constant colds - is this normal?

[emz31]

my ds is 6MO and has only had 2 colds since he was born, however in last 3 weeks he has had a permanent one. i'm sure it's different ones as he is well for perhaps a day in between than comes over all snotty again. is there anything i can give him to help him through it and is this normal??

Yes, it is normal. Horrible, but normal IME. I'd do Calpol, baby Nurofen (you can give together if he is miserable with a temperature) or Medised, raise the head of his cot to help him breathe and a steamy bath before bed, plus plenty of fluids - breastfeed as much as he wants if you are breastfeeding.

thnks aloha - phew. do i give full dose of both calpol and baby nurefen at same thime? have jsut given up BF this weekend (when he was apparantly feeling better!) and he's taken a bottle, but not much , also is off food and doesn't seem interested inwater - is it also normal for them to be very sleepy and lethargic? - took him to drs for his ongoing cough this morning and she said his chest was ok - but still feel worried.

Yes it is normal especially at this time of year when everyone has some bug or another. I gave my dd calpol to relieve the cold and put a few drops of Karvol on her cot blanket to help her sleep and if she was particularly bad I put a few drops on her babygro during the day, it did seem to help.

You can give both at once, but it's more effective I think to give them alternately to reduce the gap between medications - ie after two hours instead of four, say.
I found breastfeeding to be a lifesaver when ds had a cold just to keep his fluids up.
I feel sleepy and lethargic if I'm ill, so I would think a baby might feel the same. But keep an eye on him and if he gets worse go back to GP.

emz31 - my dd was 6 months when I gave up bfeeding (end of March 04) and she had a cold on and off for the next few months. When you stop bfeeding they loose your immunity and tend to catch more of the bugs going around. Good news is by about 2 months later they have developed their own immunity and then they are fine.

thanks guys - i had an inkling it may be to do with giving up BF. do you find you catch each cold as well? as i seem to have been ill with it for nearly as long as he has!

We had this with DS from the age of 10 months until about 20 months. He just seemed to get rid of one and then onto another. We even had him to an ENT specialist who said that around that sort of age, babies start to lose their mothers immunity that they get from breastmilk but haven't built up their own. Go with the advice so far. I always gave baby nurofen first and then if he needed a little extra, gave calpol.

you beat me to it by asking this question.Ever since the week before christmas by 3 month old has been snotty literally every other day. i mentioned it to hv on tuesday when i took him for jabs and yes it's absolutely normal. I also have 12yr old, 8 yr old and 6 yr old and from about november to march there is always someone in our house with cold. i've gone the karvol on a hanky tied to playgym and cot route. roll on july! We also have a reflux problem so we have snot & sick to contend with!

I've used snufflebabe with dd from 3 months when she has had colds, it's the most gentle vapour rub.