Sick Baby - Evans,CO

I read some of the other posts and I agree with the humidifier and vicks on the feet and chest. I also give my kids the generic version of Dimatap. Seems to work really well for us!

Last year my pediatrician told us to give our daughter warm lemonade (it has to be the real stuff not the powder). It will help break up the mucus. She said to do this as well as nasal saline drops to help break up the mucus. It really helped.

Unfortunately when you have a little one they will get what the bigger ones bring home. I went through this last year with my son. It is good though, believe it or not! :) It builds up their immune systems.
Have your kids take off shoes immediately entering the house, have them put hand sanitizer on or wash hands well right after school too. This has helped keep bugs out of the house, I do after school care and it is a must!
Even spray down backpacks once a week and make sure you wipe down lunch bags, they harbor all the germs at school too.

There is nothing you can do but do your best in eliminating germs coming in. It will help your youngest when they start school to have a heartier immune system. My oldest now in second grade rarely gets sick and my son now in Pre K has done a lot better. He had a hard year last year though.

Put a Vick Vapor Plug in your 16 mos old room, it fills the air with that Vicks smell and helps ease congestion without medication. This year I do Emergen C 1/2 a packet per child but my kids are bigger. It totally cuts a cold in half or prevents it when the symptoms appear. I also have been doing Childrens Airbornne, but always ask your Pediatrician first, as I think they have to be older. The Vicks on the feet never worked for us, but it may for you.

Make sure your 16 mos old gets lot's of vitamin C and E enriched foods as those boost immune systems. For you do airbornne the second you feel a cold coming on!!! It helps, promise. I have been loading up on Vitamins myself and doing airbornne when I feel a cold coming on so I don't get sick. Lot's of fluids helps a ton, water, gatorade, pediatlyte are all good but she needs nutrition too.

If she is gagging, make sure her glands aren't swollen, or tonsils aren't swollen as that can cause her throat passage to feel smaller.

Slater her up at night with Vicks vapor rub on her chest ( they make it for babies, do the Vicks plug ins, saline drops, extra vitamin c and rest, lot's of rest. If she is refusing milk when sick then try Pediasure, that way she is getting the nutrition she needs. She shouldn't go a long time without the calcium and Vitamin D in milk as that can cause weakness in her bones. Talk to your Pediatrician too.

My daughter at about 1 1/2 years got a virus, it wouldn't go away, her glands were super swollen and it held on forever! She got colds it seemed every other week. She had no allergies or anything, it just lodged in her glands. Finally the only alternative was getting her tonsils out and adnoids out and it was like a miracle. No more illness other then the occassional cold and a stomach bug here or there. Getting the infection that laid in her tonsils out of her body did a huge turn around in her not getting so sick all the time!

Sounds like you are doing all the right things with the cleaning. Don't forget to change the bedding every couple of days even if it is just the pillow cases.

If she is still having a cough and runny nose after 2 weeks I would suggest you take her in and see if there is a sinus infection. Kids are born with a few little sinuses that can easily become infected. The green slim boogers are not the tale tail sign of an infection. I just quit working at a daycare and some of the kids there have had a "cold" for over a month. When my son hit 2+ weeks with his cold I took him in. He has a sinus infection and extream chest congestion. The Dr put him on meds and he is doing great.

Unfortunatly with school age kids they will bring home everything. You are doing great teaching them to wash their hands. Good luck... before you know it spring will be here!

I would stay away from the Gatorade--they've found it can be detrimental to children (kidney stones, etc). They can't process the potassium and sodium in that amount. When my daughter has been so sick with congestion, we give her pulsatilla--it's homeopathy. I literally could hear her the congestion breaking up in her sinuses. And it's completely safe for toddlers. It also comes in these tiny little sugar-flavored pills, so we just hand them to our toddler and she takes them & loves them like candy. Stay away from any dairy, as it will build up congestion. Really, she just needs water and foods that won't cause congestion (stay away from bananas and orange juice too). We also use probiotics every day, if possible. We found that it really cut down on the number of colds we all got. You have to build up, but it's been amazing. Good luck!

S.,

Know this will pass but in the meantime, try putting some vicks vapor rub on your little one's feet at night time and cover the feet with socks, rub a bit on her chest and make sure to run the vaporizer during the night to help break up what's in her chest
along with giving moisture in the air. Keep her drinking the liquids to flush out the flu bug. Good Luck!

I have a son that gags easily. He ended up in the hospital at 2yrs old for dehydration because he had a cold... ya, really. You are doing the right thing with pedialyte, keep it up. Keep a close eye on her for dehydration though, as I learned that even if they are still eating and drinking, they can still end up dehydrated, with that blasted gagging. If she starts acting really sick, meaning stops playing and just lays there, take her to the doctor and have them check her for dehydration. It's a blood test. An IV of fluids will not only take her out of that, but will really help get her past the worst of the cold/whatever it is. It's done wonders every time my son has needed one. As for medicine, ask a pharmacist. They may know of something safe. The air vapor (non water) stuff really helped with my son's congestion at night. They have both little and big units available at walgreens and walmart near their humidifiers. And this is goofy... I haven't tried it yet, because someone just told me about it. It couldn't hurt anyway... putting the vicks vapor rub on her feet, then socks. Supposedly it's more effective than on the chest. :) And good luck!

Have you tried the "vapor bath" in the evening? It is in a green bottle, Johnson & Johnson, in with all the other baby washes. Put a little in the tub and it really helps with the stuffies. Also, try Vick's VapoRub for babies. Put some on her chest and back. Then put it on her feet and put socks on, this REALLY helps the coughing, don't know why, but it does! I think that the best cold meds are Dimetapp and the orange Triaminic. I have a chart from my doctor for dosing according to weight. If you want to message me with her weight I can let you know what it says. I hate that babies have to suffer because parents are unable to dose medicines correctly!
As for the cleaning, just wiping everything down with a disinfectant should help and all the other things that you've already been told. Once you've had a cold you can't re-catch it, but you might save people who visit your home!! Good luck : )

I don't know why this works... but I do it on my children and it really seems to help. I rub Vicks vapor rub on the bottom of their feet and put socks over it. I do this before I put them to bed. The foot is very absorbent and it will absorb the vapors and break up the mucus. Hope it helps you!

I don't know what's currently on the market in the way of baby meds, since they've taken so much off since my kids were babies...and that's only been a couple of years. If you can find a good med with an expectorant, I would give her that. If you can't try this:

Give her baby benadryl for the congestion, (really good before bedtime, because it keeps the mucus from building and draining while she's asleep and can't stir it up effectively, plus she'll sleep better which helps the body fight off infection) and try sitting with her in a bathroom with warm steam.....it will help loosen the mucus, both in her chest and her nose. Try then sucking out her nose with a nasal aspirator, and try a percussion pat on the back...that is where you are "slapping" her on the back as though she was coughing, only your hand is cupped. Start from from the lowest part of her lungs, up to the top, with your hand connecting with her back in an upward motion, then do it a bit on the front of her chest, and encourage her to cough after you have patted her a few times to get things moving.....I don't mean for you to hit her hard:) Just like you would if she was coughing/choking. This is what several of our doctors have shown us because it helps to loosen the mucus in their chest and then they can cough it up easier.

Then, try giving her apple juice (watered down, obviously, since she's so little) and/or Sunny Delight. They are both filled with Vitamin C, and will help her body fight off the crud. Vitamin C is key when they are sick.

Also, the BEST product in the world (as far as I'm concerned:)) is a product called Clorox Anywhere Spray. It comes in a blue bottle and can be sprayed anywhere near children and pets and eliminates germs. You can use it around food and on baby toys....it's safe and is really amazing and makes life MUCH easier...I don't know about you, but after spraying Lysol, I'm always trying to keep my kids away from the room for a period of time until it's completely dried and aired out....which you don't have to worry about with this other spray.

Sorry, this was a long response. I hope you all get to feeling better soon! Good luck!

Something else that you can do to help keep it in check is wash all the bedding---sheets and blankets. We have had a cold going around our house, washed all the bedding and on top of washing hands and the lysol it seems to have stopped. Good luck.