My poor little 15 month old daughter has come down with a cough that sounds like a she has congestion. For her age their isn't anything I can give her from the pharmacy. She cough all night. Does anyone know what i can do to help her sleep and feel better at night?
try some honey. It seems to suppress the cough for a while so she can sleep a little. I also echo the vicks comments.
Turn on a hot shower and shut the door and let your bathroom fill up with steam and then give her a warm bath in the steamy bathroom, it will help her relax and clear her out. (I find it will make my little boy's nose run, which is good to get that stuff out, but I make sure i have tissues and a bulp syringe near by to clear it out while he bathes)
Then I use Vicks baby Rub (you can find it in the grocery store pharmacy by the other vicks or sometimes it's by the baby stuff) put it on her chest, back, and the bottoms of her feet. I know it sounds weird but if you put it on her feet and then put socks or foot pajama's on, it really helps (try it on yourself when you have a cough).
Also Vicks has a little night light that you stick a "Vicks Vapor Pad in" and it fills the room with Vicks smell which seems to help my little one sleep better when he is congested. We also use a Humidifyer.
One other thing, lay off milk and dairy products until she clears up, because they thicken the mucus and make you more congested.
i have found that a cool steam humidifier works well when my daughter has a cold or congestion. They sell them at Target.. they look like different animals. You have to be careful if you purchase one that uses medicine like Vicks or the ones with warm/hot steam. Look it up online, but they have been found to have dangerous minerals and material that get up into the air and make your child worse. The cool steam ones do not have that risk (or so I read) and they also have filters to filter out any dangerous minerals that may be in your tap water.
Again, this seems to help with my daughter being comfortable durning the night with less congestion and less coughing.
Good Luck! Hope your little one feels better soon!!
Try a little vicks vapor rub on her feet and put socks on top or footed pjs. Also a teaspoon of honey should help, she is over 1 so I think that's safe (check with your doc) and a humidifier. Poor baby - she needs her sleep!
Call and ask your doctor. No over the counter medicines say kids under 4 or 6 can take them now but the same medicines were okay when my 5 year old was a toddler. A pharmacist told me they had changed the instructions but not the medication. My ped. said it was okay to give my 2 year old Benedryl when she had an itchy rash. They just said to give it less often (every 6 hours not every 4). I've gotten similar instructions on other OTC medications (it varies for each one).
Try a kids herbal syrup for coughs---it will include mullein in it. Herbs for Kids or Wish Garden are good companies to look at. You could also try a homeopathic cough remedy.
J.
You could try the homeopathic ones. It's mostly just honey and a few other things, no drugs. I've used Zarbee's, and 2 others I can't think of right now. They are available at Walgreens, even Walmart. The one brand we tried can be given every 2 hours, others every 4. My 2 year old was prescribed some nasty cough medicine with codiene at the dr. and I just wasn't comfortable giving it to her, so we tried that instead. It seemed to help her.
They actually make a Vicks Baby rub that you may want to try. That and maybe some Little Noses saline mist and a bulb syringe should make her a little more comfortable. Try a warm mix of honey, water and lemon juice too,
Vicks or Baby Vicks on the bottom of her feet with some clean socks over the top.
I know it sounds completely crazy and I thought it was too the first time I tried it on my 8 month old (she is now 17 mo) She was always congested and coughing it was miserable! I tried the vicks on the bottom of her feet and sure enough it worked!
I also prop one end of her bed up so that the mucus flows a little better too. I hope your little one starts to feel better soon!
We use a cool mist humidifier, and prop the mattress up in her crib. Just prop it up by putting a rolled up towel under the mattress. We have tried the all natural honey cough medicine, but it didn't seem to do anything for my daughter. Otherwise, it's just trying to get thru it. My daughter just recently got over a bad cough like you describe, and it was 2 bad nights of my husband and I switching off holding her upright to sleep, which is the best way for congestion, then after that the incline and the humidifier helped tremendously.
