Help me help my baby through this cold/ fever. X posted in Life with Babe

[goinggreengirl]

DS is 10 months old, breastfed. He has a fever of about 102. Started yesterday. He has a runny nose (clear) and a rattling cough (you can definitely hear the mucous in there). He's been nursing and sleeping all day but his nose is now starting to clog and it's making it almost impossible for him to nurse. Since he has a fever, I'm not sure about doing the steam room thing to clear the mucous- I don't want to make him even hotter. I've used the bulb sucker thing a few times.

He has two teeth coming in (one is through already) but I don't think this is related to that since they've been coming through for several weeks now and these symptoms have just started. Also, some of our friends have had the same symptoms and yuckiness.

I hate seeing my little baby in pain!

Please, give me your tips!

[tanyalynn]

When DS was that age.. he was eating solids, so I gave him vitC directly (sodium ascorbate is a good form of vitamin C, gentler on the stomach).  When he was just nursing, I could just take it to bowel tolerance and he got enough that he nursed/slept fine and I didn't need to suction out his nose, but once he started eating solids, I had to give it to him directly--you may need to experiment to see how much your LO needs, the general guideline I got was 1.1 grams per 10 lbs of body weight, split into at least 3 doses throughout the day. 

I've had a few illnesses, my kids have too, that although we run fevers, we actually still feel better with an extra blanket, so a warm, steamy room may be fine--I'd watch and see how your LO seems to feel.

And if you have a well-stocked healthfood store nearby, I'd check to see if they have cell salts, those are my latest, coolest find.  There's a big thread in this forum, the cell salt ferr phos is really good for the beginning of colds, it's something I'm always going to keep on-hand because it's so useful.  Check out the thread, there's a place to order online if you can't find them locally.

To help congestion keep draining around the ears (vs settling in and causing problems), you can massage in long, downward strokes behind the ears all the way down to the collarbone, and the same way right in front of the ears.  And gentle tugs on the earlobes down and somewhat back also help drainage through the eustachian tubes. 

[Beppie]

When my baby is sick I just nurse, nurse, nurse her constantly.  My 15 month old is just getting over an illness now and her nose was too full for her to breathe well.  But for her, nursing is such a complete comfort that she wanted to try anyway.  And plus, mama's milk has all the specific antibodies your baby needs to get better.  It's living medicine.  Even though it can be frustrating for baby when he can't breathe through his nose, try to love him up as much as you can.  Massage him, touch him, comfort him through all of his discomfort, and he will get better!  Just take the time to be available night and day.  HTH :)

[goinggreengirl]

Thank you for the responses. I always nurse on demand and he's been nursing all day. I just have to use the snot sucker so he can breathe while nursing.

We only have bioplasma so I gave him one of those a little while ago and will try to remember to keep up with it. I'll definitely try the massage to aid drainage.