HELP! My Baby has Bronchitis!
Okay, looking for tips here. My little one has bronchitis and she is soooo miserable! Doctor says to use a humidifier when she is really congested but this seems to make her rattling and nasty coughing worse! Oh and the night time, she seems to almost choke on the mucus!
Need tips, anybody got some good remedies to help clear her up, and fast? Thanks
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JaMae-How is she doing now? Poor thing! We just dealt with something similar--although it wasn't bronchitis, it was just an awful cough. We actually ended up in the ER b/c he was choking on the mucus and turning blue on me. It was pretty scary. I found the same thing as you did with the humidifier. In fact, the episode that drove me to call 911 happened during naptime and I had his humidifier running. After that I didn't run the humidifier again and he seemed to do much better.
Unfortunately, they don't recommend much OTC for little ones and coughs just because there hasn't been enough research to prove that any of it works. I have friends who have dealt with bronchitis a lot and their doctors put the kids on breathing treatments with albuterol (sp?). The babies hate the mask they wear for the treatments, but it did give some relief. They were also more prone to allergies and all have inhalers now (the kids I know are 3--they were in Aiden's birth club with me).
Dr. Sears recommends Sinupret: http://www.bionoricausa.com/ as a natural cough medicine alternative. I haven't tried it...I might get some for the new baby, but Aiden is close enough to 4 that I've just started giving him cold and cough medication.
Anyway, it's no fun having a sick baby...and coughs are the worst because they last so long. Keep us posted on how she's doing!
Elsie
I have recently happened upon a tip about applying vapor rub to the bottom of the feet and then covering them with socks at bed time. Another mom in here tried this suggestion and it didn't work, I haven't had anyone congested enough to try, but what the heck, I am going to recommend it again to see if it works for you.
I have used a warm wash cloth on the chest when my kids were little and that seemed to help loosen phlegm a bit. Also until they were about 6 months I would apply vics vapor rub to my arm and then have them sleep next to met, able to inhale it without it touching their skin!
I never had luck with humidifiers, they always seemed to make my kids worse as well! One thing I did that helped when Jessica had pneumonia as a baby was boiled a pan of water with lots of salt in it. It really did seem to relieve some of the congestion. A warm bath in Epsom salts have also helped to loosen phlegm making it easier for baby to fall asleep.
good luck, and I know this is miserable.
Mikki Hogan Publisher of UniqueParenting.com