Cough and congestion - What should I expect at the Dr?

SigmundsGirl

Evan has had pretty bad congestion for about a month. We were at the doctor's office 2 weeks ago for his 4 month checkup and the doctor said it was a cold and should be getting better soon. Well, two weeks later and he still has it. He has also developed a cough.

We have been doing the saline treatment this entire time and last night when we were suctioning his nose out it started bleeding. My heart breaks for my little guy. It is so obvious that he feels worse.

I'm just wondering what I can expect at his appointment today. I'm not sure what all they can actually do for him.

LisaK2b

unfortunately...at this age and if it's a viral cold, they can't do much for him.   It's horrible when they're sick and I actually think that it always gets worst before it gets better.  So most likely, he'll get better by next week. 

However, if he does have an ear infection, they can give him antibiotics for it.  Ally had her first ear infection at 4.5 months and the antibiotics actually made her feel better within 3 days.  Her cough and congestion all went away at the same time. 

BabyLoveTX

DD has had lots of colds, and the Pedi always tells me to let it run its course.  The last itme she started getting a cough and I had to see a different Pedi, bc ours was on vacation.  He said we could use Benadryl to try and dry it up faster.  It helped some.  We only gave her one dose a day.  The Pedi also said not to do the saline and nose suction more than 4 times a day.

SigmundsGirl

Thanks for sharing your experiences. At least now I know what to expect. 

I hope Evan doesn't have an ear infection and I hope this blows over quickly, but since he just started coughing, I'm not sure that is likely.

We suction his nose 2 maybe 3 times a day, but I think it is irritated because we have been doing this for a month now. My poor little man. If we can just get rid of the congestion things would really be looking up. His reflux is getting better and he is sleeping better (when he can breathe).

KNJepp

When C had a cold, the pedi said if it wasn't better in...2 weeks, I think?...it would then be considered a sinus infection.  He was better within a week, though, so I don't know how that would have changed things.

We ran the humidifier anytime he was sleeping, and also used the Johnson's Vapor Bath at bathtime.  I'm not a huge  fan of the snot sucker, so I tried to limit that.  I read in Baby 411 that using saline before they eat helps clear out their sinuses without having to use the sucker (due to the swallowing), so I tried to remember to use the saline before feeding him.

SigmundsGirl

Yep, it is a cold. At least it isn't in his lungs or ears. I think we are going to use the saline more and the nose suction less. If it isn't better in a week we will add the humidifier. Our house is pretty humid already, so we didn't want to add this. Also our Pedi said that it can lead to growing mold and bactieria, but our Pedi was on vacation yesterday and the Pedi we saw yesterday said it would be fine to use if we want to.