One Year Old with a Cold

If he is on formula or milk try to use a soy based or give him soy milk while he is stuffy. Try the vanilla flavor.

the vicks vaporizer is great. It puts a menthol steam into the room to help with congestion. I would switch from Motrin to Tylenol. I have been reading things about adverse reactions from Motrin. A lot of Dr's don't recommend it anymore. You may want to read up on it.

HI,
This might sound a little strange, but I have used this method, and it works for my 3 kids! You need to rub some vick's vaporub on the bottom of his feet, and then put his socks on. This opens up their little noses, and makes it easier for them to sleep. I hope this helps you out!!

I took my son in the bathroom and ran a really hot shower to steam it up really good, then,even though he hated it too!! I used the "snot getter". It helped to get alot more of the mucus out after having been in the steamed room. Other than that I never found any great magic thing to make him more comfortable. You may also ask your pediatricain if they can recommend something. Sorry I couldn't be more help! Good luck and I hope he feels better soon.

When my now 2 year old daughter has a cold we do a couple of things that were suggested by her peditrician. We prop her up on a pillow while sleeping. We give her a 1/2tsp of Dimetapp and we put baby vix under her nose to help her breathe. Hope this helps, good luck.

Usually what I did was try to squeeze as much snot as I could out of their little noses before they drank. They also got more solid food during the cold because it was easier to swallow. Hope your little guy gets better soon. Colds at 1 are no fun.

Hi. When my son got a cold around the same age, I did what you're already doing, plus I put a little baby Vic's on his chest and back. When the congestion got so bad that he couldn't nurse, I gave him his milk with a straw. Try it. It worked for us.

Hi A.!

I'm sorry your little one is sick :o( Nothing could be worse as a mom when your little one is sick! A few things that have worked for me were:

* Aspirator-sucking out the snot (gross, but helpful)
* Vapor Bath-but they discontinued it, so now they have tablets that you can put in a shower 1 minute before entering. This allows a vapor smell while you hold your son.
* Elevate the head while he's sleeping almost every time he sleeps. Either hold him, a car seat, a pillow, or whatever~ you just need everything to keep draining to eliminate further trouble (like ear infections)
* Vicks, Vicks, Vicks, Vicks!!!! Vapor on his chest with a t-shirt, or on his back. I also have put a big GOB of Vicks on a sock and safety pinned it around my children's throat.

I LOVE rubbing Vicks under thier noses all day, but at your son's age, he may rub it accidentally in his eyes=burning! So, if you choose to do this, watch him :o) So instead, if he takes a bottle or pacifier, I have put a dab of Vicks on the outside of the pacifier while sleeping instead of under the nose.

Of course lots of water, popsicles, or OJ popsicles are good.

I also love Zicam. They have these boxes of Zicam Cold Remedy swabs. You swab the inside of their little nostrils & it shortens the duration of the cold. My kids are 5 & 11 and I've been using them for years to prevent the colds from getting worse. Either they truly work, or my kids are just very lucky to have not gotten very sick over the last few years.

I hope something I have done in the past will work for your son. I truly hope he feels better soon :o)

Love, N. :o)

That's all the advice

Make sure he's drinking A LOT of water.

Two things that have helped my daughter when she has had a cold:

1) Sitting in a steamy bathroom. I turn the shower on hot, close the bathroom door and let her sit on the floor and play with a few toys while the steam works its magic. Of course, since the shower is on, I stay in the bathroom with her to make sure she doesn't get near the shower or into any other kind of mischief!

2) Sleeping propped up. When my daughter was your son's age, I either had her sleep in her car seat or her bouncy chair. The car seat worked well, as I would just drive her around at bedtime, wait for her to fall asleep and then bring her inside while still in her seat and let her sleep. If she woke up at all during the night, I'd calm her back down and put her to sleep in her bouncy seat.

Both of these tricks seemed to alleviate some of her discomfort. Hope they work for you, too.

N.

the nose sucker things are hard for the little ones to take but they do work so I would suggest a warm bath to loosen up the phlem, shut the doors and windows to make the room steamy you can add a few drops of eucalyptus oil to the water which will also help open the nasal passages then after the bath use the nose sucker, I always need my husband to help hold his head straight, because he fights it= try it a few times in each nostril.
remember the cold will pass, and he can increase his appetite when he feels better
good luck

Hi A.,

I have taken my son to bathroom and let him play there while I take shower(not in the shower tab, but in the bathroom). I sometimes sit there for a long time reading to him or playing to him after I finish taking shower. The hot steam worked for my son.

Good luck!

The reason that infant cold remedies were taken off the market was because tons of idiots were overdosing their kids. Talk to his doctor. If your son's cold is really bad, ask about giving him a baby-sized dose of children's tylenol cold. From what I understand, it goes by weight.

It's so hard to see our little ones not feeling well. We have done all the things that you are doing with the addition of using a product called Simply Saline. It's a bit more expensive than saline drops/spray but easier to administer. We squirt it in our son's nostrils often while he is congested and it helps the mucus come out. Hope your son has a speedy recovery.

There are a few natural remedies at health food stores, be sure to use formulas for infants. I have used Vicks Vapo Rub and put it just under the nose so that the vapors make it easier to breath. Also try to feed him with him in an upright position. While sleeping prop up his mattress by placing something under it on one end.

I don't have a ton of advice for you since mine have grown to be 10 and 7. Good luck!

T.
Founder
www.theparentpack.org

Hello! Instead of buying oceans spray for the nose you could make your own. It is 1 cup water 1/4 teaspoon salt. Mix and put one drop in each nostril everytime you change your childs diaper. this is what my doctor tells me to do w/my little one. Good luck!!

The shower idea works great, I also use the Vics Vapor rub for babies. It has a great smell and works great. Also the vapor bath from Johnson and Johnson works great! Then you the snot suction. I left my daughter baby bath with water and the vapor bath stuff (this was when she was in the baby bath) and my whole kitchen smelled like it and my nose was leaking.

You could try giving him the Little colds (only place I could find it was at Lucky's)

Did you try the saline drops in the nose it clears passages. You can get a kit at longs. Put a few drops then suck out whats left. Its the most effective I have found. Do it right before a bottle. Also lay your little guy on his back when putting the drops in. Hope it helps.

Just a quick tip....if you use the nose suction thing, you must use it with the "little noses" saline drops - they loosen everything up so that if can be suctioned out more readily.

We have great success w/ Vicks Vapor Rub, they make a baby formula and we smear it all over our daughter's chest before we put her pajamas on. Also, we put a liquid vicks in our humidifier. Sleeping propped up also helps. My ped. told me not to use the bulb because it tends to irritate the nose and cause more problems, he said it's really only for young babies.
Good luck!

I always used Johnsons vaporizing baby bath (in a clear green bottle). It really helps open them up. We have had nights with three vapor baths. Be sure to get Johnsons, store brands are not the same. also wash his hair with it, it works. Hang in there, I know it can be so hard.

There are decongestant drops for infants - ask your pharmacist. I always gave my son a dose before his nap and bedtime only - not all day. The vaporizer, the Vick's for babies and the Johnsons Vapor Bath all seem to help a little too. Also, I run the shower at full blast hot to get the bathroom steamy before I fill his bathtub.
The combo medicines - like Tylenol Cold don't seem to help much - better to treat the worst symptom only.
Also - prop up his mattress a little with a rolled up towel under the mattress.
Last tip - buy a Chapstick or whatever brand you like to put on his upper lip and nose if he gets red from wiping it all the time.
Watch for hitting his ears or shaking his head alot - it may indicate an ear infection from all the head congestion.

I would give my daughter a dose of Triaminic Daytime Cold (pediatrician Ok'ed)and also I do the Saline nose drops and sucker. The Infant vapor rub works great on their chest, but it is even more effective if you put it on the soles of his feet. Are you sure it is not allergies? My daughter use to have the sam problem and we discovered that is was allergies. We got rid of the humidifier, because it seems to make it worse and bought her a small air purifier ($70- Hunter brand)for her room. The air purifier was the best thing I have ever bought. We went from stuffy nose and congestion monthly to none since we have bought it 7 months ago.

My son is 1 and has a cold too. Try a humidifier instead of a vaporizer...this made a big difference for us. We also just bought this thing from Babies R Us that is a little fan w/ mentholated pads made by Triaminic. I think this has been helping as well. We keep the door to his room closed in order to keep the menthol in. You can try baby vapor rub on his chest to get more of the smell, but I wouldn't recommend putting it under or on his nose...he'll rub his nose and then get it in his eyes. Other than that I think it just takes time. My son has been going through it for a week now. Good luck!

try a homeopathic remedy for babies with colds (available at health food stores or on line), and breastfeed him as much as possible to keep his immune system strong.

To really get the snot running take a long warm shower with him. Make sure to get the head underwater (like washing his hair, not more then that) and normally the nose will start to unclog. Also if you are taking a hot shower have him in the room for the steam, just not the shower part. Raise the edge of his crib up on the side he tends to have his head on (books under the legs work.) Cool mist humidifier at night.

I find it best to do the shower before bed, so he can get some sound sleep before more congestion.

Good luck.

once when our little was so stuffed up we did a saline nasal spray, which he hated much more than the bulby thing, but it worked well. We just did it once at night so he could sleep.

A.,

I've given both my kids Ocean's nasal spray & a Asprator to suck out the snot's.Have your husband stay in the bathroom with you while your taking a shower for the steam intake.
Good luck I hope this helps you.

Sincerely,
I. LS