Zara is absolutely miserable with a bad cold. \u00a0Actually I suspect she has the flu. \u00a0She wasn’t a very happy baby Friday and Saturday when we were in Virginia which I easily attributed to being away from home. \u00a0Saturday during the night she spiked a fever. \u00a0Don’t you just love that ultimate version of Mom guilt? Hi, we came to visit you and now we have the flu so hopefully we’re only leaving good memories and not germs. \u00a0Gah.<\/p>\n
At any rate, her fever left yesterday, but she’s left with a cough and a nose that erupts like Old Faithful only I’m pretty sure the timeframe is less than every twenty minutes.<\/p>\n
I’ve learned a few things about colds in kids in the last ten years and, not surprisingly, I’m still learning. \u00a0Babies really should come with an instructional manual. About the time Adam was born, they pulled most cold remedies off the shelf. \u00a0At the time I thought it was pretty unfair. What? They’re just supposed to deal with the symptoms? The past few years I’ve gravitated toward a slightly more holistic approach so I’m not sure exactly where I fit in right now. \u00a0I mostly know that I scream prevention and still fail to do all of the things I preach. \u00a0Like the fact that my favorite flu prevention is Vit D consumption and we’ve yet to swallow one dose this year.<\/p>\n
So did you know that a cold lasts a very long time (10 days to 2 weeks) and that the peak day is day 5? I didn’t either until Zara was a month old and so sick with a cold that I absolutely could not wake her. \u00a0We landed in the pediatricians office where she, of course, woke up and appeared more well than she had at home. \u00a0He said, “Let’s see, this is day 5. That’s usually when we see babies because they keep getting worse and by day 5 parents are nearly panicked.” To be honest, I think I panicked more when she did not have one wet diaper for a period of almost twelve hours and finally put out a few reddish crystals instead of urine on day six. \u00a0Her pediatrician still wasn’t worried and I finally eeked enough milk into her with a syringe to help her revive enough for a semi-normal feeding and suddenly we saw her eyes\u00a0again.<\/p>\n
So there you have it. \u00a0Baby is worrisomely sick and it’s day three? You probably\u00a0need help before she crumps. \u00a0Day five and it’s bad but respirations are still normal? Hopefully this is as bad as it’s going to get.<\/p>\n
But the best thing I learned last winter is that eucalyptus oil does a beautiful job of helping with coughs. \u00a0Unkers and Vicks have been good friends of ours for years. \u00a0We slather the kids chests and their feet, then put socks on them when we tuck them in at night. \u00a0Adam can handle straight Vicks, but Liam’s skin is sensitive so I either use Baby Vicks or put a very thin layer of Vaseline on his chest and then a layer of Vicks. \u00a0I just about can’t bring myself to put even baby Vicks on a teeny tiny baby’s chest, but I would put it on the soles of their feet. \u00a0Interestingly, Vicks contains eucalyptus and lavender oil. \u00a0After reading an article about oils for colds, I decided to try it. \u00a0The next time Zara got sick, I added 6\u00a0drops of eucalyptus oil to our regular warm air humidifier and set it next to her crib. \u00a0Amazingly, she coughed less when first getting up than she had before she went to bed. \u00a0Quite unlike the normal wake up and cough and cough and cough types of scenarios that happen normally. \u00a0I loved it because I wasn’t putting anything strong directly on her skin and I wasn’t using any petroleum products. (Told you I’ve been edging toward the other side.) \ud83d\ude09 One of these days I’m going to find a carrier oil we can all use and make my own cough rub. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
UPDATE: Soon after posting this, a friend\u00a0— thanks, Carmen! —\u00a0with far more experience in essential oils messaged me about eucalyptus oil and said it’s dangerous in babies with epilepsy. Zara is up and gu-rouchy so I need to do more research but two quick links confirm these concerns. \u00a0In fact, after reading [this article<\/a>], I wouldn’t even recommend putting Vicks on a baby’s feet. \u00a0It appears to be more dangerous topically, but is definitely one of those risk way outweighs any potential benefits kind of scenarios and it should not be used in kids under ten. Which makes me very curious why they sell baby Vicks?? \u00a0So now I’m really serious. What DO you do with your babies? \u00a0I find it interesting that Zara has more spasms whenever she has a cold whether or not I use oils. \u00a0For example, I didn’t use anything until last night (not even tylenol) and yet, all day yesterday she showed a significant increase in events. \u00a0Today is about the same as yesterday, perhaps a little less, but we haven’t hit evening yet either. I’d really<\/em> like to know causation on colds and spasms for her. \u00a0But anyhow, this is one more reason why you don’t follow everything you read online. Also, if you’re like me and just learning about EO, here’s<\/a> where I’m going to begin my education.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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