Baby got flu?

T

taysty

Registered User
Recently my 4 month old baby got a blocked nose and her breathing louder than before. Also after her bottle she will have mucous like milk colour substance coming out from her mouth when I burp her. We brought her to dr and he said maybe she has got a slight flu. However, the dr said since she is still so young unless very serious he suggest not giving medicine.

Is there anything I can do to make her feel better? She is not in her top form and is being more cranky than usual. Not drinking as good too.
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you could get a humidifier... other than that, your dr is right... there's not much you can do about it.

it's a terrible feeling when your child is sick. it's a feeling of complete helplessness.... especially when there really isn't anything you can do. and even when there is, you still feel awful watching your child suffer.

both of my kids have had fevers for 3 days now....so i know how you feel.
 
Thank you Cara. Hope your kids get well soon. Oh, regarding the humidifier, how it helps on the flu?
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it helps with scratchy throats and stuffed nose.... Like when you are sick and have a hot shower, you feel better because the steam clears you up.
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you can also get a saline nasal spray made especially for babies (do NOT use the adult version on a young infant) that will help clear her nose. it can be used several times a day and our pediatrician recommends this rather than the suction bulb to remove musus from baby's nose.
 
For viral infections, any medicine is just to help with the symptoms. The best thing is just the saline nasal spray as Elle mentioned to help clear the nose (if you get it at the pharmacy make sure you ask for the infant one - it must be saline ONLY and a lot of the adult ones have other medications in them that are not good for infants).

If the baby has a fever or is obviously in pain, you can give some infant panadol - but it doesn't fight the flu, it just helps them to feel a little better.

If the congestion gets a lot worse, you can take them back to the doctor - there are decongestants that you can use for more serious colds, but if it's just mild, it's probably not worth it.
 
@ nicolejoy & Elle
Thank you both. I nearly used the saline for my contact lens on my baby thinking all saline is the same.

Yes, I won't want to make another trip and feel helpless as the dr will say there's nothing much that I can do.
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You can check and if the contact lens solution is ONLY saline and NOTHING else, then by all means, use it ;) I would ;) But sometimes they have other things in there, not JUST salts and water.

If you have no saline, I sometimes wash the nose quite "wetly" in the bath, carefully splashing water around the nose. It's not as good as squirting saline up there but it can help to loosen the mucous, and I know it's actually less uncomfortable for my six month old too. She'd much prefer me to splash water all over her face than to squirt it up her nose ;)
 
a warm bath might help the mucus come out - my 8mth old is in a similar situation. i use the suction tubes (japanese brand - you can buy at sogo) before bed time and meal time so she can sleep / feed better. it might seem painful when you use it but in fact it loosens things up for her....

also, for night time, I lie her on her belly to sleep (as opposed to on her back - her usual position) so that the mucus flow out and not into the back of her nose and build up making it hard to breathe.
 
@ nicolejoy
Just checked. My saline is filled with so many unknowns. Your way of splashing face is good as my baby now loves to play with water.

@leslie
I bought similar suction tubes but no matter how hard I suck nothing seems to come out? Maybe, it's too dry?
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Dear all, now my baby's nose is getting better. I use saline for infant then use suction tubes to suck those mucous out. :) But she still had so much phlegm inside that it is causing her feeding difficulties. Once, she pew out almost all her milk after feeding twice a day. :( Does drinking warm water help?
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Generally you shouldn't give water to a baby that young (although plenty of people do). If they drink water at that age, it can reduce how much milk they are willing to drink and therefore reduce the number of calories that they are getting.

You could try steaming up the bathroom and holding her in there with the humid air - that could help... otherwise I'd just keep using the saline and washing her out that way. If the congestion is getting more "solid" then it is almost over. The end is in sight! Hang in there :)
 
Thank you nicolejoy! Happy CNY to you and family! Yes, i know it's a chinese thing, but hey it's a chance to get together with families / friends since officially we get 2 days off. :P
 
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