7 week old dd with bad cough. please help

[tysmaw]

hi, my dd is 7 weeks old and has had a bit of a snuffly nose for the past few days and yesterday developed a cough as well. it seems to have got worse and worse i had her at the docs this morning and her chest and everything is clear and he thinks it is just a cold, but this cough is really upsetting me and her. it seems to happen after every feed and lasts for well over a minute and makes her face go bright red. i just feel so helpless and i'm terrified she's going to choke (she has sticky mucas) or stop breathing, even though i know it's irrational. has anyone else had a baby this young with a cough? what can i do to help her? thanks

My dd had a cold at 5w. Not fun at all, so I can quite sympathise with your distress. There's not a lot you can do to help her other than tip her cot up a bit (a brick or a fat book under the head-end feet of the cot), and humidify her room. Though in this heat the last thing you want is to add warm steam. Something that sometimes helps a cough is to hold her upright on your lap, and hold your hand cupped slightly over her mouth and nose. Not tightly! This makes her breathe a bit of the exhaled air which is warmer and moister than the 'fresh' air, and therefore less irritating. It also increases the amount of carbon dioxide she breathes in, which in turn triggers the body to breathe more regularly. This works particularly if the cough is due to irritation rather than illness, but I'm sure it won't hurt to try it out.

get the little bottles of salt water to put up her nose to clear it.

put a little bit of vicks on her clothes.

keep her head higher than her feet (prop up bed up at the head when she sleeps)
Take her in the shower with you, the moisture will help clear the nose and bronchials.
get lots of fresh air.
Hope she gets better.

hi, thanks for the advice. her cough got really bad through the night so we took her to the hospital where they diagnosed an upper respitory infection. i've been giving her calpol as advised by doc, and i've raised one end of her crib. i'll be trying out the other bits of advice through the day. thanks again :)