Tips on the Common Cold

[fefifofum]

My very unhappy 6mo ds has his first cold, anything I can do to make him more comfortable? I suppose I should disinfect his toys? Should I give him tylenol? He can't suck his dummy now, a good time to wean... ?

Calpol might help, raising the cot at head end by placing a blanket underneath the mattress?
Olbas oil on a cotton pad on a radiator?
Take babs into the bathroom and let the steam from the atmosphere breth into his lungs?
Offer plenty of water.

I posted this on your other thread:

You don't need to go around disinfecting his toys. Believe me, he'll have plenty more illnesses - you'll make yourself crazy if you do that every time! Just make sure you, and anyone else in your family, wash your hands frequently, but you'll probably catch it anyway, sorry to say.

You could put something under the head of his mattress to raise it a little bit - that will help him sleep better. Besides that, let him nurse/have a bottle as often as he wants, and wait till it passes.

Tylenol and calpol are the same, if it helps.
I'm off out now myself actually, to stock up on cold remedies for dd. Someone suggested a Karvol vaporiser, thought I'd try it.

bad luck. colds are yuck. i'm afraid that the first couple of winters tend to full of colds for the little ones as they have no immunity.

my dd is nearly 2 and i've never disinfected her toys. in terms of making your ds more comfortable, i swear by karvol decongestant drops in her bed (and on clothes during the day, if you like) with the window open. calpol will help bring down a temperature.

dd has a dummy too and has problems sucking it with a cold but seems to manage. she does get a bit disturbed in the night though. i don't know what tylenol is - perhaps someone else can help with that.

6 months is a good time to wean anyway but remember that it'll be a whole new experience swallowing something other than milk and he might find it harder if he's finding it difficult to breathe.

HTH and that he gets better soon.

If you want to keep down his intake of calpol (because of the paracetamol in it), try alternating it with liquid ibuprofen (ie calpol, then ibuprofen after 4 hrs, then back to calpol). My GP recommended doing this.

Rub (generously) Vicks Vapour Rub on the soles of his feet at night time as there are some reflexology points there (pay particular attention to the insteps and the balls of the feet) and this should help his breathing.
I do this for DS and also for myself and DH. We think it works and the worse that it can do is nothing.

I'm guessing that you're in the US, fefifofum? As Mrs Dolittle said, whenever someone refers to Calpol, it's the same as Tylenol.

Does he like taking a bath? The Johnson's menthol baby bath is soothing when they have colds, and Johnson's also do a menthol cream - along the lines of Vicks but not as harsh - that you can rub on his chest afterwards.

Thanks everyone, great suggestions. My mum left some Calpol on her last visit so I'll try that (yup, I'm overseas), and I'll see if our shops have the Olbas oil and Karvol, Vicks etc or something similar.

He has finally gone down for a nap, it took a long walk to do it, I thought the fresh air might help clear his pipes.

Thanks again.

Where are you located fefifofum?