Give me the lowdown - baby's first cold

[ChubbyScotsBurd]

DP and I can both feel it brewing, and everyone we know has had it so it's a matter of time.

He's 3.5 months and totally breastfed. What's going to happen and what can I do about it? Tell me all I need to know, because I think when I wake up tomorrow I'm going to feel like crap!

It's pretty manky, sorry. DS was about the same age when he got his first cold, totally bf too. We had a couple of nights when he just slept propped up on me, feeding on and off. I got it too and felt pretty ropey.

There are practical things you can try to help them be less bunged up, steamy bathroom, karvol/snufflebabe etc, but the main thing is just to get through it - you have my sympathies...

steamy bathroom, even joining you in the shower is good. also popping the cot end up on telephone books and sticking a bowl of hot water with olbas oil underneath at bed time.

If he gets a cough with it he may be spectacularly sick due to the pressure of coughing. Grim

Ds lost a pound in weight during his first cold (16wks) because of this but he made up for it afterwards by feeding like a newborn again and went straight back onto his original centile line in no time.

I found that propping up the end of his cot helped a bit, and in fact during the worst few days he slept quite upright in his buggy mostly. Karvol did help a bit.

Take him to the doctor's if you're ever worried. I was told that they'd rather see little babies sooner than later, even if you're sure it's "just" a cold.

Oh, and keep breastfeeding. It might be tricky due to stuffiness but it's the best thing for them.

We use the karvol vaporiser, which seems to work. Also the easy breathe vapour stick. Don't put it on your breast though, to help with the feeding - menthol is really bad for babies. DD slept on me during the bad nights Pain in the neck (literally) but it really helped.

yep we've had the coughing=spewing thing in the last few days, it's not fun. we got a humidifier (one of these) for dd1's cough last week and while it didn't seem to do much for her it really did seem to work for the baby - she wouldn't be put down so i'd sit next to it in the cloud of steam while she fed/slept. i was given some good advice on this thread earlier in the week.

when DS had his first cold at 5.5 months I thought I was going to die - his nose was completely blocked and he could only get relieif propped up on me sitting up -sleep deprivation all over again. then I discovered a wonderous thing called Medised which contains anithistamine and unblocks little noses. Every cold since has been a breeze.

Another vote here for medised, fantastic stuff! I also used Carvol put on a muslin at the far end of his cot. Babies can't really breathe out of their mouths until about 6 months and my DS really struggled to feed when he was bunged up so we were advised by NHS Direct to pop a drop of saline solition (from chemist) up each nostril and use a "nasal aspirator" (snot sucker) to get the gunk out. Vile! You can get them from Boots or Mothercare. It also helped to feed him in a fairly upright position. I hope your little one doesn't pick anything up though. Mine only suffered for about 48 hours - me and DP were ill for a week!

how do you get medised into them? dd2 loves calpol but just bubbles medised straight back out. have tried spoon/syringe to no avail.

with difficulty! I lie DS back in a cradle position and DP does something stupid to make him laugh. Then in it goes! I keep him tipped back, gently holding his mouth closed and tickle his throat which makes him swallow. I also find 2 small spoonfulls goes down better than 1 large one.

lol like giving a pill to a cat cool, will give it a go next time.

Thanks all! I'm feeling a bit scratchy today but nothing major, and aside from frequent waking and feeding in the night and vomiting all over me this morning DS seems OK. I have been taking notes though, so thank you all!