colds and flu

[MustangMumma]

My 7month son has a cold and i am wonderibing what the best medicine for colds are? He has a cough and blocked nose and he is not himself he is walking up 6-7 times a night, and being very grumpy(poor thing). Also how many sleeps should a 7month have during the day? Thanks in advance

[Norman]

My son is also 7 months and has recently had a cold. I spoke to a pharmacist initially and bought some Dimetapp for the nose. It is specifically designed for under 2's. For his slight fever I used panadol. My son has slept through the night since about 2 months of age but he was waking while he was sick. I offered another feed (he's on bottle) to make sure his fluids were maintained. This is where I found it frustrating not breast feeding anymore.

He developed a nasty cough which I saw a doctor about - it turned out to be a mild case of bronchiolitis (ahh the joys of starting day care). He said if it was bad they could write a script for a cough medicene but they try to avoid using medication when they can.

Now 14 days later, DS is almost completely better - occasional cough only.

[BJelly]

Fess Little Noses, is a little bottle of salty water that you can drip into their nostrils to loosen goobers. It has a thing to suck them out. It's a bit gross, but it clears their little nasal passages when they are too young to use a tissue.

You can also get a vapouriser from the chemist, to moisturise the air and that also helps keep their airways moist so they can be cleared a bit easier.

[Ondine]

My little girl is 5 months old and has just come down with her second dose of croup, which started out as a bit of a cold (also a daycare illness :( ) and advanced overnight. She has the most awful cough, blocked nose and watery, gunky eyes (turns out she has conjunctevitus too :( ).

We had been using a vaporiser, but because we live in far north queensland, and the temperature is warming up, the room was too hot and we could not keep her temperature down. Also, the doctor said that sometimes the vaporiser can make them more congested, so to try propping her up on a pillow and focus on getting her temp down).

I have found that keeping the Panadol Infant Drops up on a four hourly schedule, keeps the coughing at bay and her temp normal. As for the blocked/runny nose, the chn suggested "Drixine Paediatric Nose Drops". It can only be used for about 3 consecutive days, but she can breathe better for several hours at a time.

I am about to go to the chemist to find out if there is some sort of medicine for the cough (as the medication for croup, Redipred (prescription only) can only be given once a day :( ).

Hope that your bubs is feeling better.

Ondine