Friday, September 19, 2008

SICK AGAIN?

I swear I am always writing about Reddek being sick, probably because he is! Our house is clean and I try to wash his and my hands, but he still gets it!!! He had a little cold maybe a month ago and he has still been coughing off and on from that and I swear he has had a stuffy nose since he was born...Well about two days ago he woke up really sick just a cold. I was wiping his nose all day washing his hands, and then that night he was up coughing. Since he is younger than 6 you can't give him cold or cough medicine (which I don't think it helps anyway) so he was just up coughing and I felt like I couldn't do anything for him. Well last night was even WORSE!!! He was stuffy and coughing all day then when it came time for bedtime I did what the Dr. said, put him in a bath in a nice hot bathroom...I let the shower run on hot for about 10 mins before I started his bath so the bathroom made ya clear up when you got in there. We had a bath brushed his teeth and then went to say our prayers before I laid him down. Well I lay him down and he starts coughing so much he pukes! I then realize that he isn't going to be able to sleep in his bed. I get in the rocking chair with him and we recline and I rock him ALL NIGHT! Not to mention this week at work I have been getting up at 4:00 or 4:30 so I can get to work and do training with all the guys before the end of the month. Well we rocked and he coughed and puked a couple more times, then at 4:30 he said "mom a bed". So I took him upstairs and laid him down in his bed so I could start getting ready for work. Well I still hear him in there coughing. So what can you do for a little one that won't stop coughing? I ended up giving him some children's cough medicine, it didn't help, I put Vicks on his feet then put socks on, and it didn't help. I am so lost on what I can do for him. I would take him to the dr, but last month when he was sick I wasted $25.00 for them to tell me to put his mattress on an incline, give him a warm bath before bed and use a humidifier...I am already doing that! So please help! Maybe this is just motherhood and I better get use to it. The worse part is you feel so bad for your baby well I guess kid now. I don't really care that I haven't got much sleep I really just want him to feel better for himself.

This is my cutie right now...sleeping but I have way too much laundry with puke on it to take nap!

15 comments:

Tara Mogle said...

oh Katie, we are doing the cold thing at our house too! I hate when Connor gets sick. Dylan hasn't been sick yet so we are lucky there. Connor just got a cold the other day and he has not been sleeping at all which means neither do we. Are you using a cool mist humidifier? If not, get a cool mist humidifier and they have this vicks nighttime medicine you put in the humidifier...works wonders with Connor. I also bought this little nightlight/humidifier. It's called Triaminic Flowing Vapors. I turn it on in his room about 30 minutes before he goes to bed. It makes their room smell like medicine but it helps a ton! As for medicine....we gave Connor cough medicine when he was tiny (the doctor told us we could...oops!) but it never helped either. If his cough doesn't go away there is prescription meds...we got some. It does help but I hate to give it to him unless he really needs it. Sounds like Reddek is so sick. I am sorry you both are not sleeping. Being up at night is so hard especially with a sick baby! Get some rest sometime and I hope he starts feeling better soon.

Love ya

Stacey said...

I am so sorry, it is so sad to have a sick little one! You are such a good mommy! He is lucky to have you. It always seems to last forever with little ones...I hope it goes quickly, so you all can get some sleep.

Toby and Emily said...

Its so hard when they're sick and you can't do much to help them. My dr. gave us a medicine called Histussin for our oldest when his colds and coughs got bad - he was the same way with always a runny nose and oftne coughing too. That was the only thing that ever worked and it also makes them sleepy so you can only give it to them at night, but it was a lifesaver. Good luck!

Andria said...

I am so sorry tat you did not get any sleep. I think you are doing all that you can. Just hand in there. It passes and they grow out of it. Before long they can take care of themselves when they get a cold. Let me know if you need anything!!

Kim said...

Poor little guy! I'm sorry, it's never fun to have a sick little one!

Sounds like you and Min had fun at lunch. I'm glad you were able to get together!

Jennifer Pelo Rawlings said...

I hope that you have already been to the Dr. since you posted. If Reddek is the same then I think he needs to go. It sound like he needs a breathing treatment. My son has asthma and if they are coughing to the point of throwing up and not being able to sleep then they definitely need some help. Is he wheezing at all? If yes, then take him in or find someone that has a nebulizer. I have the medicine for one, but I gave the actual nebulizer to my sil.

Kelly & Charlene Moore said...

My mom said she used to put vicks on my chest and around the inside of my nostrils before going to bed it helped me she said. It sounds weird but she said it worked.

Kristen said...

I guess this is a little late - but I have a nebulizer should you ever need one! And we don't use it anymore. But he could be coughing up a storm and still not have anything actually in his lungs, so a breathing treatment wouldn't help. Only a doc would be able to hear the difference (I've tried and been wrong everytime I think I hear it in their chest). But if he's wheezing with each breath, then definitely get it checked. Anyway - good luck to you. Hopefully he did better last night. Coughs can linger for so long, it's hard. :)

bandkworky said...

I know this sounds crazy, but my sisters kids are always up coughing all night long and the best thing she found for them was to wrap them up tight and take them outside. The colder air seems to help open their airways.

Marion said...

katie,

Hey thanks for writing on the blog, it was good to hear from you. Of course I remember you and my wife thinks she had a class with you at snow. Did you have math class with Bodrero? My wife thinks she had it with you? Well keep in touch and tell Jason I say howdy.

Dane

Madsen Family said...

hang in there, it is hard when there is not much you can do for him. we just give our kids motrin and it seems to really help.

Anonymous said...

I was doing a google search on children's cough and cold medicien and I saw a quote from your blog.

As a dad and a doctor, I find children's cougha nd cold medications a very scary topic. I used to think that as long as my patient’s or I dosed the children’s cold & cough medications right, then everything would be OK. But when I researched this further, it turns out that children have died from “over dose” of ALL THE MAJOR CHILDRENS COLD AND COUGH MEDICINES even when given the correct dose (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/108/3/e52?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=cough+medications&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT).

Here are a few interesting facts:

1. Last October 2008, the drug companies promised the FDA that they would change all their labeling to say “do not use” for children under the age of 2, but I was just in the store last week, and a number of packages still had the old labeling!

2. The FDA reviewed safety and effectiveness data this last fall and its expert panel said that “right now the current cold & cough medications should not be given to children under 6.” Here is a link to the FDA’s minutes, “http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/minutes/2007-4323m1-Final.pdf”, see page 6. The FDA made a public advisory in January 2008 about never using it for children under 2, because the Drug companies are fighting them on the panels ruling to never use cold and cough medications on children 2 to 6. Since these drugs were previously allowed by the FDA, the FDA is forced to go though “due process” before they are willing to make an official public statement about never giving these medications to children 2 to 6.

3. The number of infant deaths attributed to cold and cough medicines is dramatically underreported. New research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics demonstrated that there were at least “10 unexpected infant deaths that were associated with cold-medication” in 2006 alone in the state of Arizona. Extrapolated over the US and Canadian population, that would be over 500 deaths a year associated with cold-medication! (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/122/2/e318)

The thing that the drug companies don’t want anyone to know is that these medications never underwent the rigorous safety and effectiveness studies modern medications have to go though, they we grandfathered in the early 1970’s because at that time experts felt like they seemed to work, and they seemed safe enough.

Interestingly, some researchers from Penn State have shown that Buckwheat honey is better then the OTC drugs for children’s cough. There is a web site that talks about this, and gives lots of research to help parents be better informed about how to help their kids. Check out http://www.honeydontcough.com/

-Daddydoctor

Tara Mogle said...

Hey Katie~ I will be up on Wednesday. I emailed Rachel and told her as well. Let me know if Wednesday will work. If not I will be heading back down to Manti on Thursday so maybe we could go then. I don't care where we go...just somewhere "kid friendly" since I will have my TWO kids and no husband to help me! Hope this will work
love ya
Tara

Our Family said...

Hope red is doing better, Karlee has had the cold thing too but the humidifier thing is starting to work for her. good luck

Tara Mogle said...

hey katie I will be up there around 11:30 or 12:00 here's my cell
435-705-4706....call me and we can meet up ...sorry I should have given this to you earlier. hope to see you soon.
love ya