Humidifier-Cool Mist or Warm?

Iam a mother of three children.Ages 10 boy, 9 girl, and 8 boy.I have always used a warm mist humidifer,all winter long.I feel it keeps my kids head open and clear and really helps them sleep at night.

I use a honeywell cool mist humdifier in my daughter's room for similiar reasons as you (daughter has asthma). I've never had a problem with the filter getting moldy. We've used the same humdifier for about 2 years. And it was one of the cheaper ones at walmart. A side note my doctor told us that a cool mist one is better and the mist tents in hospitals are done with a cool mist (found that out through experience unfortunately). Good luck!

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I use this site for advice:

http://allnurses.com/forums/f41/warm-mist-vaporizer-cool-...

I have found using a cool mist is better when my little one has the croup. We have a Vick's Cool Mist humidifier.

As far as I know, the only drawback to a steam humidifier is that the steam could potentially burn your child. You need to know your child and the room setup to decide if you can safely use the steam version.

Other than that, I think the steam and cool mist humidifiers are roughly equivalent. Both are supposed to be cleaned every day and sanitized once a week, but the steam version gives you more "wiggle room" because the heat keep a lot of things from growing.

Hope that helps!

The cool mist humidifier you have is an "evaporative" humidifier, and I'm not a big fan of them because they have the filters that you have to fool with, and they get kind of nasty after a while anyway.

I've gotten the "cool mist", "ultrasonic" type that sunbeam makes - there's a model with a night-light that shines up through the tank. The "cool mist ultrasonic" types don't have the filters.

With both my girls, they've had croupy-coughs that they've been put on nebulizer treatments for and periodically a steroid. They'll tell you with croup to get the kids in the "cool night air" - and when our oldest first had croup, they preached cool air (they've since swung around to "warm mist"), so we stuck with the cool mist ones, and they've done well.

Good luck!!

Cool mist is best.... Vicks Humidifier has a nice, non-filter one. That is what I use. I have two sons with Asthma, We also have the nebulizer for breathing treatments for them.

if you want warm moist air...go in the bathroom with the shower on. then you can turn the fan on and that lessens the mold issue.

Cool mist is the way to go. We have one running in our son's room whenever he's sleeping and it's also nice to have the white noise of the fan running. It might get moldy from sitting unused for certain amounts of time. Maybe if you keep it running often it won't get moldy.

C..
I asked this exact same question! how funny is that? well anyway I had overwhelming response for a cool mist, but had a heck of a time finding a filter free one. I also talked to my ped's office and she said that a warm ones were just as fine, if not better. warm ones don't have the mold issue and she said by the time the warm mist reached the baby it was actually cool anyway. So unless you are leaning over the warm mist with a towl (then youd burn your face) the warm air ones are just as well. She said regardless whcih one you use to wash every couple of days in warm bleach water. Godo luck!

We use a cool mist and it works fine. I just question how long to run it. Cause it can add too much moisture into the air. Plus my daughter sleeps with her door closed and the windows are always steamed in the morning.

You are right about the moldly filter causing extra issues. I really don't know which one to recommend we never used them for the boys. I would think filter less would be the way to go and keep using fresh water. A filter in a warm water one would seems to me get more mold and quicker than a cold one. I think also I would check with the manufacturer maybe your doing something wrong. Like useing tap water instead of distilled. I don't know just a suggestion.

I have a 6 year old son who also was prescribed albuterol and nebulizer treatments for breathing difficulties. The Dr. recommended cool air humidifier. I had the same problem with keeping it clean. I called the Dr. office to ask why cool and not warm mist? They said mostly for safety. Then I tried a little experiment. I turned on a warm air mist in his room and it totally exacerbated his breathing problems. He sounded ten times worse in the AM. I don't know if it loosened up gunk in his system and was actually positive, but he sounded terrible the morning after the warm mist. I too am looking for a filter free version to get back to cool mist. good luck!
C.

I have heard over the last 7-10 yrs that cool mist is better...
Why? I don't know.
But I've been using a warm mist for 15 yrs for my children (ages 15.5 - down to 2 yrs) and it works wonderfully for colds, allergies, and to humidify a dry home. I've never had mold issues ever. I've never switched over the years because I never heard any medical reasoning for avoiding the warm mist. Personally, if I'm sick, a hot shower feels so good because of the steam. It seemed like the the warm mist would be similar, so that's why I chose it in the first place.

Cool mist ones are better for asthma issues. It's good to have one running at all times in their romes during the winter

We had the same problem with mold and the cool mist humidifier, so we switched to the warm steam type. I like it because you can use inhalant medication with it, oils like menthol and eucalyptus release with the steam, helping with congestion. You can get burned by the steam, though, so get a model with a night light on it, tell your kids not to touch it, and put it somewhere safe. We just keep ours on the floor with a towel underneath.

I read over your responses and have to agree that the cool mist is better. I have a 2 year old with asthma and has the breathing treatments as well and we keep the humidifier going during the winter. We change the filter frequently and clean it out. You are suppose to leave the door cracked to prevent moisture build up. It says that in the directions. Good luck.

I was also wondering the difference between the cool mist and warm steam humidifiers. I asked the pharmacist at Meijer and he told me that the warm kind is pretty worthless. He said that the warm steam is only good when you lean over it and breathe it in. The warm steam turns to cool mist when it hits the cold air, but it doesn't transfer as far. The cool mist circulates better throughout the whole room and is the only kind recommended for children and infants. He also said the cool mist kinds tend to last a long longer and has heard of a lot of problems with the warm steam kind breaking. If all this is true, I don't know why so many of the warm ones claim to be for pediatrics.

I suggest Cool-mist.

Definitely a cool mist vaporizer...we have 3 in our house, we got them at Walmart and they all are "Filter Free", I thought that would mean no filters at all...but these actually have a meter on the top to tell you when the inside filter is dirty and them all you do is pull it out and rinse with clean water and put back in. Its also guaranteed for 5 yrs. I think we paid about $50 for each. It is made by Holmes. Our Pediatrician actually recommended that we use a high grade Tea Tree Oil in our Vaporizers to keep the air cleaner from airborne viruses etc that the kids may bring home from school etc and to help heal irritated nasal passages etc during cold and flu season. I did NOT want to give my children nebulizer treatments with Albuterol after seeing first hand how my oldest sons body reacted physically to breathing treatments containing Albuterol when he was younger for his Asthma, therefore our Dr suggested we start doing breathing treatments when needed with the saline solution and 2-3 drops of the High Grade Tea Tree Oil we have instead. From personal experience, by doing this I have watched my sons body heal itself from asthma. He no longer has an inhaler or neb treatments. the only time we use the nebulizer now is when the kids have a sinus infection, getting a chest cold etc and we always use the Tea Tree Oil...not the Albuterol. Our Pediatrician was absolutely amazed at our results!

S. S

The mold will make things worse. I would switch to a filter free humidifier. You still need to take it apart and clean it about once a week. If you're blowing mold spored into the air, it can make things worse, not better.

My daughter was hospitalized with a upper respitory infection and they told me to use a cool mist vaporizer. It worked great! That is my recommendation. Good luck and God bless.

I was always told by the ped. to use a cool mist and change the water daily, wipe it out and then refill to keep it clean enough to do any good.
On the other hand, my mom said when we were kids she was always told to use a warm mist, and felt it did a better job than the cool mist does for my son. Even so, it required daily cleaning, rising and refilling.
I don't know if Docs started suggesting cool mist for safety reasons or for clinically proven data that it works better. I can say, even if I have the cool mist going, I still put him in the warm shower in the mornig and the warm mist there helps clear him out for the day.

I would stick with cool mist. They do make some additives to help the filter from getting moldy so quickly - I would check the manufacturer's website. Do they have asthma?

We like our cool mist by Crane, it's cute, it looks like a frog (they make other animals, too). It's super quiet and works well on low, I never have to turn it up.

Cool mist. We just use whatever Walmart is selling, I think they are Holmes or Honeycomb right now. Check to see if you are supposed to be using spring or distilled water vs. tap water. Our humidifiers do not have a removable filter so we have to use the water from our home filtration system.

I would stick with the cool mist one, for this reason. Last winter when my 1st son was about 8 months old he had gotten a cold so we put a small warm humidifier in his room. After it had been there for about 3-4 days he managed to get to it (he is a very active child who figured out how to get out of his crib on his own at 7 months) and stuck one of his fingers into the opening, burning it very badly. Its not worth it.
We keep our cool mist one clean by running bleach through it (while it is in the shower, it helps clean the shower too) once every other week. We run it twice through with water after that before returning it to the nursery.