3 month old - first cold

[CrissCrossss]

My 3 month old baby has a cold. At first I was panicking because I didn't know why she seemed so unwell. We've seen the health visitor who said to be checking temp etc which we've been doing.
Temp is fine each time we check.
She's coughing, sneezing, has pink watery eyes. She's been screaming for the last 4 hours. Nothing we were doing was helping. We've just given her some calpol. Is this ok?? She's 13 weeks.

The health visitor said not to the other day - not sure why. But we have because she was screaming and seems in pain. She hasn't done a poo for 2 days either.
And today, she's only drank 2 bottles and that was an effort trying to get her to drink that.
We've also used the sniffle nasal drops.

I'm just so worried really. Any help, advice etc will be appreciated.

Also since her having the calpol, she stopped crying around 10 mins later and has fallen asleep.

It is not universally recommended to give medication in the absence of a temperature, it may be why the HV said not to. But presumably you gave a product that was recommended for your child's age and gave the right dose.

Babies scream when they feel unhappy, uncomfortable - not necessarily 'pain'. You would have to be in hideous pain to scream the way a baby does, but you are an adult who can express yourself in other ways.

It is really scary when your baby is ill but the basics are very important - are they weeing? Keep a record of everything so you can review. Offer milk more often in smaller amounts if they are not drinking as much as usual and keep a record. Take temperature regularly but not too frequently.

Always remember that you can ask for a doctor to check your baby if you have any worries.

It's hard at that age because she may have a sore throat or earache with the coke. My DD used to get these a lot and still does. Snuffle babe is good for babies. It's baby vix xx

I highly recommend the book 'What to Expect the 1st Year'. It's written by health professionals and is very reassuring. x

@nibblette
Thank you. I'll have a look at that x

I just feel really worried. She was literally screaming for about 4 hours. She's had the cough since Saturday and then started being congested. We got the saline nose drops which she hates! The snuffle babe vix as well. And the calpol plug in.
Does this sound normal for a cold? She's only had the 2 bottles of milk today.
2 x 5oz.
Normally she has a bottle every 2.5 hours.
She's on both formula and expressed breast milk.

Really awful when they have a cold. Not much you can really do unfortunately other than keep offering milk often, take temperature at regular intervals, give Calpol as needed and try and keep them upright as much as you can by letting them nap on your shoulder. This always helped mine a lot when they had colds, as they tended to get a lot of mucus settling on their chest otherwise which was very distressing for them and disturbed their sleep.

I wonder if she doesn't want to feed because her nose is blocked?
saline nose drops are completely harmless and work very well. Available at all pharmacies.

If you’re worried - especially about a baby or a young child - then you should always seek medical advice. It’s simply not worth taking any chances and nobody here can make that call when we can’t see the baby. Whilst it’s probably just a cold and nothing to worry about, you should get advice if you’re unsure. Call 111, OP. They should be able to help you.

@MrsSkylerWhite
Yes we've been giving her the saline drops. She hates them and screams crying when we give them. But we've given them every 4 hours or so.

@Puppers
We called 111 and they said it just sounds like a cold. And the health visitor saw her too just yesterday.

@CrissCrossss how is she this morning?

@Puppers
Thank you for asking.
She's Coughing quite a bit more. Not drinking much milk. I expressed some into a bottle and she drank about 3oz. She usually has 5.
She drank a full 5oz bottle at 5am but then brought it back up 10 seconds after. I had started winding her, she coughed and the whole lot came up.

@CrissCrossss did she manage some more milk throughout the day? If she’s gone 2 days now with very limited fluids it might be worth another call to 111.

@Puppers
We called 111 again last night. They said they would get the doctor to call us back so we stayed awake as long as possible and then I saw they had called at 3am!! I missed the call but they didn't call again.
We got a GP appointment for first thing this morning. They said they're happy with what they've seen. And to give her regular paracetamol. We do have some calpol in.
She's been drinking her milk today which I'm really glad about as I was more worried yesterday. But she's definitely had much more today.

@CrissCrossss really glad to hear she seems to be doing better and taking more fluids. It’s very worrying when they’re so little and they go downhill so quickly. Hopefully she will be back to her usual self before you know it x

My DS had a cold / turned bronchitis at similar age. He also wasn't drinking much and, after a really scary chocking episode, we took him to A&E (where they said he had bronchitis).

Anyway, the reason I've explained that is because the DR told us that it's harder for them to drink much when they have colds etc as when their tummies are full it pushes up to their lungs and makes it harder for them to breathe so they usually take less milk.

I'm glad your DD seems better today - it's horrible when they're so little and poorly!!!!

It's so scary isn't it when they're small. And I was worried of the possibility of something like bronchitis so I'm glad it isn't. My anxiety was so high already.
I feel so much better now she's been checked by the GP.
DP & I are also now full of a cold.

She's definitely drinking more now and didn't cough as much last night so hopefully it is shifting.
Thank you all for your lovely comments.

Could you all have covid?

@Ivy90
I've been testing the last 2 days but it's been negative. But I'm going to test again as I have been wondering that.