how do you treat cold in 4month old??

[catalina]

my little bela who is only 4months old got a cold from her dad... and shes waking up at night crying because her nose is stuffy... i regularly take her buggers out, i put saline drops in her nose and i have a humidifier on all night. what else can i do? is there anything natural, green i should give her do?? any EO?? thanx!

[mwmartinez]

Not a "green" soln. but you could make sure her head is elevated a little when she's sleeping to help with drainage. I hope she gets better soon. I know how fustrating it can be but the best thing for them is to fight it themselves. Hope your LO gets better soon.

[luvmyfluff]

I'm not sure how green it is but I have always used Vicks vaporub on my kids as a drug free solution. I used the baby Vaporub when they were babies and rubbed it on their chests and backs and the botton of their feet (then put on some cotton socks). There are also Sudacare (or other brands) plug ins for their rooms too that lets off a menthol/eucalyptus scent to help w/ congestion. One other thing, at that age my kids slept MUCH better in their infant seats when they were sick as it helped with the congestion.

Good luck, hopefully it will be short-lived.

[hannahnana'smommy]

Not a "green" soln. but you could make sure her head is elevated a little when she's sleeping to help with drainage. I hope she gets better soon. I know how fustrating it can be but the best thing for them is to fight it themselves. Hope your LO gets better soon.

I agree when my LO had a cold this past summer that she to got from her dad. We put books under one end of her crib, ran the cool mist humidifier, and used some little noses drops (basically saline solution). She seemed to improve within the week. I continued to do this until I saw no symptoms of the cold.

I hope the baby gets to feeling better!

[Dorothy'smom]

I get some liquid vicks to put in the medicine portion of my hot mist humidifier... it seems to work well. I'm sure there's something similar that's all natural w/eucalyptus or something, but I've never looked. My dd gets croupy a lot. I ended up sleeping her in the bouncy seat when she was younger so that she could be propped up. Now when she can't sleep w/croup I just bring her in bed with me. Sounds like you're doing all you can. Most of the time we just have to ride it out. Hope she feels better soon!

[5babyz4me]

I get some liquid vicks to put in the medicine portion of my hot mist humidifier... it seems to work well. I'm sure there's something similar that's all natural w/eucalyptus or something, but I've never looked. My dd gets croupy a lot.


I use EO in the humidifier. Usually it's either the eucalyptus or I will put one of my blends in there to kill the virus in the sinuses. This helps alot.

[catalina]

what blend do you put in humidifier? i havea cool mist humidifier.... is that ok?

[kara&aidansmom]

We use PediaCare Vapor Plugs in the house. Baby Vicks when away from the house. Elevate the head of the matress or have them sleep in their car seat. Also at bath time Johnson's Vapor Bath (i know not green) or California Baby Colds & Flu bubble bath work great.

I've never had much luck with saline on my kids. Also read labels because not all scented things are ok for 4 month olds. Many products say 6 months. The vapor plugs, Johnsons bath and baby vicks i use are for 3 months and up.

[esaesa]

I put 15 drops each of eucalyptus and lavender eo in my cool mist humidifer. If you breastfeed, you can squirt some milk up their nose to kill germs. Badger balm makes a vicks like rub. California Baby has a cold bathwash, though I can't find it locally. Also try putting a towel under the bathroom door, sitting in there with baby and turning the shower on hot - making a steam room. You could put some eo in the tub so it is a smelly steam room. Nurse or bottle feed her with her sitting as upright as possible. You can give some watered down chammomile tea, though I'm not sure at what age so you would have to research that.

[naturalbirthmama]

I use breastmilk in the nose and also fenugreek. Trilite herbs sells a great fenugreek that you can squirt right in the mouth. Fenugreek breaks up mucous.

[AutoShopMama]

If you are nursing, up your vitamin C to 1000+ a few times a day. If she doesn't seem sensitive to spicy foods, then eat/take/ingest some garlic and or ginger - she'll get it through your milk.

I have used VaporRub before without any bad effects, but a ped told my friend that you shouldn't use it b/c something in it can attach itself to the sacks in the lungs which can be dangerous. I've also hear petroleum isn't good for them. (Not that I don't use it from time to time ...)

Here's a natural vapor rub - http://www.beeyoutiful.com/winter-breeze-vapor-rub-4oz.html ... we use it and really like it. We rub it on the bottoms of our feet and put socks on and it really seems to help.

[Edensmomma]

You can rub tiny circles with your thumbs on the soles of her feet. It's reflexology and it breaks up congestion. Use a massage oil or extra virgin olive oil.
Also you can put baby vicks on the bottoms of her feet. Keep socks on all the time to keep the feet warm. That is really important.

[mugsywebb]

this happened last year when my LO was 2 months old (but he also got bronchilitis).
Vicks, sleeping in the infant seat or in a bouncer, and when you or DH take showers, put LO in the infant seat and let the steam help (smaller room=more help). We also had him in the shower/bath with us when he was awake and couldn't stand being in the seat.
Also, if it gets too bad, go to the doctor and they can help if LO starts coughing really badly (what happened to us). You can never be too sure since it is starting to get so cold outside.

*Hope it is shortlived

[Emma]

Saline nose drops (you can buy them at the store or make them) and a vaporizer (cold air) always work for us. And an aspirator to suck the boogies out.

[kat7597]

Most things we do/did have already been recommended so some of these are duplicates... but we would do a combination of:

- use a humidifier (make sure to get a humidistat so you don't make it overly moist thus a germ/mold breeding ground)
- use EO diffuser w/ eucalpytus or sinus blend from cheryl's herbs
- steam bath/shower w/ EO
- breastmilk drops in nose
- EO in almond oil to make a massage oil and do reflexology on bottom of feet and on forehead & cheeks.
- drop of EO rubbed into pajamas/shirt/t-shirt
- luyties brand homeopathic remedy for specific symptoms. I only used luyties during infancy because they are soft tablets as opposed to the hard pellets by boiron and dissolve immediately in the mouth.
- I breastfed so increased my vitamin C intake.

hth,
Kimberly

[ammcmaho]

we have homeopathic medicines that my MIL brought from india... not sure that that helps ya though!

[Cheryl33]

We use homeopathic remedies as well as echinacea (they have childrens type)

There is also something called the "warm sock method" that is wonderful but works best if there is a fever. This is copied from a friend that told me about it

"Warming socks are great-
what you do is get the little one's feet nice and warm (warm foot bath, or after her evening bath). Then you place a pair of well-wrung out wet cotton socks on her warm feet, and cover that pair with a pair of dry wool (or poly) socks. Get her bundled up for bed, nice and warm and then let her sleep with the socks on. At some point during the night or in the morning, the cotton socks will be dry. At this point, you can change them out for another damp pair to keep the treatment going, or end the treatment.
She really needs to have a fever for this treatment to be useful. What it is designed to do: the cool cotton socks pull the circulation down to her feet to warm them up and dry the socks. Congestion is pulled from the head, down to the feet (it is also a great treatment for headaches and head colds too)- the increased shunting of circulation helps deliver the white blood cells to the parts of the body where they are needed. Babies tend to sleep VERY well during this treatment."

[KittKatt]

I put the baby in the room with a vaporizer. I find that warm air clears my kids out faster than the cool air humidifier. When they have colds, I put that near their beds. They sleep through the night with no problem!

[catalina]

thank you guys so much, i did not have time to go and buy eo to put in her vaporizer... we both feel a lot better now, keeping her feet warm, using humidifier and saline drops. thanx for all your responses. and i will def try all these things out in the future. im making a folder with all these suggestions on my desktop. thanx!

[GraceDancer]

Another momma mentioned the Trilight Herbs (http://www.trilightherbs.com/store.php) - I really recommend them, too!

I've used Shonda Parker's suggestions on dosage (Naturally Healthy (http://www.naturallyhealthy.org/))

We used the Bactamune and Viramune - alternating every couple of hours when acute - then slowing down the dose to every 4hrs or so.

The LymphaRub is awesome for sore ears/throats! I used it on the kiddos when they've had earaches, but never knew if it really helped much (since they couldn't tell me exactly what was going on) Then DH was sick one time and he used it - said he felt like the lymphs in his neck were draining right away - and loves the scent!! Very soothing.

[catalina]

interesting will def look into that! thanx

[ABCDE Family]

When my LO's are stuffy I become obsessed with the "nose sucker" that's what we call it.:blush: The syringe thing from the hosp. I LOVE IT:thumbsup:

+humidfier +warm/steamy baths

I try try to not give any meds but if I do it's natural, but rare.
Good Luck mama