My little man has a nasty cold. [fever] He's so misserable and he's not sleeping very well waking up screaming. He's crying and screaming when he's not being held or when he is being held. At one point I just started crying with him. [cry] I don't know what else I can do to try to relief/comfort him. I think he's just super exhausted because he's so congested and coughing its keeping him from sleeping.
Does anyone have suggestions besides vaporizor, vicks, saline, snot sucker upper thing a majig... t o help with his congestion? Or maybe help him sleep. I read you can offer water down chammomile tea. Has anyone done that for their child? [whathelp]

I normally take a really hot shower and breathe in all the steam - makes me feel better and helps me breathe. Children can't have very hot showers though, but you could run the shower really hot anyway and just hang out in the bathroom with the little guy.

Eating really spicy mexican food clears my nose up straight away, LOL.... I always have to get up from the table to go wipe/blow my nose :oops: That probably won't work for a young child. Unless he likes really spicy food?

When we have colds we splurge and spend the extra money on kleenex with lotion (normally we buy the cheap stuff LOL)... and put vaseline on the tips of our noses every so often because wiping our noses over and over is really irritating. Not that that helps you much but it might keep him from getting a sore nose if you are having to wipe it a lot.

Hope he feels better soon!

I would have said just the plain old nasal spray for infants (FESS) it's called in Australia but I am thinking you probably already used that???

I thought Cheeseburgers idea of having him the room with the steamy shower going sounds great.

Are you planning on taking him for a visit to the doctor? (esp a female one, I find the males usually couldn't care less when it comes to kids and their illness)
The doctor very well might prescribe something ??? (you've probably already BTDT though?)

AM

I don't usually give my kiddos a lot of medicine, but I would give tham a cough suppresant at night if they had a bad cold. During the day they were able to cough a break the gunk in their lungs up but at night it would just wake then up and then they cry which complicates the problem. Walmart has some generic that is safe for babies, I think you have to ask for it in the pharmacy now. :roll:

If the saline, suctioning, etc. doesn't help, I would go see the Dr. to make sure there isn't infection. My Pediatrician gives our girls a good antihistimine to dry them up. Works great and we all sleep. I have no problem with medicine. Why be miserable when there are good products out there to help you.

Eyebright tincture or tea.

Chamomile will help calm but the eyebright tea is good for the sinuses and such. Available at health food stores. Just brew up the tea, let cool then let the baby sip on it thoughout the day/every few hours. It doesn't have to be completely cool..warm as milk would be is great. And if you can get him to drink from an open cup, all the better. That way he breathes it in as well. But that's just an added bonus ;) Don't worry about it.

The tincture is also availabe from health food stores, a few drops in a small bit of water, be sure baby drinks it all. Administered every 4 hrs or so. Don't give the tincture straight, it tastes awful and the alcohol content will 'tear up' their mouth. There is likely also an alcohol free congestion tincture at the health food store. I just can't recall for sure at the moment as I hardly ever buy any meds, even herbal ones.

I keep eyebright and Gypsy Cold care tea on hand for cold season. Oh and vitamin C :) and we're pretty well good to go
Oh, he could have some Gypsy Cold Care tea as well. As above..every few hours.

Other than that...the warm steamy bathroom is good for loosening things up.
LOL ANd I'm with cheeseburger on the spicy food...though..don't suppose that works so well with a 9 month old ;) teehee

I always made sure their heads were propt up at night, seemed to make it easier to breath.

I hope he's feeling better soon! We've been in that situation, and it's awful. The whole household is exhausted and the child needs sleep to get well but can't sleep because they're sick. :cry: The thing that we've found most effective for ds is a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil in steam (or you could add to the vaporizer). His croup actually improved at night because the eucalyptus was in his room. When he was little, we dragged the car seat in and set it in the crib so his head would be elevated. We haven't tried that for a while becaues I just don't think he would sleep in his carseat anymore. DS's dr is also a homeopath and suggested the homeopathic remedy pulsatilla for congestion/ear aches in babies and toddlers. HTH! Hang in there!

Thanks! everyone for the great suggestions. [thankssign] You guys are such a blessing! [cmomsrocks]
DS slept better last night. Thank God! My MIL is going to come over and make him something she used to make for all her kids when they were sick. Don't ask me what just hopes it works.
Well I gotta go get ready for Round 2 of the day...morning nap.
God Bless!

I do infant and toddler massage on my kids when they're congested or sick....after a nice warm bath, I wrap them in towels from the dryer so they're all toasty warm and lay them on the bed and rub vicks and nightime baby lotion into their neck, back, chest, shoulders, cheeks, and feet (lots of sinus pressure points here!)....seems to at least help relax them and the vicks helps to open them up while in use! Good luck!

A suggestion that i have is to try and not give your ds alot of medicine. Medicine causes congestion. So if you must only at night to allow him to sleep but once he's able to sleep on his own i would recommend you not to give him any more medicine (if you were giving him some to begin with).