Help with dd's sickness

[ammiga]

Normally I would just go to our doctor, but he has a solo practice and is out of town for 2 weeks, so there is no one to help me out right now. We see a very natural minded doctor, and I'm very hesitant to go to a regular pediatrician right now, because my experience with them is that they recommend antibiotics for just about everything. Our current doctor has never once recommended antibiotics and has cleared up every illness our family has had with homeopathy and/or time and extra sleep.

I have no idea what is wrong with dd... about five days ago she started with a runny nose. Then three days ago, she started coughing (mostly at night, but periodically throughout the day), and then yesterday she started having a yellow discharge from both eyes. Her eyes are also kind of puffy looking and very glassy and watery, but not pink at all. The discharge started from both eyes at the same time.

I thought it was just a cold at first, but the yellow discharge from her eyes has me a bit concerned. So I started to wonder if she had some form of conjunctivitis, but there is no pink in her eyes and the discharge started from both of them at the same time, and it sounds like with conjunctivitis that it usually starts in one and then possibly spreads to the other.

Any thoughts on what is going on here?

My other main concern is that I am almost 38 weeks pregnant and dd's primary caregiver during the day and she sleeps with us at night. I am really worried about what she has and what can spread to me and potentially complicate labor, my milk coming in, getting a newborn sick, etc.

What can I do to protect myself, other than wash my hands like crazy? Is the baby at risk right now? I would love any input!

ETA: Dd also has a fever that started on Sunday night and comes and goes throughout the day and night.

[wallabi]

bump!
have you figured anything out?

my 3yo dd has some sort of mystery illness going on right now too - with sypmtoms vague enough to match what you describe, and to be leading my nowhere in guessing what is wrong, so if someone has ideas - share!

fwiw - if I were you I might see another dr, looking for some help with a diagnosis and keeping in mind that you can always decline the antibiotics if you don`t feel them to be necessary. at any rate, hope you are keeping healthy!

[leafwood]

seasonal allergies?

[pianojazzgirl]

How old is your dd? With very young children a cold can cause eye discharge, esp if things are tending towards ear infection. Does she have any fever? Is she playing/acting normally? How is her eyesight? Any ear complaints?

I would probably make a point of bathing her eyes regularly throughout the day with a washcloth with warm water, and otherwise support her immune system with extra Vit C, Vit D, probiotics and/or elderberry. Make sure she gets a lot of rest. Keep an eye on things and if she worsens then go in to a walk-in clinic or whatever alternative to seeing your HCP that you have in place. If she seems to have any pain in her ears then I'd give some drops of garlic/mullein oil (available at your HFS).

I very much doubt that this is something that could harm your unborn baby (though of course I'm not an expert!). You need to keep up the hand-washing and good hygiene, and also support your own immune system (see above) and make sure to get as much rest as possible (you should be doing this anyway if you're ready to give birth any time!).

Another thought - if you're leaking any colostrum you could try putting some in her eyes... that stuff is miraculous (and likewise if anyone in the family gets an eye infection after baby is born - make use of your breastmilk).

[ammiga]

We ended up calling the doctor's office to see if the rest of his staff was working (making appointments or whatever) to see if he was referring to someone else in his absence. The receptionist had us leave a voicemail for him and he called back within 10 minutes!

We don't know exactly what was wrong with dd, but he gave us dosing instructions on giving dd Kali Muriaticum, elderberry, and vitamin C. Dd seemed better overnight! She's still got a bit of a cough, but her eyes and nose dried right up. The doctor seemed to also think that the leaking eyes were just another drip (like the nose) and not an eye infection, since they started at the same time. He also recommended warm washcloths to clean them, and then to wash the cloths right away, so pianojazzgirl was on the exact same page our doctor! (and it worked!)

For me, he wasn't too concerned about the unborn baby, just that if the baby came the baby would be exposed to this. I'm on a high dose of vitamin C and keeping extra careful with the hand washing until this passes through our house, and so far I'm feeling fine.

Thank you so much for checking in with us!