A few weeks ago, my daughter got what most parents dread: her first cold. While I was at work, I got a few messages from Diane telling me of the heart break that was at home. Our happy go lucky baby kept sniffling, having trouble breathing, but was smiling through the whole experience. I guess we got lucky because she could have been cranky but I argue that it was just as bad. Our baby was so happy yet was sick, it was so sad to watch! But we made it through and everyone is healthy again but I wanted to share with you our experience and what we did to survive baby’s first sniffles.
The whole thing started when people at work started to get sick. My immune system is fairly tough so I wasn’t too worried about myself. When I came home I made sure to wash my hands before I handled my daughter as to hinder the spread of disease to my daughter and fiance but unfortunately that didn’t help much. After a week of people being sick at work, the first of the sniffles started to show up in the Reese house. After talking with Diane we decided to tackle the cold like we would for ourselves which meant a healthy dose of sleeping, humidifier at night and drugs if needed.
Our tools:
- Vick’s baby chest vapor rub
- Tylenol for babies
- Humidifier
- Space Heater
- Swing chair for sleeping upright
Day 1: Throughout the day, Munchkin was doing fine for her first cold. She had managed to not let it get her down and was actually smiling through most of the snot filled adventures. As I pointed out before, I got several messages from Diane while I was at work about how she was so happy and giggling even though she was having trouble breathing. When I got home I got to witness it first hand and every account from Diane was true. Our happy-go-lucky baby was sick but was still enjoying life to the fullest. But the easy sick days were numbered as we approached the night hours, and nothing turns our baby into a gremlin quicker then lack of sleep.
The first night was the worst for us, with the little one needing to sleep upright due to stuffiness on top of waking up every few hours. In order to help with the stuffiness, we ran the humidifier an hour before her bed time and let it run all night. We got some Vick’s baby rub that day and put some on our daughters chest as well as in the humidifier in order to help spread it around the room. We also used a space heater to help keep the bedroom warm during the night so I cranked it up high to help toast the room. The overall effectiveness of the humidifier was great as it kept the room moist and helped everyone breath easily but the Vick’s rub was not meant to evaporate easily and thus did not work with the humidifier. For sleeping purposes, we brought in her swing chair so she could be upright all night and that worked rather well until she woke up screaming. Our guess was that the cold and lack of proper sleep was getting to her so we went for the big guns and gave her some children’s Tylenol. The miracle drug worked great as we rocked her back to sleep (we normally let her fall asleep on her own but because she was sick we decided to make an exception). Needless to reiterate, the first night was rough but from there on out, it did get better.
Day 2: The next day we fought the cold some more with lots of Vick’s rub to clear up the stuffed nose and napping. Luckily for all parties, it was the weekend so I was able to nap with my daughter which always helps the situation (cold or not, taking a nap with your baby in your arms is always enjoyable). We spent our most of the day inside playing with toys and crawling around the house. Our plan was simple, stay inside and rest but keep active as to not let the body go soft. And with any good, simple plan, it went off with out any problems. That night we kicked on the humidifier and space heater an hour before bedtime and decided to use the swing chair again to help with the stuffy nose. We didn’t have to get up as often as Munchkin slept for several hours at a time and awoke with whimpers instead of cries.
Day 3: By now the cold was on the ropes but we decided to keep up the aggressive tactics. We repeated our plan from Saturday and got lots of rest and relaxation that day. Luckily our daughter was in a better mood so we played with lots of toys and even managed a walk outside. I’m not saying the fresh air put the final nail in the cold’s coffin but it did help out a bit. By the time the night rolled around, things were looking pretty nice but we were not celebrating any victories yet. As with the previous nights, we pushed the humidifiers and space heaters to the max. With our success though we did decide to ditch the swing chair and placed our recovering baby into her crib. We took a blanket and roll it up to help prop her head up off the mattress. While the cold was almost gone, we didn’t want her to lay her head back and struggle to breath.
By the time the weekend had passed, our mission was a success and everyone had recovered from the sickness. While normally being sick on the weekend really sucks, for my daughters first cold it couldn’t have worked out any better. We didn’t have any real time tables to stick to or work that had to be done so we could concentrate 100% on getting better. In the end, the sad truth is that when your baby gets sick, there isn’t a whole lot you can do but comfort your child. I’m sure any parent will agree, if we could we’d transfer our immune system into our kids in order to keep them safe. we would but we can’t, so all we really can do is cheer from the sidelines as our kids bodies do what they do best. The best relief you can take as a parent is that our bodies want to survive so they’ll do what needs to be done in order to do that. Your child’s immune system has to learn for itself how to fight off sickness, and just like my daughters did last week, it passed with flying colors.
