Her first cold - help!

Agh, 4 days into daycare and my 9 month old dd has her first cold! Lots of nasal congestion and periodic sneezes... A few questions!

1). Any ideas on how to make her more comfy?
2). How do you determine whether to send her to daycare or keep her home?
3). I already called the peds who suggested humidifier, saline. At what point do I bring her in?
4). Is it comforting or is it starting a bad habit that I am holding her upright most of the night b/c she is so congested lying down and just crying? We just broke the wanting to be held during mid-night wake ups habit.

TIA! Lol, and I thought it was tough when my husband is sick...

Re: Her first cold - help!

Try some baby Vicks. Put it on her chest and the soles of her feet. Cool mist humidifier, saline spray. As for daycare, as long as she has no fever send her in. Day cares are used to kids with colds, runny noses, etc. nothing really can be done for a cold. Just has to run its course unfortunately! If she seems uncomfortable you can give her some Tylenol to help relax at bedtime.

Re: Her first cold - help!

Forgot to add that I have two kids in daycare. First has been there for 4 years. Daycare kids get sick a lot but by the time your baby starts school, her immune system will be great!

Re: Her first cold - help!

First off sorry shes sick. Its sooo hard when their sick.

1. Do you have a nasal aspirator? If not i suggest getting one. And not the blue bulb. Theres one you hook up to the vacuum that my peds sells but it is on amazon. When my dd was 6 months she had a very bad cold and same as your dd couldnt sleep flat. I would suck out her nose twice a day cause it was so bad.
I ended up buying a nebulizer at the peds because she had a bas chest cold. I found that helped her as well. Tylenol or motrin as well. And vicks. And humidifier.

2. Daycare i dont have an answer sorry

3. I would say if she doesnt get better in a few days i would bring her in. My dd got sick i brought her in they told me 3 days then bring her back if not better. We went back.

4. She slept in her rock n play or the swing but she was still waking up anywhere from every hour to every 3 hours. It was pretty terrible around here for awhile. No one got any sleep. Some nights she slept on my husband or I. We just felt so bad for her. Yhe crib wedge did absolutely nothing for her. I guess it may be creating a bad habit but shes probably so uncomfortable it mihht be the only way to get any sleep.

Message edited 9/16/2013 7:31:55 AM.

Her first cold - help!

Suck boogers. And keep hydrated. I never took to ped unless a fever started.

Eta I never kept him home for a cold. And other patents won't either so don't feel bad.

Message edited 9/16/2013 8:07:49 AM.

Re: Her first cold - help!

First off because it is so hard the first time they are sick!!
1. Get a battery powered nasal sucker. I have a blue and white one. It is sold at BRU, on amazon and I even think I saw it at CVS. It sucks the boogies really well. The bulb one didn't do anything for my DS. Use baby Vicks and run the cool mist humidifier all night. I have the one that you can insert the menthol pads into and it scents the air with menthol. It really helps. You can also put a crib wedge in so that she is elevated. Just like we like sleeping elevated when stuffy, so do babies! Keep her hydrated and if she's really fussy at night, do motrin. That will last her 6-8 hours and the more sleep she gets, the faster she'll feel better.
2. If it's just a cold, send her in. I only kept him home with a fever. They are used to sick babies!
3. Bring to doc if a fever starts or if you think the cold traveled to the ears. For DS, I always knew a few days after a cold he was going to have an ear infection. And he didn't even always get a fever! If she seems super uncomfortable even after a week, I might bring her in just to get her ears checked.
4. Give her lots of huggies. Don't worry about habits! You can always break the habit if one starts but for now, do what you need to do to get her to sleep.
Good luck!

Re: Her first cold - help!

Thank you everyone! I ended up being a total first time mom and brought her to the ped. It is definitely just a cold - I just have to watch to make sure it doesn't get worse. And I Vicks-ed her up before bed! Tomorrow: back to daycare (her) and work (me).