baby's first really nasty cold

[beanlet]

My 5-month-old DS has his first cold, and it's a doozy. (Both his parents have it too.) He has a nasty hacking mucus-y cough, a snotty nose, and sometimes wheezing. He's sleeping a bit more than usual, but doesn't have a temperature, and much of the day he's quite cheery, so I'm not concerned it's anything worse than a cold (at least not yet).

Is there anything I should or could be doing to make him feel better? Should I be using one of those nasal aspirator thingies to clear his nostrils? What should I be looking out for if it is going to turn into something worse?

I know this is a trivial problem in comparison with a lot of other people's issues. Just feeling really bad for him, poor little chap.

You could raise the head end of his cot up (with books) to help keep his airways clear.
Let him feed as much as he wants.
Hope he feels better soon.First cold at 5 months is good going.

ahh poor love. olibas oil, i sprinkle directly on bodysuit chest area, and raising the cot, lower the heating a little. i always feel more bunged up if heating high

Good idea -- thanks. We're lucky I think that he was a summer baby, otherwise I'm sure he would have had several by now.

Poor you, and poor ds. It's tough.

Can you put some saline drops up his nose a few times a day, it really helps the snot come out. I use a nasal aspirator thingy a few minutes after the drops.

Humidify the air, either with a bowl of water by the radiator, damp washing spread around the house or with a specific humidifier gadget.

Ahhh bless, but as fidelma said, that's good going!

Our DD has been bunged up since she was born and is now 18 months old. But it's horrid to hear especially when they don't know how to blow their nose to relieve it - having said that DD already blows her nose really well - she had to learn quick!

I would definitely go with raising the head of the cot, olbas oil drops on the bodysuit or karvol (or maybe alternate between the two over a few nights) and the saline drops occasionally work, but don't last very long, perhaps 30 mins at most.

But MOST important, is to have air flow in the room. Obviously keep an eye on the temperature but our DD is always much less bunged up when we have window open a touch. If you don't want to risk baby getting too cold, maybe open your window and leave baby's door open a touch (if they're in their own room) to allow the air to circulate.

HTH

Thanks so much for all this advice. We survived the night OK with the humidifier on and the cot tilted -- in fact, I was probably more concerned by DH's unusually scary snoring. Baby woke himself up quite a bit with coughing, but he breastfed just fine, and it helped when I took him into the bed with us and propped his head on my arm. Off to buy olbas oil.