congested babies and when to leave the house

Discussion in 'The First Year' started by mandywellman, May 17, 2010.

  1. mandywellman

    mandywellman Well-Known Member

    My girls are 6 weeks and 3 days old. They have been congested for almost 3 weeks now. I HAVE taken them to the doctor twice and it is not in their chest it is just in their noses and draining in back of their throat, I FEEL SO awful for them exp at night is when it really comes out, i can really hear how congested they are, did anyone else babies have this? how long b4 it will go away I mean it has been almost 3 weeks! When I went to the doctor 3 weeks ago I saw a differnt pedi than my normal one bc she was not in. He was telling me they could have got this cold from so many people being in and out of my house and that our bodies can fight off things that babies cant. So I decided to not have anyone come to my house accept for me and dh. But as of last week I needed a uninterupted nap so I am now letting our moms come over. The doctor told me since my girls were preemies I should have not had a lot of visiitors and kept them away from everyone til they are about 2 months. Is this true did anyone else do this?!? I am starting to have cabin fever and want to take them out of the house, no where crazy just like my parents house, or his parents house, or to the park. WHen did you take your twin out of the house. Do you think they are just having the normal congestion babies get?!? BUt for thsi longg!!! Should I do what doc says and not have anyone over til they are two months?!! Or take them anywhere. They have gone to the doctor and outside on a few walks and thats it! Also, how long do you take your babies outside for, of course I dont go when its wicked hot out but when its just the right temp. Do you think it could be soemthin g in my house that is making my babies stay so congested?? Anythoughts, thanks in adavance, sorry this was all over the place with different questions!!
     
  2. Gigantor

    Gigantor Well-Known Member

    My boys had congestion at that time. Actually Oliver has it for a few weeks then it went away on its own. It was all in his throat. He did not develop a fever, wasn't cranky. I ran the humidifier in the bedroom all night and elevated the crib to make it more comfortable.

    I kept them in the house for a few months and did not have many visitors besides family.
    I was way too scared of the swine flu.

    Now the weather is nice, it's a whole different story. I think it's okay to take them out for shorter period of time and make sure noone touches them (except for family and have them sanitize their hands).
     
  3. lisagayle

    lisagayle Well-Known Member

    Mine will be 3 weeks old tomorrow and they have the same thing, along with nasty eye boogers. At their check up last week, their pedi said that he believes it's allergies. I don't know where you live but here in Oklahoma our pollen count and tree pollen count have been through the roof. He said that unfortunately there isn't a ton we can do, although he did say to run a super hot shower and hang out in the bathroom for a little bit with them. He said the steam would help turn it from congestion to snot we can suck out.

    Hope that helps a little bit. :)
     
  4. cheezewhiz24

    cheezewhiz24 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    We had bad congestion here- their breathing drove me nuts in our bedroom. I finally gave up dairy and they cleared up much better after about a week. However, I still snork out their snot after a bath (every other day) because we live in Colorado where it's super dry- no snot leaves the nose. :rofl: But I don't think I'd have to do that if I didn't live here- when we visit other places it's not nearly so bad.
     
  5. alphabetsoup

    alphabetsoup Member

    i agree that it could be allergies. i see you are in midlothian, virginia. i am in the richmond area also and pollen has been crazy here! my pedi said that although little ones don't typically have true allergies, b/c the pollen count has been so high, it's enough to give anyone allergy issues. (her analogy was that you might not be allergic to pepper but if someone sprinkled a ton of pepper in the room you were in, you would be sneezy, have watery eyes, cough etc)

    she also told me that infants can take at LEAST 2 weeks to get congestion cleared out of their system and it usually goes from top down. so you hear congestion in their nose and then their chest and then it should work it's way out.

    you could try saline drops and the nasel aspirator to help clear them out. elevate them for easier sleeping, take them in the bathroom with steam to loosing things up as well. cool mist humidifier is also a good idea.

    it looks like your girls were about 3 1/2 weeks early. to me, that isn't really preemie, especially for IDs. they were just shy of 37 weeks right? so in my opinion, yes you need to be careful with germs but at the time of year they were born, if you were having people wash their hands before handling them and not having obviously sick people around them, you are fine.

    i also try to encourage people not to kiss their hands since babies always put their hands in their mouth. and when you are out with them, just keep them in their infant seats (and maybe keep the handle upright, makes it harder for people to get their hands on your little ones!) if it's warm enough keep their feet/toes exposed and people will probably gravitate to touching their feet, rather than their hands.

    if you need to get out of the house, even just going to the mall (around here you could go to short pump or stony point) and walk around outside, you can enjoy the weather but you don't have to worry so much about germs and people wanting to be all touchy touchy!
     
  6. slugrad1998

    slugrad1998 Well-Known Member

    Babies are at higher risk of getting seriously ill from a virus until they are about 6 months old. The idea is not to stay inside forever, but to avoid the germs. Going outside is totally fine, its people who are germy. So, walks, park, etc are much better options than walmart, restaurants, etc. If you do go out to these places, keep them covered, don't let people touch their faces and hands. If people visit, handwashing is a must before holding babies. This will go a long way to keeping them healthy. Also, make sure you are washing your hands before you are making bottles because often babies catch the germs that their parents bring home, even if we're not feeling ill.
     
  7. lisagayle

    lisagayle Well-Known Member

    Something we got for the babies and some people thought was a little far fetched was this: http://www.mytinyhands.com/index.htm

    I love it, it makes people think twice before reaching in to touch the babes IMO. They are little plastic signs that hang on the carseat handle that say "Please wash your hands before touching mine."
     
  8. mandywellman

    mandywellman Well-Known Member

    Thank you everyone for your responses! I jsut hope they get better soon! I hate having them so stuffy!
     
  9. vtlakey

    vtlakey Well-Known Member

    The NICU gave us the same type signs which we hung from their carrier handles, and they worked GREAT at keeping strangers from touching our babies! For their first 2 months at home we only took them to doctors visits. Around 3 or 4 months old we occasionally took them to Target or the mall, but since they were reaching out of their carriers and the double Snap N Go to touch anything, and nobody touched them due to the signs, we figured it was ok. Also, ANY family or close friends that came to visit ALWAYS had to wash their hands before touching the babies. We were strict about that, in a nice way. And to this day me, DH, my mom, etc always wash our hands when we get home before picking up the babies, but we're not quite as hard on guests these days.

    We don't use our "Please wash your hands before touching mine" signs anymore since the boys graduated from carrier seats to convertible seats, so if you would like them just PM me your address and I would be happy to mail them to you. I took the boys to my DH's place of work when they were about 4 months old and strolled them through cubicle grand central meeting about 20-30 of his coworkers, and not a single one of them touched the boys with those signs hanging prominently from the carrier arm. I highly recommend them!

    ETA: our boys were little snot monsters for at least a couple of months when they came home from the NICU! They weren't sick, but just ALL the time snotty. They gave our Graco nasal aspirator quite a work out several times a day for 2 or 3 months! In fact we kept it in the basket on the coffee table along with pacis because we had to use it SO often. Then all of sudden the snottiness went away. I never knew why they were so snotty either, I was just glad I didn't have to suck their noses out anymore after that :)
     
  10. cat mommy

    cat mommy Well-Known Member

    We followed the docs advice--only around a few adult family members (grandparents, uncles) until four months (actual) and then we were told it was ok to take them out to places that were not crowded (like grocery store late at night) and to see people who were not sick. We expect that at their next appointment, we will be told it is ok to take them out anywhere, as long as we are prepared for them to get sick.

    So, yes, they left the house for walks and stuff but never to a public place where other people were around until they hit four months. Since four months, they have been to a restaraunt (which was not crowded) and other places where we could keep them away from a lot of people.
     
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