HELP - How can I help my poorly baby to sleep?

[AbbyLou]

Dd is 8 months old and has waht I think is really just a cold. I say just but she is really suffering poor thing. For the past 3 days she has had a streaming nose and an awful hacking, chesty cough. I think she has a sore throat too because everytime she coughs she cries out. The problem is she is not sleeping. At all. She normally does 12 hours easily at night and has a couple of naps during the day. For the last 3 days she has had no sleep at all and last night she only had about 4 hours I think. Every time she drops off she coughs and it wakes her up again and the whole cycle of screaming, coughing, dozing starts again. Dh and I are exhausted as well as her as ds is ill too. I really need to get some sleep tonight. What can I do to help her? I hate seeing her like this, she is normally so cheerful. Last night she had her mattress propped up higher, Karvol drops on a bib tied on the cot and even Medised. None of them did the trick.

Cough mixture and neurofen - works with mine. Can't remember the minimum age though so it could be dodgy advice!

sit in streamed bathroom for 10 mins before bed to de congest her poor thing and put small amount of vix on her chest and back

also give the medised as well as once you have steamed it will help with breathing

keep the room ventilated as coughs become dryer at night and if you have central heating will dry her throat out which will cause cough to worsen

have you taken her to doctor at all my ds has just gotten over crouop and this is really painful for them with there throat

signs were awful cough and sore throat maybe worth just checking if you havent already

hoope she feels better soon and ds

Thanks everyone. Don't have a vaporiser but might be able to nip out and get some Vicks. I will definitely try sittng her in te steamy bathroom before bed. When you say keep the room ventilated do you mean the window open? I always worry they will get more cold. I don't think it's croup as there is not that awful noise when she breathes in. I haven't taken her to drs because i always feel as though I'm wasting their time. Dh took ds last week with an awful sore throat, earache and a cough. A virus. Of course. Isn't it always?

My dd was exactly the same (still is), she was diagnosed with bronchiolitis and has been coughing for weeks.

Yesterday I bought an ultrasonic humidifier from argos £25 and it seems to have loosened her chest a bit.....she's still coughing but better.

Have you tried utting vicks on her feet? Some old wives tale!

Whenever ds gets a sniffle I usually use this

www.livingaidsonline.co.uk/acatalog/vaporisers-humidifiers.html

Sometimes I don't bother as it is usually packed away in between colds and if ds doesn't seem too bad I just leave it but I invariably regret it.

Whenever we use this at the first sign of a cold ds seems less likely to get the 'complications' that come with colds in young children such as ie ear infections and he does seem to sleep better. His cough always sounds less dry after this has been on for a while as well.

We call it the hubbly bubbly in our house but be warned ds's room has paper starting to come off the walls a bit as the steam creates so much condensation.

Pinkpeanut what is bronchiloitis? I have heard of it but I suppose I always associated it with younger babies. Do you think I should get dd checked out?

Bronchiolitis is an infection of the really small airways in the lungs. My dd is 9mo. I was worried when she had a fever, was breathing really fast and had a temp. I expected them to say oh she's fine, but she was admitted and started antibiotics, after an xray showed her lungs were patchy.

I would definitely get it checked out, the worst the gp can say is she's fine, and then at least it has put your mind to rest. Gp's really dont mind when they are little. If you thought she was quite bad, I would even call your emergency gp (I usually see mine through NHS direct)

Good luck, I'll be thinking of you tonight as I'm up listening to my dd cough!

P.S Bronchiolitis is rife at the mo

I always raised the cot at one end with a couple of encyclopedias [you know - the big books we used to look up things, before the internet ]. and tie a muslim with Carvol on it to the side of the cot the help with the breathing.
I don't envy you, it's hellish when they have a cold when they are tiny.

I skimmed the OP and have now read it completely and feel like a total fool

You have already done that .

I hope she feels better soon.

Don't worry ILiveinHope, thanks for trying to help. I gave her a nice warm bath earlier and then turned on the shower to create some steam. She wouldn't take any milk but has been asleep since about 7pm. She is coughing a lot but so far it hasn't woken her up. Fingers crossed please. I'm not getting escited though as last night she was fine until I went to bed at 10.20 and she started as soon as my head hit the pillow!! If she seems no better tomorrow I may try and get an appointment with the dr. Thanks for the info Pinkpeanut.

Well she slept better last night thank god. She woke lots of times but went stright back to sleep once I'd put her dummy back in. This morning she's still very unhappy, coughing and refusing to feed so I'm going to make her a drs appointment just to be safe.

DS had bronchiolitis at around the same age, with similar symptoms, so def. a possibility I'd say. If she isn't feeding then she may need to go to hospital for them to keep an eye on her (DS was in for three days on oxygen but didn't need a feeding tube in the end).

I wouldn't say she was having trouble breathing. She sounds a bit wheezy but I always think that when they're ill and they then say their chest is clear! She's just had about 3oz of milk and that's all she can manage. I don't think she's really interested in it but every time she's tries to drink she just coughs.

Well we're back and I'm really glad I went as she has a chest infection and had been given antibiotics. Dr said I was a sensible mum (polishes halo) for not rushing straight down there but waiting! Hopefully the poor little thing will start to pick up now.

Hi, I'm glad you've got a diagnosis and some treatment. Hope your lo gets well soon.

Hope she is feeling alot better today AL.