Baby's first cold 8 months old

[LuckyKitty13]

DD is almost 8 months old and for 5 days now has been struggling with her first cold. Snotty, sneezing and mucousy cough. She seems not too bad in the day but the nights have been awful, awake every hour coughing, sometimes she coughs so hard she vomits. Crying and doesn't want to feed. This is so unlike her as she is usually a good sleeper. I've been getting up with her and putting her in the sling as she seems better when upright. But we bed share on a matress on the floor so I cant prop it up to raise her head.

She has refused all solid food for 3 days, but is still breastfeeding okay, but she doesn't feed as long as she cant feed and breath very well with a blocked nose. Im having to express some milk as feeling a bit full, so I'm sure this means shes not taking as much as usual? Still having wet and dirty nappies. No temperature. Takes sips of water from an open cup.

I'm using saline drops in her nose, a calpol plug in, and snuffle baby vapour rub on a muslin near her. I gave her some paracetamol the night before last as she cried for an hour in the sling and I just didnt know what she wanted. Shes also teething which doesn't help.

Can I do anything else to help her, the nights are so awful, my husband and I are both exhausted. We both have the virus too. How long until shes better?! I've looked up the symptoms of bronchiolitis and shes not showing them at the moment thank goodness, but I am worried about her. Any advice from experienced mums?

Hi, @LuckyKitty13 - really sorry to hear about your poor DD. Hope she's on the mend soon.

We've moved your thread over to Chat and hopefully folk will be along soon with some useful pointers.

Try a humidifier, its make a big difference for us! You can get snufflebabe oil to go in it. Can you rest propped up on pillows with baby asleep on your chest for some of the night when she's really struggling?

My sympathies, have the same situation (down to the floor mattress and co sleeping) with my 9 month old! Except thanks to nursery, we are on maybe the 10th severe cold...

I can’t offer any advise as all my suggestions you’re already doing! Have you tried propping up the head of her cot/crib with some books, just a little? It helped my daughter cough a bit less.

My daughter has had bronchiolitis twice. It can be serious, but often isn’t, and is very very common in babies. Try not to panic.

My HV said to offer less milk more often if she’s struggling to feed 1 for BF I guess this means just offering the breast more regularly.

Keep an eye on her breathing - you've already looked up the symptoms but it's bronchiolitis season and a previous poster said, very common. Hope it will clear up soon.

Thanks so much. I've ordered a humidifier! Thank goodness for amazon prime

And gosh 10th cold! How are you coping?!

Same as everyone else, lots of caffeine and co sleeping!

Bless her, my 9 month old is just getting over a dreadful cold and he got his first 2 teeth at the same time.

I found nurofen better than calpol. Plus you only have to wrestle 2.5ml into them rather than 5.

Have you got a snot sucker?

Ha, sexnotgender, I like nurofen for the exact same reason!!!!

My daughter hates the snot sucker and acts like it’s a medieval torture device. I’d say it’s a 2 person job to use it but really it’s 3 - one to do the sucking, one to hold her head still and a third to hold her hands out the way so she doesn’t grab it 🤦‍♀️

I did debate a snot sucker, but it's a battle enough to get the saline drops in! We use paracetamol suppositories so don't have to battle anything into the mouth thank goodness - they are brilliant.

Thanks so much for all your advice

When my 4 month old was too snort and congested to sleep I found turning the shower on hot and sitting in the bathroom with her worked wonders. I would sit on the loo seat with her face down on my knees so gravity could also help clear her nose, and after 20 minutes or so she could breathe enough to get a good feed and a couple of hours sleep. I was doing this a couple of times a night - if you’re going to be sitting awake anyway it might be worth a try!

The humidifier worked so well last night! DD slept a 4 hour chunk and a 2 hour chunk! phew, I feel slightly more human