6 Month Old Chronically Congested! Help!

Hi B.,

My son is 9 months old and has been congested off and on (more on!) since he was 2 months old. It started out as a cold and then his breathing became very crackly and rattles. His congestion has never really gone away since then. He's been diagnosed with bronchialitis a few times. Because of the congestion and fluid sitting up high, he tends to spit up his food quite a bit more than normal. On occasion he'll finally cough up some junk. Since he was about 4 months old, we started him on breathing treatments with a nebulizer. Within a week of treatments, his breathing gets to be almost 100%. But it's temporary. I can almost guarantee that within another 2 weeks he'll be back to rattling when he breathes. We typically do the treatments now on an as-needed basis. Ask your Pedi if he/she thinks they would be beneficial for your daughter. The saline and aspirator never works for us either, not even the lightest bit. Junk gets sucked out, which I know is good, but it still doesn't help the congestion, it never goes away. Something's gotta give one of these days!

Good luck!

-Char

awe your poor daughter. have you tried childrens benadryl (i found that it cleared my daughters nose up well and her dr okayed it). my daughter is 16mo and takes 3/4 tspn (morning and night because she has allergies) for your baby i wouldnt give more then 1/4 tspn morning and night (it will make your baby drowsey). my daughter was also highly congested for months on end with a cold that never went away and ended up being put on a nebulizer and steriods for asthma (im not saying your baby has asthma but it could be something to question) my daughter never weezed and her lungs sounded clear but you could here the wetness in her lungs and a super wet cough. no medicine would work on her. i also did the cool mist humidafire for when she slept and sucked her nose many times. it took me like 3 months and 3 steriods to get my daughter back to normal (she still gets 1 steroid every day). with her spitting up maybe only try to let her drink like 2 ounces at a time then try to get her to burp and then have her sitting up for at least thirty mins after eating (my twin nephews had severe reflux to the point they had to be propped on pillows all night from 2 weeks to 3months) and had to be put on a medication. anyways i hope your daughter checks out ok at the gi dr. GOOD LUCK!!!

My son is almost 3 and has reflux. We knew he had it as a baby but thought he "grew" out of it. At about 15months he developed a REALLY bad seal barking cough and a stuffy nose. He was on anti-biotics (several times, one time for even 6 weeks!) he had sinus x-rays, allergy testing and allergy meds, we tried treatment for asthma, NOTHING was working. he diagnosed him with Chronic cough syndrome. After trial and error we finally put him on reflux meds, Zantac, and his cough is GONE and his stuffy nose is GONE! The stuffy nose only cleared up after almost 3months of being on the Zantac. So it could very well be the reflux. Take your DD to a specialist for reflux. Maybe he/she could direct you more in the right direction.
Also my niece had been congested literally since birth and when she was 18 months she had her tonsils and adenoids taken out. Her nose was clear almost immediately after surgery and has stayed that way. So maybe that too?!
Good Luck and God Bless your DD.
XO, A.

hello my daughter is 9months old she was diagnosed with servere reflux at 2months old. she takes zantac 2x a day still she has zero linning in her throat!! about 8 months old she started off as a cold we lifted her bed got a cold mist humidifier and a vicks vapor non worked went back to Dr they put her on amoxicillian didn't work went back tried a Differnt antibiotic didn't work she's now on a nebulizer and antibiotic and is allergic to something in our household but we can't figure it out so i know your pain!!!

Updated

hello my daughter is 9months old she was diagnosed with servere reflux at 2months old. she takes zantac 2x a day still she has zero linning in her throat!! about 8 months old she started off as a cold we lifted her bed got a cold mist humidifier and a vicks vapor non worked went back to Dr they put her on amoxicillian didn't work went back tried a Differnt antibiotic didn't work she's now on a nebulizer and antibiotic and is allergic to something in our household but we can't figure it out so i know your pain!!!

This sounds very similar to what my mom was dealing with a few years ago. She would get congested and the doctors would treat her for allergies and give anti-biotics. They never helped. Then she meet a lady from our church who is an Essential Oil Expert. She asked my mom some questions and made her a nasal spray that has only essential oils in it. She said that my mom had a staph infection (Spelling?) something that most doctors will not even think to look for when it comes to these kind of symptoms. Ever since using this spray my mom has no more problems. Ask the doctor to check for staph infection.
I wonder if the reflux is an entirely different problem all together. My son had bad reflux when he was first born he would upchuck more then he could take in it seemed. Then one night after feeding him I forgot to burp him. And you know he never upchucked anything. I told my pedi about it and he said that it could be that my son drinks so quickly that the milk had not had a chance to settle in and burping him right after was just allowing air bubbles to pass which could be allowing everything he drank to come back up. Ever since then we have let him burp himself and he is still doing wonderfully. The hardest part is making other aware to not burp the child. I would get looks of "your a bad mother and all children need to be burped" but I stuck to my guns. My pedi says that my son is the healthest child he has ever seen. I contribute a majority of that comment to the fact that we did not immunize as we believe immunizations are only good for giving your child something so the medical professionals can make more money. And they do more harm then good.
Also my SIL had a problem with reflux with her twins. She suggested that her doctor said to add cereal to the formula as it may be to thin. She said it worked for one of the boys but not the other one.
Hope you can find someone that can help you find out what is wrong.