Hi. My son is 3.5 months old and is sometimes stopped up and sometimes his nose is running. He is coughing and rubbing his eyes like crazy, he also has gotten tiny red bumps on his face. I have been checking for fever but the highest its been is 99 and i have tylenol. Last Monday he went for his routine check up and he was just a little congested and they told me it was probably just a cold and to get a humidifier for his room which I did. Is he ok? Is this normal? Or should he go back to the doctors? I hate how his peditrician seems to just know exactly what is wrong with out wondering, maybe... With the flu this season I am def paranoid. All answers greatly appreciated!
p.s. he started daycare about 1 month ago and none of the babys in his room have been sick(or so they say) but was told some of the toddlers in the room next door have been sick.
I took Tucker to the doctors yesterday and he has bronchiolitis. The pediatrician said it is common amoung babies in daycare.
Sounds like an allergic reaction needs to be ruled out first - has his diet recently changed?
Oh goodness, this sounds just like my life when my son was that young. Turns out my son has asthma but that may not be the case with your child. The best you can do is get some little noses nasal drops & the nasal bulg to suck out all that mucus from his nose. The red bumps on his face are normal for babies especially if they are getting fever or his cheecks are red. Try some hydrating lotion for those bumps, they will go away. The humidifier does work, get a cool mist one, they're about $30 at wal mart, put it close to his bed. Clean the ceiling fans and wash bedding often. Pediatricians sometimes are not right especially since babies cannot tell you exactly what is going on.. if symptoms get worse or fever skyrockets, go back asap! Otherwise you just have to wait it out. Kids can stay sick up to 10 days most of the time. I'm sorry for your baby, hope he gets better. (P.S. they cannot diagnose children with asthma related illnesses until after they are 1 yo, just how it goes)
With your son just starting daycare he is exposed to many many things. even if the other kids do not look sick they may have older siblings and may be carriers for illnesses. My son started daycare at 18 mos. we only left him there for a little over a month. in that time he had pink eye twice and many many colds with led to an onset of asthmatic symtoms. my doctor told me he had just not established his immunity yet and with so much exposure he could just never get well. i found an in house sitter who only watched two children plus her own two. I really loved having sitters who watch children from their home because the ratio of kids to adult is always much lower. here is a chart you can compare symtoms of cold and flu:
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/flu-guide/is-it-cold-flu
it is always scary when your little ones get sick esp when they are so young! I would also look into finding a better pedi who explains things to you better. They really wont give you anything for colds in kids but mine always suggested the nasal saline wash. maybe also some zyrtec but that never seemed to help my child with his runny nose just other allergies. do you have any pets in the house? You can develope an allergy at any time apparently even when you were not allergic to it before.
If you can work it with your schedule I really enjoy my sons mother's day out program. it is a preschool so they get used to being around other kids but since it is not like a daycare if the kids are sick their parents dont send them to school. the downfall is mine is from 9:30-2 so it is really hard on working parents unless you can find someone else to pick him up.
Good luck!
Hey E.,
I'm sad to hear when a little one is suffering because I know as a mom it's sooo frustrating and heart breaking.
I had a very similar experience when my little one was younger. She was uneasy, rashes, cold sweats etc. I found that she was having an allergic reaction to her baby wash!!! I got online an really read through webmd, babycenterdrcare page, and others. What I found was that the products in our home were causing her to have these allergic reactions because her system was so underdeveloped.
I searched and found an alternative to many if not all of the household stuff I was using. My daughter's rash cleared in two days, her breathing was stable at night, and best of all she was sleeping much better. Our doctor couldn't believe the difference in her.
I'd love to share with you about some of the specifics that we changed and how we are using safer choices around our home.
Let me know via email if you're interested in learning more!
Also you can read more about the effects of some of these cases if you visit:
www.livetotalwellness.com/4lifedreams
Here's wishing you well!
L.
email: ____@____.com
Mine did this and it was allergies. Be sure and try to keep his hands and face clean,I know hard but he can get pink-eye and that can cause every child to get it also.
Yes, try to rule out an allergic reaction. Also, talk to your pediatrician about how important it is for you to be able to discuss what is going on with your baby and not feel brushed off. I have always maintained with doctors that I have a good understanding about how things work, so when I call them it's because something is out of MY norm and I would like an explanation for clarity. I have a need to understand how things work and make decisions based on that.
it could be allergies. did you get a flu shot while you were preggers? if so i am understanding that flu shot went to the baby too so he is protected too.
A normal response to a viral or bacterial infection is a fever. Viruses can bacteria thrive only in a narrow range of temperatures, and those that infect us like it to be right around 98.6 degrees. If he was infected with a live pathogen, his temp. would rise. His little body, though small and new, is amazing!
You are a concerned mommy of a young baby, I don't blame you for wanting to make sure he is well, but the doc's office is a dangerous place for a baby. Sick people and all their germs go there. Use docs only for emergencies, high temperatures or really bizarre symptoms.
He sounds like he might have a mild virus or something or might be allergic to something. Plush toys can cause this, and cedar pollen is starting to sprout (saw it at the park yesterday). A humidifier is the best course of action, along with the (horrible to a mom and baby) practice of nasal aspiration with saline. Anti--histimines are now outlawed for small children and they don't work on them anyway, so unless your child needs to be hospitalized there isn't much more a doc will tell you. You can always call the pedi's office and ask them if you should bring him in.
I hope he gets better soon!
Glad you have some answers now. You said you hate how the doctor knows exactly what is wrong without wondering.....
I am not totally following you.
I personally want a doctor that uses all their years of experience to tell me exactly what is wrong, or at least narrow it down to 2 or 3 best choices. Many many years of training and thousands of people seen by them before they ever see their own first patient for real.
I know you are pretty paranoid about flu...lots of people are. But the best doctors are the ones that remain calm and collected and are matter of fact. Good pediatricians don't get real emotional and give parents a long laundry list of all the possible things wrong with baby.
So if all else is going good with your doctor, I encourage you to trust him/ her. Ask thoughtful, good questions at a visit and listen carefully. That creates the best partnership possible for the care of your child.
Is there any plush toy in your baby's crib? That can be the answer. If there is take them out, they usually carry dust and dustmites and the babies are very sensible to them.
Babies are very sensible to environment, so as my doctor recommended, change often the airconditioner/heater filter and make sure there are not plush animals close to his bed.
May he be teething? my baby girl started very early, it can be just the start, if your baby also gets a diaper rash, that is very difficult to get rid off, the combination may indicate teething.
Usually if they are just runny nose, you do not need to go to the doctor unless it last for long or as you already know if there is a persistent and high fever.
If the nose discharge is clear may indicate only either teething or allergies... if the discharge change in color you have to put attention, when it becomes green you need to visit your doctor because it indicates infection.
Do not worry about the flu for now, flu seems to be very obvious and agressive, with very very high fever and a lot of pain it would need more than tylenol. And your baby's behavior would make you want to run to the doctor without question.
I do recommend you to buy the book "What to expect the first year" is the same type as what to expect when you are expecting and there you will find A LOT of answers to most common cuestions and things that happen to babies the first year. It was a saver for me with my first one.
Hope your baby is well soon!
It's not the flu but perhaps your son is suffering from allergies. If this is the case there really is nothing you can do for him based on his age - except use a humidifier. If he appears stopped up you can use a saline nose mist on him to help ease the congestion.
