When your baby has a cold

On Tuesday morning my little guy (5 month old) woke up with a stuffy nose and a cough.
Yes, this cold has been going through our house so I wasn't surprised. But being that we have no insurance and that I have a strong dislike toward medication I do my best to never let any cold or cough get out of control.

First things first. If you are breastfeeding your baby then do your best to double up or add extra feedings while they are sick. Never let your infant get dehydrated.
For me this was easy this time, Samuel is a big nurser anyway and thankfully his nose never got so plugged up that he couldn't nurse. In fact most nights he spent in bed nursing:)

Make sure you have everything you need on hand to fight the cold.

• vaporizer (cold mist preferred although all I have are the cheapest warm mist available)

• nose sucker (exactly like the ones they use at birth in the hospitals)

• vapor rub or essential oils 

I have an old jar of vicks baby rub on hand that is probably 3 years old but works well to help clear out the nasal passages without the cool sensations of regular vicks rub. My personal favorite is Winter Breeze Vapor Rub or a blend of rosemary, lavender and eucalyptus essential oils diluted in olive or coconut oil.

As always do your own research into the essential oils to make sure that your baby won't react although I personally have never had an issue.

I also found it helpful this time, both for my back (nursing in bed and my back don't get along) and for his nose, to warm up my buckwheat hull neck pillow and then add a few drops of rosemary essential oil to the ends and drape it around my neck while nursing. 

One more helpful hint. When using the nasal aspirator it is sometimes helpful to drop a couple drops of a saline solution into each nostril prior to sucking. This helps to loosen up the mucous making it easier to remove. If you don't have saline solution on hand you can also squirt a bit of breast milk into the nostrils with the same effects:)

Hope this helps you weather the cold months ahead! 

Feel free to share any tips that you have found helpful.

And don't forget that keeping your little one healthy often means we as mommies will lose sleep so take naps when you can and drink plenty of water. 

Nothing worse that a sick baby AND a sick mommy.

Jessica