared she was choking. And her poor runny nose, sounded like she could hardly breathe. After about a week of the coughing, we took her to the doctor and just like you said, they tell you it will run its course and there will be many down the road.

When I asked my girlfriends with kids, they agreed that it was due to teething. The cough can be due to excess saliva from teething, draining down her throat, causing the cough. I also read that teething can weaken the imune system and they are suseptible to colds. Lillie has her two bottom front teeth in, has for about a month and a half. I keep waiting for others to come in because she sure seems to be in discomfort. She had also been sleeping through the night til all this. Started with one time getting up, to up to 5 times a night. The only thing sometimes to comfort her is a bottle, and she shouldn't be hungry, but I want to make her happy..... such a dilema! :) She is getting better and back to once a night but still gets the bottle. I actually just started not adding as much formula.

That's just my thoughts and when I saw an email that read like I could have wrote it, I had to respond.

K. - this is my first child, very new to things! :)

Here is what I have heard and found to be helpful:
Elevate the head of her crib, prop her up with a flat pillow or blankets under her crib sheet, get a cool mist humidifier (Target has some, we bought the Vicks brand cool mist and love it), if she doesn't have asthma or other respitory problems, a few minutes in a steamy bathroom helps, and some cool night air is helpful as well. Also, and this is very important: I would definitely take her to the doctor for a pertussis (aka whooping cough) test. It's a deep swab in the nose and only takes a minute. I really recommend this even if she and all your kids have been vaccinated and even if you are sure its not pertussis. My daughter tested positive after a couple weeks of a "cold" and a mild cough. Her doctor said it was a cold and she needed to wait it out, but it wasn't getting better after a week so I brought her back in for the test. She never displayed any of the common symptoms of pertussis, but, thank God, we asked for the test anyway. Since it was detected right away she was able to get an antibiotic to stop the contagion, but she still struggled with that cough for almost eight weeks. I would especially encourage you to get the test because she is so young. After my Sweet Pea was diagnosed, I did some reearch and found out that pertussis is one of the most common un/mis/under diagnosed childhood illnesses. I posted a long "heads up" message on Mamasource a few weeks back after asking for some advice on it- I think it was titled "follow up on pertussis" or something similar if you feel like reading it. Sorry for the long response and I wish you the best of luck!

R.

I think elevating the mattress with a rolled up towel underneath to elevate her head and a cool mist humidifer in her room might help. We tried that with our son around that age, he's going 15 months now. We used only regular tylenol infants drops as our pediatrician recommended. Extra rocking in the glider, soft music CDs, and hugs seemed to help. Sometimes a bath before bed helped him relax as well. Hope this is helpful to you D.

I don't really have any advice, but I am right here with you! I have a 6 month old baby girl, and she has had this cold for over a week now! She is severely congested, and pretty miserable. I just breastfeed her very often, even if she doesn't need to eat. I figure it has to feel good on her throat, so it doesn't bother me to give her more food than I normally would. I also have been putting her down for more naps. Other than that we've just been doing a lot of cuddling, and trying to keep her occupied and her mind of off her cold. She is starting to feel better, but I've heard that this cold that is going around can last for up to a month :( Oh, we've also been giving her Tylenol before bed figuring if she has any aches, pains, teething issues, sore throat, etc it will help her, and it does seem to make a difference.