PP wearing her hoodie cause she have the cold while playing in the air conditioned bedroom.
Baby. have. a. cold.
There goes my plan to blog about separation anxienty as PP welcome Daddylicious home after 4 days of separation.
Sigh. Yesterday PP and I went to a friend's child 1 year old birthday party where PP was picked up, carried around, kissed and touched by many many people. I believe somewhere there, is the source of the cold virus. The current hot-rain-hot-rain climate doesn't much either.
Fact no.1 about cold: Cold have NO cure. So really, unless other symptoms comes in, doctors can do nothing and nothing you can do will fasten baby recovery. Poor poor PP. To compensate and retaliate against modern medicine failure in curing the common cold, parents have to go for age-old, natural hollistic routes to at least lessen the suffering. Take that modern-medicine! tradition 1-modern-medicine 0.
PP started to have clear runny nose today and started to sneeze. she have been coughing lately but i didn't think much about. Thank God only a low grade fever started being present later in the night.
One good thing about PP having a cold though is that's one cold virus strain down, a couple of hundreds more to go through. Yip.pee.
"although we never like to see our little ones sniffling and coughing, colds and many other kinds of infections generally do help people develop a degree of immunity. The more kinds of infections a person has had, the more they are protected." Dr Lynn Cates from Dr. Spock website
What does Mummylicious do when PP suddenly developed cold symptoms? Read books and Google.
Dr. Miriam Stoppard doesn't help much in this area. Her advises on what to do mostly concerntrated for toddler's cold. I doubt my 6 months old baby could tell me "Mummy, my ears hurt" or I could teach her to blow her nose. Sorry Dr Stoppard, although your books are colourful, full of images and easy to read in regards of normal protocol in taking care of infants, ye suck at what to do when a parent having a panic attack over a teeny cold for infant. ye have lessen in thy eyes.
Dr. Spock had a lot to say in his book...naturally. Since when he doesn't? Thy eyes loveth thee still. but his website doesn't touch much about alleviating cold symptoms in infants.
BabyCenter gave a good coverage on what to look for and what to do. This is what I like about this website. Although i search through other parenting sites, i refer to this one the most as it is most comprehensive.
Babynology is a new site i haven't explored completely but it gave a brief summary of what to look out for and what to do
So what are cold symptoms in babies?
1. Mucus down the nose: watery clear mucus but will thicken to yellow-ish or green-ish mucus. Yup, noon today, watery clear mucus down the nose.
2. Coughing before or after mucus discharge: Yup. she had slight cough for couple of days that i was monitoring. Not much to worry too much but enough to wonder. Now made sense.
3. Low-grade fever: BabyCenter wrote 103 degrees fahrenheit= 39.4 degree scelcius =go to hospital. Its more than a cold. PP have on-off low grade fever. sometimes she feels hot to the touch. sometimes just fine. This is what I have to monitor constantly. I gave PP some fever medication her Pead perscribed for after vaccinations shots, just in case as she was feeling fevering. Last temp. check before sleeping 36.5 degrees celsius. allergy means no fever.
4. Occasional sneeze: Prolonged sneeze is an allergy symptom. Yup, occasional sneezes it is. like cat sneezing. so adorable if it weren't for the watery mucus that comes down after.
5. Plays and eat normally: this is where it can get confusing.
BabyCenter: "If he plays and eats normally (or almost normally — he might eat a bit less and drag a little), then it's probably a cold. If he acts ill even when his temperature drops, though, he may have something more serious than a cold."
Dr Cates from Dr Spock website: ""Looking sick." Children with allergies may be a bit more tired than usual, but they usually don't look very ill, whereas children with colds can appear sick and listless." But on another advise to parents, she said " Flu tends to cause a higher fever, be accompanied by more fatigue, and last longer than a cold."
Does that look like a sick, listless baby to you? A chocolate box as a toy. Love.
PP does not look sick. She look...happy. Play happily. Eat happily. Not listless at all. So maybe she was doing a comparison against flu? I don't know. But so long PP is eating and happily, I am not so worried.
6. Swollen neck lymph gland: Not sure. PP have triple chin. Too hard to check.
No watery itchy eyes = not an allergy. Plus, nothing new in diet and PP been out of the house with persistent runny nose so not allergy to anything in the house.
No diarrhea or vomitting = possibly not flu based on that.
But based on all those symptoms, she have a cold. for now.
So now what should Mummylicious do to alleviate PP cold symptoms?
1. Plenty of rest and liquid. Continue feeding breastmilk/formula and slightly warm boiled water for over 4 months and since PP is more than 6 months = juice!
2. Menthol rub. on chest. on back. Good ol' menthol rub
3. Use rubber suction bulb aka nose clearer aka rubber bulb syringe to clear the mucus for easier breathing and feeding. If mucus is dry and thick, couple of drops of saline water before suctioning. and suction before feeding. Noted.
Our rubber suction bulb was a bit hard and we had no saline water. so a trip to the pharmacy was in order and me scolding Daddylicious for not knowing where the termometer was, for not buying the saline water waaay earlier, for not deciding the rubber suction bulb was not good enough. I digress.
4. Use humidifier. dont have one. so steam up bathroom and stay with baby for 15 minutes. PP started to gasp after 5 minutes. or give baby a warm bath. ok. happy PP had a warm bath in a steamed room. and then Daddylicious did nose suction honours.
5. Prop mattress up using a pillow under the mattress so baby's head is lifted up. Done
See pillow under baby cot's mattress. A small pillow seems to be sufficient. Any bigger baby can slide down when sleeping.
6. Avoid draft of air and make sure baby kept warm. A light sweater and pants that covers the whole body to keep baby warm, not hot. which means air-con to be kept low.
Hoodie got stained and wet after dinner. Changed to her new never worn baby bathroom. Adorable!
Feeding went well after that...until she fell asleep. Woke up screaming next to me. = she can't breathe again. Mummylicios was too tired so Daddylicious did the honours of rocking baby back to sleep, reapply menthol rub and put baby in her head-alleviated cot. Sleeping soundly now, so thank God!
So when should Mummylicious really panic and flee to see PP's Pead?
1. Fever increases to above 39.4 degrees celsius (103 degrees fahrenheit). Although I might still go if it gets to 38 degrees celcius (100.4 degrees farhenheit) because im paranoid that way.
"If your child is younger than 3 months, you should the doctor at the first sign of illness, particularly if your baby has a fever higher than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (taken rectally) or a cough.
If your baby is between 3 and 6 months, the doctor may want you to call if his temperature reaches 101 degrees F, and if he's over 6 months, 103 degrees F." BabyCenter
If your baby is between 3 and 6 months, the doctor may want you to call if his temperature reaches 101 degrees F, and if he's over 6 months, 103 degrees F." BabyCenter
2. Possible ear infection: Baby touches and rub ear constantly and difficulty in feeding. Also could be occupied with fever although not necessarily. (this got me paranoid coz PP been touching her ears while feeding for this past week but she doesn't cry when she does it though, and then she starts touching my nose, mouth, boobies, her cheek, nose, mouth, foot, the little hair that she have.so maybe it's just like to touch-touch?)
3. Cough worsen to wheezing and rasping and last longer than a week. 2 possible not so good news: Pneumonia and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). A common but serious illnesses for infants. Gee thanks BabyCenter for upping the paranoid factors.
4. Blue lips and nails
5. Gets more listless and tired.
6. turn for the worse instead of starting to improve after five to seven days, or if his cold symptoms last for more than 14 days.
Just another experience to notch as a mother.
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