sick baby

Its one of the most traumatic firsts in a baby’s life… my poor baby has a cold!!  Even though it’s just a head cold, it still worries us as parents.  Especially when the baby is too young for medication.  Nowadays, there are all these rules about what you can and can’t give your baby.  They even took pretty much all of the over-the-counter cold medicine away.  I am not sure what or if anything happened to a child to make them discontinue these things, but it sucks.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, if these meds are harmful, then by all means… get rid of it.  It’s just tough especially being a first time parent and you hear the tragic baby cough, the sneezing, wheezing and all of the gallons of baby snot pouring down your sweet baby’s face.  Ugh!  It’s awful!!!

The first thing you want to do is rush them away to the emergency room!  Quick…  Call their doctor!!  No, no.  It’s actually healthy for babies to get the occasional cold.  It helps build up their immune system.  (Now, of course, excessive sickness is a-whole-nother ball game… talk to your pediatrician for sure.  They may need probiotics and antibiotics and all that other kind of mess.)  Take comfort that the occasional little cold is perfectly fine and containable.  We can’t keep them in a bubble forever!  We can and should separate them from any other children in the house though if needed.  =)

This helped my sick boys get some much needed sleep:

~ Get a Tylenol/Motrin chart from your pediatrician.  Then go to the store and buy some infants pain/fever relief, baby vapor rub, lavender night time baby wash and a humidifier.  Read the instructions and set up the humidifier in the baby’s room, remember to use cold water.  When you turn it on, make sure you can see the moist air coming out; not so high that it makes a dripping sound though.  Get it started in baby’s room during bath, bottle, bedtime, etc. so it gets the air in the room nice and breathably moist.  Bathe little sicky in the lavender baby wash to help them sleep better through the night.  Give baby recommended dosage infants pain/fever relief, make sure you read the chart carefully.  Now, here’s the kicker…  put infants vapor rub (I suppose you can use regular, but infants has way less of a strong smell) ON THE BOTTOM OF THEIR FEET, then put socks on their tiny little tootsies.  I usually rub what’s left on my finger on my babies’ chest, but make sure they can’t get to it at all.  Put them in a super comfy onesie with feet (leave their socks on).  Last thing is just make sure they have a nice warm bedtime boob or bottle.  *FYI Nursing/drinking liquids helps break up congestion in their chest.  Do these steps and they will sleep peacefully and comfortably (hopefully) all night long.  When your kid is old enough for children’s gummy vitamins, just add that to the regimen.  I’ve done it and still do it with both my boys when they’re sick… works every time.

We just want our babies to feel better.  Hopefully this works for you.