(Almost) five month old has a cough and a cold (FTM)

[user666555]

Morning,

As the title suggests, my almost five month old has a cough and a cold. She's had these symptoms for just over a week after attending her cousin's birthday party.

She's not got a temperature, her breathing sounds normal - although her nose is congested and this can be heard when she's breathing. However, she does not currently have any wheezing. She's drinking milk as normal. Wet and dirty nappies too.

Do I need to do anything? I called the GP surgery for some advice. They said to go off of my own judgement as her mother. I said that she's drinking milk, has wet and dirty nappies, doesn't have a fever so I don't think she's in need of seeing a GP just yet. The receptionist then said to call them back if she gets worse.

We've recently moved so I do need to register with a new GP as the previous surgery isn't in our area.

Should I have got her seen? Do I just wait it out? Anything I can do to help her? How long will it last?

I feel guilty that she's ill. (I know this sounds stupid because it's inevitable that she'll get ill) all I keep trying to tell myself is that hopefully she'll develop her immune system.

First time mum so a bit clueless about this all. Sorry if it sounds stupid. A very tired mama whose baby kept her up all night 🙈😭

I forgot to mention that although she doesn't have a temperature her cheeks are quite rosey.

Sounds completely normal, although very unpleasant when it happens! If you feel the congestion is an issue then you can get snot sucker things. Steam also helps so I often sat with the baby on my lap in the bathroom while DP had a hot shower (or vice versa). Sling is a godsend as certainly all my two wanted to do was be held when they were ill. I just let them sleep whenever they liked too rather than sticking to any sort of routine.

Our GP always spoke about "well in themselves", so basically if they've clearly got all the symptoms of a cold but they're doing fine - eating, wet nappies, engaging - then hold out for the cold to pass. If they're not their normal self (unusually lethargic, not eating, etc) then worth getting them seen for peace of mind.