Ellie's first cold (turned ear infection) is still lingering a bit but she's slowly feeling better and I'm somewhat thankful that we're getting this whole first sickness thing over with (and won't be the least bit sad to say goodbye)! I'm sure having a sick child is not fun for anyone, but I think as a first time parent, it might even be a little worse. Ellie went from smiles when we put her to bed one night, to runny nose the next morning, to completely miserable the second day. Her temperature reached 104.4 (or at least the highest we measured it at), which apparently isn't even that high for babies but felt pretty scary to us. She was crying, had the chills and it felt like her cute little head was on fire. Once her temp reached 103, we called the doctor and they had us bring her in. Since she got sick over the weekend, I had called the on-call doctor the day before and he said there wasn't really anything we could give her or do except watch her and bring her in if her symptoms didn't go away in 7-10 days (insert eye roll emoji here), or if her fever got "really high" to call back. Thankfully they had us come in because she ended up having more than just a cold and she felt much more like herself within just 24 hours of being on an antibiotic. While I am certainly no doctor, I wanted to share a few things that we found helpful for surviving Ellie's first real sickness in case any of you find yourselves in the same over-anxious-first-time-parent boat as us!
First off, I consider any time I actually got to use the Nose Frida a privlege because Ellie doesn't sit still for 0.275 seconds. She hates, hates, hates any kind of restriction, so trying to get this little thing close enough to her nostril without jamming it up there on accident was a challenge. However, when I did get to use it, it worked SO good. When she was younger (before the days of the Ellie struggle), we could use it very easily, and I'm imaging if she were a little older and could take instruction to sit her bum still for a second, it'd be awesome too.
One of the nurses at the hospital after I delivered Ellie told us to only use a rectal thermometer on her if we wanted to get an accurate reading - of course, this was after we bought one of those forehead ones, but we went ahead and ordered it as soon as we got home so we would have it on hand whenever we needed it. I thought taking her temp rectally could be a complete pain in the ass (no pun intended), but surprisingly enough there is very limited struggle on her part when we take it and this thermometer works SO quickly which is awesome. When we went to Ellie's pediatrician last week, the nurse took her temp in her armpit and it read 98.5 degrees. Within the next five minutes, her doctor took it rectally and it was 102.8. Granted, there could have been some human error there because that is a pretty huge difference, but it's safe to say we'll be sticking with this thermometer for now! If you get one, you might want to make sure to label it or put somewhere special because you don't want to mix it up for one you'd use in your mouth. In our house, we also have one labeled "cat"... I know, gross.
The Boogie Wipes are especially great if tissues are starting to irritate your babe's cute little nose. Not only do they get any crustiness off like a gem, but they also make the nose feel refreshed and easier to breathe - I know because I tried them myself. ;) We also bought the saline spray (which I also tried), but it's a complete joke to think I'm going to be able to use them properly on Ellie when it takes four hands just to give her her meds... girlfriend is STRONG.
If your baby is older than six months and you get the "okay" from your doc, I highly recommend trying Infant Motrin over Tylenol. It worked leaps and bounds better at reducing Ellie's temp and making her feel more comfortable. We didn't even have to give Ells meds as frequently as her doctor suggested because of how well the Motrin worked.
Baths were also super helpful, which could have been because Ellie loves her baths anyway, but I'm pretty sure they also helped clear up her nose a bit. I also took her in the shower with me one night, which is something I had never done before but she loved it. It made her feel better and she thought the falling water was the best thing since sliced bread.
I hope this list helps some of you! It's so hard seeing your baby sick, so here's to hoping for a smoother ride for the rest of this cold season!
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