Essentials for the first baby cold
Yep, we just experienced our first Baby cold and let me tell you this: It was horrible. Probably more for me than it was for our Little One. Forget everything you think about a cold. Forget that you just take a Dayquil and a Nyquil a couple of days and you are fine. Forget that you KNOW it will pass.
If your baby gets sick for the first time in his life you know NOTHING. At least that’s how I felt. I knew that it was a cold and I thought I was prepared. Naaaahhhhh, I was not. Not for the day. Not for the night. My heart was aching every time my son coughed. When he tried to eat with his stuffy nose. When he looked at me with his red puffy eyes because of his fever, my heart melted and my knees got soft.
Before he was born I read an article about essentials you should have in your house for baby’s first cold and luckily, I had most of those. However, even with all the good pieces of advice, we ended up going to the ER. The result after 4 hours in the ER: Tylenol for infants, and all the advice and remedies I already had at home.
If you decide (with your doctors ok) to avoid this stressful trip with your little one, here are my essentials to help YOU and your little one get over the nasty first cold.
1. Nose Frida and saline drops from Little Remedies
Regardless if you think it is nasty, it is the best treatment for your little one’s nose. I goy mine at Target together with a set of new filters. First, drop 1-2 drops of saline solution in your little one’s nostrils and wait a moment (as long, say, as it takes to do a diaper change) to let it settle. Then suck each nostril until the secretion is out of his nose. Personally, I cleaned the mouth piece and the sucking syringe every time I used it and sterilized it. More important though is that you change the filter every time you use it. Yes, it is kind of pricy, but you will be thankful when your little one can breathe after a day or two of this treatment. I basically did it every time he was due for a new diaper or before feeding.
2. Breath Frida
Those are basically Boogie wipes with an additional eucalyptus drops in it. I used it after the Nose Frida to rub his chest and to use it on his nose to get the “snot” from around the nose after the sucking.
3. Vicks Baby Rub
Before my son went to bed I rub a good amount on his chest. The essential oil in it helped him to breathe easier and I think it helped also with his cough. I also rubbed a little bit under each foot and put socks on. My mom told me about it and it helped. I did not do it on night 2 and I could tell the difference.
4. Vicks humidifier or any other humidifier
We used the Vicks Starry Night Cool Moisture Humidifier. Just because I loved the stars on the ceiling and the little Vicks filters which was an additional soothing effect for the little one. Any cold mist humidifier should be good and help to moisture the little one’s airway.
5. Fluid
Keep those bottles or breast milk flowing. Even if your baby doesn’t want to eat, it is so important to keep them hydrated. Offer every hour a bit over the day. It helps also with the fever.
6. The last one and my last resort: Tylenol for infants (PLEASE CONSULT OR CALL YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE)
The thing with Tylenol is that it is not supposed to be given for children under 2 except when ordered by the doctor. The amount of Tylenol is based of your baby’s weight and therefore I would call your pediatrician BEFORE you give it to your baby. I gave our son Tylenol to help him a bit over the first day and after that I gave it to him only at nights for around 3 days/nights. It helped him to eat properly. You know how you feel when you get a nasty cold, right? I can not survive without Dayquil and so I did not want my baby to suffer either.
7. LOVE
LOTS of it! They need it! If they want to sleep on your chest over the day, let them. They feel so miserable that they need you. The warmth, your smell, your heartbeat. We even put the little “snuggle me” bed in the middle of our bed between me and my husband for two nights to give our baby as much love as possible.
8. Change his clothes a couple times per day
My son sweat a lot during his cold, which was good, and so I changed him basically every diaper change into a new onesie. I don’t know if that was the trick, but I remember that my Mom used to do it with me when I was a kiddo. She said: “you are sweating out all these bacteria” (though of course not literally).
I decided to not give cough medicine because I wanted that my little one get this horrible cough out of his body and with coughing medicine it just get stuck down there (this was according to the doctor, too).
I am not a doctor and I’m just telling you about my experience. My baby was 4 months old and had a fever of a 102 for a couple hours, and so we had to go to the ER. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommend contacting your child’s doctor when:
- Under 3 Months: a fever of 100.4 F or higher, even if there are no other signs/symptoms of illness
- 3 to 6 Month: a fever of 101 F or higher
- Over 6 months: A fever 103 F or higher
- A fever of any kind and any age of your child which last more than 24-48 hours.
Always measure your baby’s fever rectally. It is more accurate than the forehead or under-arm measurement.
Leave a Comment