When to go to Dr with cold/cough

[IJustWoreMyTrenchcoat]

Questioning my own judgement with my 5 month old PFB.

I think he has a cold- he's stuffy, has a cough (not regular, but having coughing fits especially at night). Sore throat I think, struggling to take all his bottles, taking cool boiled water inbetween. He's been very unsettled the last 2 nights. No fever but feels a bit clammy.

I thought maybe teething as he's drooling a lot, biting down etc. and when I googled I read about a 'teething cough' but I'm not sure. Last time I thought he was just unsettled he turned out to have tonsillitis.

He's normally quite sicky, but has been bad today even for him.

Normally I'd be saying 'don't be stupid -taking a child to doctors with a cold!' But actually in your case I do think you should go sooner rather than later.

Something I've learnt with my pfb is to trust my instincts. A couple of times I have been the neurotic mother at the gp surgery but a couple of other times my ds needed hospital admission and I was glad I went to doctors. If you are worried then you should go. Wishing your ds well x

My experience with Drs and small babies is that they would always rather see them and reassure you, than not see them and have them become very ill. It might be nothing, it might be an infection, and things can progress very quickly with babies. If it's been a few days and your instincts are saying things aren't quite right, get them checked.

DS had a bit of a cough and cold, off milk, generally unsettled. DH has asthma and was more concerned than I was, because of his history I guess, but I went to the dr anyway expecting to be told viral, give paracetamol and steam etc. He had bronchiolitis and needed inhalers, but was not hospitalised because we caught it early. Trust your instincts, you know what's normal for your LO. Hope it passes soon x

As soon as you like.

When it comes to babies, doctors dint mind. Hope he feels better soon x

Hello, thanks all. Just to report back, I phoned the Dr this morning after a sleepless night. He is fine - just a cold, she could see lots of mucus in his throat, a bit of inflammation and he at least coughed in there so the Dr heard him rattling. But she couldn't hear anything on his chest, glands not swollen so I am somewhat reassured.

He is still feeling sorry for himself, and has been screaming a fair bit tonight, I am back to thinking it may be his teeth coming through (he is drooling a lot, biting down on everything and seems to be pushing his tongue back and forth over his gums) so I have added teething gel to my arsenal just in case.

I was looking at threads I started and thought I'd update: my baby was wheezing so badly, coughing to the point of choking and was all stuffy and off his milk. His temp was hovering about 38.2/38.3 so we made a second trip back to the same (locum) Dr who still said just viral, all was fine, there was nothing on his chest.

I phoned NHS Direct on Friday as I was so worried because he wasn't drinking much, had a fever and had coughed up a ball of phlegm, I didn't believe it was viral. We saw a different Dr at an emergency appointment at my surgery and the poor thing has a chest infection which the Dr said was very low down.

The Dr was lovely, told me never to be afraid to take him in, so unlike the locum who every time I mentioned a symptom said 'yes, my daughter has been like that' making me feel completely over the top.

So glad you finally got him sorted and hope he's on the road to recovery now. x