When They're Sick

We have a lot of experience with sick infants by now, so I thought I'd pass along some of the tips that the doctor's have recommended to us during our many, many visits to the pediatrician's office.  Since cold and cough medications are not an option for infants, we were desperate to try anything that might give him some relief.

Here are a few things that helped:

1. Run a cool mist humidifier - This helps to keep their throats and nasal passages moist. 
   

   

   Walgreens Humidifier

   We got this one from Walgreens after the vaporizer that we registered for didn't seem to add enough moisture to the air.  This one uses nearly a gallon of water a night, and believe it or not, we can barely notice the added moisture in the room - that's how dry our air is.
   
   
2. Saline nasal spray and a nasal aspirator - Although saline is non-medicated, I've found that squirting it up their nose, sucking out with the nasal aspirator (or the "booger snotter" as I like to call it), and repeating that over and over for at least 3 or 4 times helps to clear nasal congestion.
   
   

   

   From Kohl's

   Also, go with the battery operated booger snotter - the manual bulb-like ones are more trouble than their worth.
   
   
3. Acetaminophen - Every 4 hours, particularly if they are running a fever.  It also helps with alleviating the pain from ear infections, sore throats, and can help with coughing as well. 
   
   
4. Smaller feedings supplemented with Pedialyte - Instead of 4 ounce bottles we were giving EH 2 ounce bottles of formula with 1 ounce of Pedialyte, every 1.5 to 2 hours.  The smaller amounts are easier to digest and the Pedialyte helps with dehydration.
   
   And most importantly...
   
   
5. Give lots of love and be flexible - Don't try to enforce your just recently establish sleeping and eating schedule when your little one is sick.  When he's spending most of the night coughing himself awake, obviously his sleep schedule is going to be messed up.  And even though I don't normally let EH fall asleep in my arms at bedtime, the entire week he was sick I would hold him, rock him, sing to him, and sway with him until he was asleep. 
   
   After all, he's too young to understand why he suddenly feels so crappy, and if being in my arms helps him relax for even just a few minutes, I'm going to give him that as much as he needs it.  That's what moms are for, right?