Slight Cold

The johnson's & johnson's medicated chest rub works well. It is not taken internally, but it helps keep airways open, and makes breathing easier for the little ones. I even use it for my older children because they don't always need medicine. They also have medicated baths that work with the warm water.

When my kids were babies I used saline nose srops then used the bulb syringe to suck the boogers out. I also used Baby Vicks chest rub on them at night to help with congestion, aches and pains. Motrin also worked out ok (he's over 6 months, so it's ok to use, just follow the directions). Hope it helps

This may not be a cold. Perhaps it's an allergic reaction to something in the new environment. This could be pet dander, dust, mold / mildew, air freshener, perfume, etc. Look around at the daycare center and ask about their cleaning agents and other chemicals. Sweepers often kick up a lot of dust. Perhaps they are vacuuming and they do not have a air filter on the vacuum. I would try that for starters.

Colds are frequent, especially at this age. If it's an allergy, you can try over-the-counter remedies to see if the symptoms stop. Perhaps try Claritin for children. There is a generic Claritin at Wal-Mart that is about half the cost.

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I have worked in a licenced and accredited daycare for 8 years, your child's cold will go away soon enough. It happens to all new chilodren who have never been in daycare. they just need to get their immune system built up. I am so glad you realize the social benifits of daycare. I would also like to point out a few other benefits to you so the next time someonw makes you feel guilty you can feel confident in your choice. It will promote language sooner due to others talking, he will be more prepared for school due to a wider variety of oppurtunities and activities, as well as the social skills. As far as the cold goes it is hard to see your little one sick but remeber he is being exposed to the germs now and building up his immune system therefore he will miss less school due to illness than kids who stay home.
hope this helps some. I also have a son and even working in daycare questioned if it was the right desicion for us. he is now 4 ( and climbing on me right now) and we have not missed a day for illness in quite a while.

you have to do what is best for your whole family including your husbands business and it never hurts for mommy to have time with adults.

Hi B.,
Its terrible the stuff they bring home from daycare. Since you have school age kids too, you probably get it two fold when they bring home stuff from school. If yours are anything like mine, once one has it they all have it. Dont feel bad about the Daycare part though... mine have all been in childcare at some point in time and they are all well adjusted socially and I was able to get done the things I needed to, which made all of our lives better! As far as the cold goes, what I found helps some with my babies, was the Baby Vicks rub. I put a little on their chest at night. I also put a vaporizer in their room with some vicks in that too. Then I also would take a nice hot shower with the sick baby. The steam really seamed to help mine. I also propped their beds up a little so that they slept more at an incline to help with the congestion. I hope you get some more good advice so your little one can feel better soon! Good Luck

As soon as we put our first daughter in daycare...it started! The constant colds, viruses etc...It actually had my husband and I sick a few times to for about the entire first year. But, then the immune system is built up and it all subsides. Our now four year old daughter is healthy as can be. I have not had her to the doctor for one sick visit since she has been about two! So, skip the medicines, let them kind of "tough it out" and I think you will see benefits in the long run!

My kids have the same thing. Just got it and I called my sister who is a pediatrian and she said the same thing. There is nothing you can give them you just have to ride it out. She also did say that the cough would last for weeks so be prepared. Hope that helps you out.

I have had this problem with the reverse. I watch my niece who started coming here at 9 months. She had a cold it seemed like forever. My kids were also getting sick. My niece has 3 older brothers who go to school so I think that is really where it was coming from. The colds will last awhile and then when his immune system gets built up it will get better. I know he is to young to be washing his hands, but I think when he is old enough to do it himself you should teach him it is really important. I have had to teach all of my nephews that and will teach my niece when she can understand. We have gotten the most horrible sicknesses from my sisters kids and I even had to take my 2 year old to the emergency room last year for dehydration because we were all sick. My nephew was sick and I am pretty sure he got it from school. Some parents don't teach their kids to wash their hands. I use a humidifier, and I have heard of something called a netti pot. It is a saline nose rinse and I am not sure if they have it for little kids, but I was going to check that out too. Good luck!

Sounds like your son has developed an allergy to something at Daycare, I'd check with his pediatrician to be sure. My kids have went to other people's homes and then had this same problem. Even my then 3 year old when she started pre-school had a slight stuffy/runny nose the first few days of preschool. Watch what color the discharge is, if it is clear or cloudy, then that usually means allergies. And you can give him over the counter medicines, they just don't want you to feed them to them like candy.

I doubt it is allergies or you would've seen some sort of signs before hand.
Not long back my now 20 month old, had the same thing with runny nose for a couple weeks, and I finally found her one big tooth was coming in. The runny nose started about 2 weeks before the tooth broke through the gums. The big teeth seem to take longer to break through the gums.
My older daughter was the same way almost. She would get RUNNY NOSE and diarrhea everytime she was getting another tooth.

I used saline drops and an asperator (the kind you got at the hospital works the best) to help clear congestion. I also inclined my daughter's mattress slightly and use a cool mist humidifier in her room at night. I still use the humidifier daily as it is also a good white noise machine!

I hope your little one feels better soon! I know it breaks your heart to see your son not feeling good...

Hi B. - the same thing has happened to my 19 month old daughter, with the exception that it keeps turning into ear infections (we're on our 4th in as many months). There's not a whole lot you can do because they keep getting exposed to germs every time they go back to daycare. We bought a little plug in "vaporizor" that has little mentholated strips. You can buy them anywhere. They help her at night to sleep. We also use baby Vicks on her chest. You can also put your little one in a steamy bathroom with the shower on very hot to help the congestion. Basically, you just have to wait it out. Vitamins and lots of fruits and veggies to help their little immune systems is good, too. I've been told it could take up to a year in daycare before they stop getting sick so much. I hope this helps!

Hi B.- I am in the same boat!!! My 4 month old started daycare 2 weeks ago and has had a cold ever since. I have called the doctor and they suggested using saline drops in his nose and to put a humidifier in his room. I finally took him in last week, after he'd had the cold for 9 days, and they checked him for an ear infection. He did not have one, but you might want to make sure that is not the case! Good luck!

Keep fluids in him. And it's not daycare....my kids don't go and my whole family has had it.

B.,

In day care, this will happen. Our son started part-time at 6 months as well and then went full time about 4 months later. For a spell, he always had a slight cold. We never use over the counter drugs (most just mask symptoms and are not a cure anyway). He is fine. He is 3 now and last year, he didn't miss a day of "school" because of being sick. Just make sure everyone washes hands a LOT and stress to the day care how important it is to make sure the kids don't continue to "share" germs.

My ped. told us to use a cool mist humidifier, use the saline nose spray & such out the yuckies and keep an eye open for fevers. My son also has a little cold right now and we just wait it out. His last cold lasted almost a month:(

I just recently asked my doc about this. I was told to cut out any milk, use a vaporizer, and tylenol. It really stinks that we can't do more to make our little ones feel better. I'm so sorry for what you are having to go through. My son has asthma and it makes it even more difficult for him. Good luck to you. GET WELL LITTLE ONE! Prayer goes a long way. I will add your little one to my prayers tonight. Shannon

My boys had those same symptoms when they were cutting teeth.

My girls went through this, too, and it's frustrating because they're too young to blow their nose. But, hang in there - your son is just building his immune system. Better now than when he reaches school age.

My 8mos old has been very congested almost since birth. Our dr told us we couldn't use any OTC meds, and the saline, suction and humidifier didn't help much at all. I found these Vick's waterless vaporizers and they work better than anything else. It is just one of those plug-ins with a Vick's strip. It lasts for 8hrs and she generally wakes up without much congestion. I still suction her before bed, particularly when she is teething. Hope it helps.

B.,
I unfortunately have to work. I started taking my son to daycare when he was 6 weeks old after my maternity leave was up. He's now 5 months. He started getting the sniffles about a month ago and it lasted up until about a week ago, so about 3 weeks. He didn't have a fever, so I just let him work through it. The cold medicines they had did more harm than good, so definitely don't use them. Also, don't forget getting exposed to little harmless bugs like that helps increase his immune system, which is so important early in life. And he is developing social skills. A bit of a cold, sniffles and what not lasting a couple of weeks is no big deal at all. Just keep an eye on him, monitor his temperature, and most of all just pay attention to his mood. That will tell you more than a thermometer will!

I doubt it is daycare, you have older children and they can bering stuff home, plus I am certain you are out and about at times. That stuff is just out there! What about teeth coming in? My son was always congested when his teeth were moving about and pushing through! He is 7 years now and he got stuffy again when his molars began to come in! Could be teeth along with small nasal passages - we are not all built the same and this child may have small passages.
Ideas to clear this up & help are to try standing in a bathroom with a warm shower. Put vicks on a bib around your childs neck (or instead of vicks use eucalyptus oil). Also saline drops help! Ask your doctor about mucinex for kids - it is a gentle expectorant that will get stuff flowing.

Hope you get some answers & your child gets some relief!

Has anyone said this already? It sounds like allergy to me. Does the daycare have pets or something else that you don't have?

My daughter is 10 months old and even though they stay home with me, we can't even go to church nursery without coming home sick. One thing that we used when baby Lila got sick the last time were the vapor plug-ins. There is no steam but they put them menthol in the air. That with the vaporizer seemed to work well. I also use the baby rub. It is all safe as long is the baby is three months old.

Don't feel bad about the daycare thing. We SAHM's wear about a million hats. You pour yourself out for your family and even though on those days you are doing paperwork for the hubby, if you can give yourself a few minutes or hours of a quiet house to fill yourself back up again, well then good on ya!

For one thing your baby could be teething or allergies. Also running a humidifier in thier room overnight will help alot! Good luck!

If you are interested in some Homeopathic remedies Hylands makes some great safe products. My daughter is 20 months and I've been using different Hylands remedies since she was about sons age with much success.

My daughter isn't in daycare per se...but she is in the care of a relative who takes care of her own children and a few others. Whenever I pick up my daughter and see another kid with a runny nose I just know my daughter is going to get it in the next day or so...and she usually does. I know it's frustrating because you want to keep wiping his face...but if he's not having a problem you can let it run it's course. A few suggestions...
1) use a vaporizer at night...one that allows for the mentholated vapors (we use this whenever our daughter is stuffy or whenever she has a runny nose). In fact, this works so well for her that we bought one for our room for when we have colds. We bought the CVS/pharmacy version with the CVS/pharmacy version mentholated vapor liquid.
2) try Simply Saline for babies...it's a salt water mist that you insert into one nostril to clear out the sinuses...you have to tilt your babies head side ways to allow for drainage out the other nostril...and then you do it to the other nostril. It sounds worse than it is...I've even started using the adult version for myself when my sinuses start acting up.

As for the over the counter remedies...we've used them. The only reason we didn't stop when they started pulling them is because we had a discussion with our doctor about the correct dosing. You really have to read the instructions and you really need to know your childs weight in order to follow the instructions properly. And even then, err on the side of caution and give a bit less than the dose recommended. Having said that - we do tend to use the over the counter remedies and we personally feel that they help our daughter. I think if nothing else, it helps alleviate some of the symptoms allowing her to be more comfortable and it prevents it from becoming a full blown infection. I don't run and give it to her at the first sign of a runny nose...but if it's a few days worth of runny nose, I may give some before bed time to help her get a good night of sleep.
I hope this information is helpful :-)

yes yes yessssssss I hated it too but its germs and you cant at times keep them at bay when your not around.
Use purell or something similar and also wipe him down each day after you p/u and wash your hands avidly also try -little noses nose drops ( mine hate them but they work and are non toxic and non medication wise the best!) ped approved and welcomed by holistic people as well ...mostly water and other natural ingreidents.+++
I give motrin to mine and use benedryl to my sons allergies since they wanted us to put them on Zyrtec and its OTC now and much more $$$! Blessings!