Cold season survival

With the change in season, not only has Luca started to sniffle but I have too! I guess there's not a better time to get sick than while on bed rest, but I hate watching Luca suffer. Hubs and I have come up with a little bag of tricks that seem to really help when Luca is sick, and I thought I would share while cold and flu season is in high swing.

Johnson's Soothing Vapor Bath- We add 1-2 caps of this to Luca's bath at night and it really seems to help clear his runny nose before bed. It's not a soap, though, so you still have to wash your little one! It also gets very bubbly, so it takes a while to drain before I can give Luca a final clean water rinse.

Vick's Baby Vapor Rub-We love this stuff. After Luca gets a bath, I'll rub a small amount of this on his chest under his onesie, rub some on his feet, and put some socks on. This really, really helps with Luca's congestion and coughing at night. I know some people put a dab under baby's nose, but I'm not comfortable doing that quite yet, and I think he does well with it just on his chest and feet. Baby rub is less potent than regular vicks rub, so I've heard you can actually use the regular vicks on baby's feet, just not close to the face.

 



Cool Mist Humidifier- We use the Crane elephant humidifier, but obviously any cool mist humidifier will help. Humidifiers add moisture to the air, which helps with overnight coughing and congestion. Warm-mist and cool-mist humidifiers are equally effective in humidifying the air, but cool mist humidifiers and recommended for children because they don't have the risk of burning the baby if he/she gets too close. The only thing that's really annoying about a humidifier is that you have to clean it daily to prevent growth of bacteria or mold. Wiping down the humidifier daily with a 10 percent bleach solution (9 parts water to 1 part bleach) is one way to safely keep it clean.

Saline nasal mist and boogie wipes- The first morning Luca woke up with a completely crusty face I tried my best to wash it off with warm water and a washcloth, but Luca wanted absolutely nothing to do with me wiping his raw nose with a rough washcloth. That morning I tried to remove the crust and ended up making him bleed- so sad and I felt terrible! So we picked up some saline wipes and they seem to really help remove the crusties while calming his irritated skin. This is an item I thought was ridiculous and an unnecessary expense before needing it, but now I'm a believer!

Nosefrida snot sucker- I've spoken about this before, but basically this is a nasal aspirator that you control. Yes, you have to actually suck the mouth piece, but there is a filter so the snot never even comes close to your mouth- I promise! I think it works so much better than a traditional aspirator and you can actually see what is coming out, which I also like.


So that's what helps us- any other suggestions? Hopefully everyone stays dry this week for Halloween- we're expecting Hurricane Sandy, but I'm hoping it won't be a huge storm with power outages. The thought of bed rest while feeling sick and without any power makes me want to cry. Fingers crossed!