The baby is sick again. And considering he's only been sick a few times in his first year of life, I don't consider myself unlucky. I've heard worse, and worser still. Babies tend to get sick a lot, and mine has been holding off those germs pretty well. Of course, this will all backfire on me when he goes to preschool and catches every plague on the planet.
Regardless of how minor or major a cold is, hearing your child bark like a seal pup and cough up phlegm and snot while struggling to breathe is absolutely heart-wrenching. In my desperation to ease his discomfort, I begged for advice on the Internet. Asking for trouble, perhaps, but I had no other option aside from calling the advice nurse...whose advice is always, "Is he acting normal? Then he's ok."
The advice I received was interesting, and somewhat surprising. Here are the top suggestions I was given:
1) A teaspoon of corn syrup. Safer than honey and it coats the throat.
2) Hot steam.
3) Sleeping with him on your chest, or elevating the mattress so he can breathe easier.
4) Saline drops to loosen up the snot.
5) Erythromycin, which I looked up and could not understand the usage besides for eyes.
6) Humidifier.
I used the humidifier and the saline, but sleeping with him on my chest was out of the question. At his weight, he would easily crush me.
I may become desperate and try the rest, but at this point, he's up and about and acting fairly normal. Until he coughs up a lung, I think my HMO won't look twice at him.
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