Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Poor sick baby

So Miss Elliott officially has her first sickness, and it is the saddest thing ever! I think I grossly underestimated how sad it would be when your own child is sick. I've even treated sick babies at the urgent care and it never seemed that sad to me. I have a whole new understanding now.

She's not super sick, so for that I am very thankful. She has a super stuffy nose and is coughing. However, I think she might sometimes cough because she can't breath and not because her throat hurts. When her nose is stuffy, she starts turning her head back and forth and wiggling her bottom...it's like she is acting out of her frustration of not being able to breath. Kind of funny but sad.

The other thing that surprised me about this sickness was how absolutely helpless I felt. I felt like everything I had ever learned about treating sick kids went out the window and I had no idea what to do for her. Thanks to some good friends with little kids, I was reminded of some homeopathic treatments. Kev went out and bought a humidifier, I have been dropping salt water in her nose then suctioning it out (although I really wish I had something different than just the bulb they gave us at the hospital), warm baths, letting her sleep mainly upright (typically in our arms), and I'm considering using a vapor bubble bath.

She has a really hard time sleeping (especially at night), so it has been a rough 3 nights. Needless to say, we're a little exhausted. Thankfully I didn't have to work today so I'm hoping to get a little nap. I know this is the first of many illnesses and hopefully I'll become more competent, but it has certainly not been fun! The best thing about the sickness is we have gotten some great snuggle time in!

3 comments:

  1. I hope she gets to feeling better soon! I'm dreading the 1st illness...

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  2. awe.. so sorry to hear that. I felt the same way, helpless, when Alex first got sick at 8 months - on top of stuffy nose and cough - he had high fever which then turned into ear infection. We used air humidifier in his room along side with air purifier and vicks waterless vaporizer with vicks baby pads. My poor baby looked and sounded so miserable. I hope she feels better. Look after yourself too, take your vitamins!

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  3. Our baby girl is five months and we got her first cold last month. I remember how hard it was when her nose was all stuffy and she had a fever. We gave her some Infant Tylenol directed by our pediatrician and that helped bring the fever down but I now have a humidifier in her room at all times and will turn it on at nights. She will get stuffy noses at times and I noticed the humidifier really helps. Take of yourself I got sick right when she started feeling better so try to get some rest. I did notice the more rest I got the better I felt. Enjoy your snuggle time and hope your daughter feels better soon!

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