First cold of the year (hopefully the last too)

cc had cold and i recorded down her symptons, progress and doctor's advice for future reference.

 

day 1 (Saturday) - she started to have running nose in the morning. the mucus was pretty watery. i constantly want to wipe them but she screamed out loudly. if i left the mucus, she would lick them, yak! the strange thing was she drool badly, there was a line of saliva hanging from her mouth all the time. no sign of fever but with poor appetite. she seem to have great difficulty to breath at night time, esp when she lied flat. she could breath and sleep better if lying at her side. it was pretty scary to hear her breath heavily and swallow those thick mucus.

 

day 2 (Sunday) - running nose stopped gradually by afternoon. no sign of fever but poor appetite. still drool badly. mucus had became thicker and she breathed heavily even when she was awake. i was not feeling well myself, hence asked her daddy to rock her to sleep at night. cc was particularly fussy and she cried hysterically for not being rocked by me. at the end, the crying generated even more mucus and she started to gag. she threw out some phlegm and food, and that kind of helping her to clear the throat and she slept better.

 

day 3 (Monday) - better mood and no sign of running nose but mucus was getting even thicker. brought her to the PD's office in the morning.  below were what i'd learned from the PD. slept for the whole afternoon and had better appetite for dinner. very happy and active after dinner. slept better at night.

 

how to tell cc is having cold and not flu?

-- her symtoms were considered minor and she was still pretty active. flu will make some very very sick (lethargic and pain). cc was having a wet cold with lots of phlegm.

 

how to deal with running nose?

-- use nasal aspirator to suck out the mucus

-- if the mucus becomes thicker, use saline to soften them, then use nasal aspirator

 

why cold medication was not being prescribed to cc?

-- cold medication or medication that stop running nose will make the mucus thicker, hence, help to stop the running nose. but, the thicker phlegm makes it even harder for cc to cough them out of the chest and that only makes things worse.

 

how to make those thick mucus/phlegm away?

-- no medication or food could dissolve phlegm. chinese believe pear could help to clear the phlegm and that is not true (PD is chinese but i am not sure about her country of origin). but there are ways to thin out the phlegm:

   1. on the humidifier and let baby breathe in more moisture air.

   2. increase liquid intake.

   3. make her cough out or vomit the phlegm. she could only heal from cold after she could get ride of those phlegm in her chest. couging out the phlegm is very important. many adults could do this and they could heal faster from cold (unfortunately, i never learn that) this is a learn thing, cc has to learn it by herself. she would vomit food at the same time but that would not be a big problem, refeeding could be done after that.

 

how to make cc breathe better with those thick phlegm?

-- let her sleeps on her side. cc would prefer to stay upright position (no wonder she loves to sleep in my arms with her head rests on my shoulder).

 

things to watch for

-- offer tylenol when having fever >101F (anal) and bring cc to PD if fever >103F (anal), blood or urine tests might be needed.

 

others

-- although breastfeeding is soothing but water is better.

-- cc needs 7 to 10 days to heal from cold.

-- the drooling has nothing to do with cold. cc was suffering from molar teething.

 

my husband and i disagree about giving flu shots to cc but she was sick then. i asked doctor whether we made the wrong dicision.

-- no, because cc was having cold and flu shot does not provide any protection against it.

-- flu shot only provide protection against 3 strains of flu virus and there are more than 100 out there. so, even being given flu shots, cc still could get flu.

-- cc is considered as low risk of getting flu. high risks are referring to those who were borned premature, going to daycare of attenting school and having siblings going to daycare and school.

 

day 4 (Tuesday) - everything seems normal. no running nose but cough occationally. used the nasal aspirator to clean some thick mucus, cc found that funny.

 

day 5 (Wednesday) - some thick and slightly yellowish mucus.

 

day 6 (Thursday) - some thick and slightly yellowish mucus.

 

day 7 (Friday) - some thick and slightly yellowish mucus.

 

day 8 (Saturday) - some thick and slightly yellowish mucus.

 

day 9 (Sunday) - some thick and slightly yellowish mucus.

 

day 10 (monday) - fully recovered.