Sick baby, unhelpful GP

[HeartyBlueReader]

Hi everyone, im a FTM and am finding it hard to know what the right thing to do is?!
My baby girl is 9 months old, she started nursery the beginning of this month! She unfortunately caught a viral infection/cold, coughing, runny nose, fever & conjunctivitis - I took her to the GP as she has never been ill before and I panicked as her temp had spiked. She was given antibiotics and eyedrops.
Fast forward 3 weeks later, she seems better in herself but she cannot shake this cough or mucus. Because of this, she’s coughing and gagging when eating food and ending up vomiting. She is also doing the same with her bottles and will bring the majority of 1-2 bottles up a day.. I spoke with 111 who said I need to speak with someone ‘within the hour’ and they will get an OOH doctor to call me back (the doctor called me back 14 hours later?!) .. I was told that as long as she is wetting her nappies & doesnt have a fever then there is nothing I can do?
I’m worried she’s not getting the nutrition, vitamins etc that she needs more than anything as this has gone on for around 5 days now and the mucus isn’t shifting. I’m giving her water, using a saline spray, baby vapour rub on her chest/back, humidifier, snot sucker but literally she is still the same.
please can anyone give me any other suggestions😢

sodding colds can take weeks to shake off,poor sweetheart. You can get olbus oil which you can put in the humidifier.

Its gonna take her a little while to get better but she will recover try not to worry. Unfortunately the joys of nursery she gonna get sick quite often for the next year.

You need to contact your GP and take her back. If no luck there take her to A &E. She’s a young baby and you shouldn’t worry about pushing to get her what she needs especially if she’s not feeding.

If she is coughing and struggling to bring it up, try taking her into the bathroom and running the shower on hot so it gets really steamy. Hold her upright and pat her back to loosen the phlegm. Stay in there for as long as is comfortable.

She will be fine not eating well for a while. Babies are happily pretty robust. But you might want to try feeding her little and often instead of following your normal route. So, instead of an 8oz bottle, give her 2oz, let it settle and then give her 2 more. Give her lots of little snacks, especially things like fruit that are not likely to make her feel sick (milk may not be helping).

As long as she is weeing, has no fever, is not excessively drowsy and seems broadly fine she shouldn't need medical attention.

It's a cold.

If she's having wet nappies then she's getting enough. Give her vitamin drops if you're worried about that.

It can be really difficult, these viral infections and their symptoms can take weeks and weeks to shift. That being said, it's worth getting her in to your GP for a face to face appointment for them to listen to her chest in case she needs further antibiotics.
That said, it could be that she doesn't have any further chest infection and that time is all you need to ride it out. There's not a lot else you can do other than what you are doing, it's really rough I know!

@Nursemumma92 @Okayornot @letshavetea @rosydreams thank you all so much for your kind words & advice 💕 so helpful and reassuring!

@RabbitsEatPancakes I am fully aware of what it is. I asked for advice on how to get rid of her mucus as it has been nearly a week of her being sick. Im a first time mum so wouldn’t know what is normal and what isnt.

My 18 month DD is the same. She hasn't been fully well since November! Have taken her to the GP 3 times and they've just said it's normal when at nursery over winter for them to get back to back illnesses which take ages to go! It's horrid!

Sounds weird but try an onion cut in half in her room - it's meant to draw out mucus and ease coughing. Worked with my daughter!

Steam her so run the bath or shower close the door and sit in there on the loo or something with her and let the steam get to work . You can ever add drops or vapour rub to the hot water so it's helping as well

She might just need time to get better. They are right that generally wet nappies and taking a bit of food aren't a major concern. They haven't got a magic wand either. Viral stuff can take ages to shift.

Any reason why you rang 111 and not your GP? 111 will always say you need to be seen fast with an under one.

She need a GP appointment to rule out a bacterial chest infection.

My 3 year old has always suffered terribly with coughs - the aftermath of a cold / viral infection will last about 6 weeks. We did eventually get an inhaler to help with the nighttime coughing fits. My younger DD doesn’t at all, I think some kids are just worse affected by other unfortunately. If she’s really coughing it up, maybe try feeding little and often (fewer smaller feeds rather than a couple of big feeds), a humidifier helped us a lot, saline spray then snot suck and the inhaler. My bedside table looks like a pharmacy the minute she comes down with a cold because they just seem to really get to her. Hope she feels better soon xx

Some kids get more ill from colds than others. Mine has asthma and any cold goes straight to their chest. Don’t worry too much though, they are all unwell this time of year and it should get better in spring/summer. It doesn’t sound like there is anything too serious going on with your little one.

@Bristolinfeb I rang 111 because it was the weekend & evening time. There was no other concerns and am fully aware that it is her cough/mucus thats making her gag and be sick. No fever, no drowsiness etc. Do you not know how hard it is to even get through to a GP these days nevermind get an appointment???

Get her in a hot steamy bathroom for half an hour, it softens the mucus. Then I do chest and back taps to dislodge some, and cough it up. This twice a day.

it's likely that if it's viral, antibiotics won't touch it.

Vitamin d supplements as well if she's not on them.

Best of luck OP, it's not nice when they're ill

Stop giving her milk.
DD had this bug or whatever it is and was admitted to hospital as she was very lethargic almost unconscious at times as had no strength.

I was told to stop with the milk, she ate some solids and was drinking squash and water.

@Glitchymn1 Ah so sorry, I hope she is better now! My baby isnt doing very well with her foods either thatsvwhy am worried becauee if its mashed up shes gagging on it and ending up being sick or proper solids she l takes a couple bites and throws it on the floor or just plays with it😣

@Jinglesomeoftheway Thank you so much ill try this! X

Calm down. I know it’s stressful when your child is ill but being unpleasent to people who are giving up their time to offer advice is great. I was just asking for the reason as it was an on going issue it would be normal to see the GP unless things had suddenly got much worse.

I find even the most busy dr make space for emergency appointments for a baby if you ring them first thing in the morning.

I would ring your GP surgery first thing tomorrow and ask for an emergency appointment.

I would be very wary about not giving a poorly milk unless you’ve had specific medical advice. The generic advice is it doesn’t matter if ill children don’t want to eat but it’s important they drink.

Kindly, I don't think a stressed first time mum should be told to calm down - she's on here for advice and is understandably worried & it doesn't need to descend into a back and forth.

I second the opinion of not stopping milk until you've been given medical advice to do so - I'd personally be giving as much fluid as I could to ensure they're fully hydrated.

Thank you- I’m going back a couple of years. We never really got to the bottom of it as such. Was just told that they’re young and not strong enough to fight it.

Mine wasn’t really eating that much, a banana a day and loads of water/squash.
Lasted about 7 days ish she was very poorly. Consultants not concerned by lack of food or milk. (I’m not saying they wouldn’t have been if it had gone on and on.)

DD would eat a chip, a few crisps, popcorn, a little toast, lick a fruit ice lolly. We were very worried as it’s awful watching her basically eat, drink, vomit, cry, sleep. There’s nothing you can do, just cuddle her up.
Make another appointment for peace of mind- it’s what the GP is there for.

DD had a steroid pump and a sort of mask in the end (can’t recall the name), we had to hold her down and administer the steroids about ten pumps every few hours including overnight. It was brutal for all of us. They wouldn’t let us out until I could do what needed to be done. Awful.

I’ve had the bug myself and obviously as an adult you just go without food and drink lots of water. Nasty whatever it is!

Is your daughter hungry/asking for food/milk? ours wasn’t initially so happy just with sipping her water.

Two of mine vomited with every cold until over 8 yrs old it's miserable when they're really wee.
The only thing that helped when that kind of age was lots of steamy showers (I would just take baby in with me) & to let them have their naps in the sling/upright on my chest & they used to sleep overnight up against me too.

The mucus goes down the back of the throat & irritates the stomach so keeping them upright/heads more tilted down kept it coming out of their nose.

You really are in the trenches just now but it will get easier.💐

It's a support forum, there's no need to be like this.

New parents need advice.