Crazy sick child

Leinster1980

Little fella is smothering with a cold, 11 months old and barely finished his first week in Creche before getting sick. We've had a few crazy episodes of crying for two to three hours the last few nights. I've just copped that we gave him Nurofen not long before these episodes started. My husband gave it to him tonight just before bed at 7. He's still awake. Put him into his bed and all hell breaks loose. To the stage of making himself sick. I might be completely wrong but has anyone had any similar experience with Nurofen? First time mam and I'm at a complete loss as to what's wrong and not might be putting two and two together and getting five. We have been to the doc and he's just said its viral and continue with calpol and nurofen. Temp is fine tonight.

cyning

It's probably coincidental: with a viral infection if it's their throat they can get referred pain in their ears that's worse when they lie down. Same if it's their ears. If it's a bunged up cold they could have a post nasal drip going on. If he seems ok you could stop the neurofen and calpol: or get neurofen and paralink suppositories? My two are impossible to get to bed when they are sick and it's so frustrating. It will pass in a few days though!

mirrorwall14

In our case its always the throat when he has a screaming session. The last time we brought him to the doc with the what we thought was a cold but he had screamed for three hours (in a hotel ) the night before. She said his throat was just shy of tonsilitis, had to keep neurofen/calpol overlapping for three days to get him closer to normal and orders to come back after 48hrs of the painkillers if there was no indication of improvement

Leinster1980

Doctor said he did have a red throat and ear. He's inconsolable now and won't even let us hold him. He's struggling with bottles because of his blocked nose. Used the saline spray but still blocked. I just feel useless. I hope it'll pass soon. Nearly a week of this now.

mirrorwall14

Painkillers, extra bottle and lots of hugs/walking? We've also completely redone the bedtime routine on a couple of these nights, bedtime books and all. Or given a bath (my lad loves baths) as a distraction from pain

Edit: Also if its been a week I'd go back to the docs, a virus should really be burning out at this stage not still this bad

Stheno

Leinster1980 wrote: »

Doctor said he did have a red throat and ear. He's inconsolable now and won't even let us hold him. He's struggling with bottles because of his blocked nose. Used the saline spray but still blocked. I just feel useless. I hope it'll pass soon. Nearly a week of this now.

Try a bowl of hot water with Vicks near him?

mirrorwall14

Oh yeah and if you have the childrens version of vicks I'd pop it on his chest and prop the mattress slightly

Leinster1980

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Oh yeah and if you have the childrens version of vicks I'd pop it on his chest and prop the mattress slightly

Yep done those. He's beside me now dozing and half crying. My hearts breaking for him. We were back at the doc for the second time just today. No change in his diagnosis so I suppose we just have to ride it out : (

mirrorwall14

Thats the hard part. I kick out my OH on nights like this and tuck him in beside me with his head on my shoulder (he's a tummy sleeper so it inclines him). Hes not really a cuddler so its secretly nice even though it results in no sleep and he's sad. Good luck, it will pass x

threescompany

Neurofen definitely doesn't agree with my kids - it sends them hyper & drives them wild. I would give the neurofen suppositories instead and calpol at the same time. It's hard when they are sick & they become very clingy for days. Hope he gets well soon

mirrorwall14

Oh and there is a sugar free and not sugar free version of neurofen. The sugar free one does not go down as well with our lad. And finally, make sure you are giving calpol and neurofen by weight not by age (its the first thing they will check if you ever end up in a and e)

Calpol
http://www.calpol.com.ph/children/calpol-dosage-table.html

Nurofen
I can't actually find this one now but I know i've been given a link before1

Vidcon

Leinster1980 wrote: »

Doctor said he did have a red throat and ear. He's inconsolable now and won't even let us hold him. He's struggling with bottles because of his blocked nose. Used the saline spray but still blocked. I just feel useless. I hope it'll pass soon. Nearly a week of this now.

Been through this with my 3 recently. The youngest is same age as yours and I have tried everything over the last 3 years to help with the stuffy blocked nose.
The most successful thing by far has been the calpol vapor plug. We always keep a good stock of them. Buy them from Amazon when not in a hurry but can get them in supermarkets if needed ASAP. Link at end of post.
Other things we do are
Put 'snuffle baby' on chest and shoulders
Slightly elevating head end of the cot.
Bring baby into bathroom full of steam for a few minutes
Put wet cloth on radiator to add some moisture to the air or get a humidifier.
Oh I have even put olbus oil on my shoulder when trying to console upset baby.

For the bedtime bottle make sure to put snuffle baby or olbas oil on baby first as they will get max benefit while breathing through nose as they drink the bottle.

Best of luck.

Here's amazon link to the calpol plug
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0017TN0OG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1458171374&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=calpol+vapour+plug&dpPl=1&dpID=51vAzI4upuL&ref=plSrch

LegacyUser

Our little one had silent reflux and we were told by the GP and a couple of pharmacists that Neurofen can be quite hard on the tummy for them. Mind you, our daughter settled better with Neurofen than calpol (I found) and I did use both. Calpol made her very unhappy for a few months though. Apparently it's just the difference of one being a paracetomol and the other being ibuprofen - ibuprofen is harder on the system (adults and children) and shouldn't be taken on a empty stomach.

They also said try to leave about half hour between any food and dose you give them. It may be just what he has or it may be that the Neurofen is disagreeing with him a bit? Otherwise, it does take a good week or more for a cold to go with them and I'd echo the advice given here.

Millem

OP my son has just gotten over something similar, it lasted 9 days. Doc recommended "honey, lemon and gycerine" for his throat.
I think your baby might be too young for it, have a feeling they need to be 1!
All viral according to doc. As long as he was drinking doc wasn't too concerned.

ChewChew

We're just over a similar dose with our 9 month old. We kept putting the snufflebabe rub on her chest and feet and I kept Vaseline on her nose so it wouldn't hurt when wiping it. I put a facecloth with menthol rub on it and put on the rad about an hour before bed and I put olbas oil on a muslin cloth and tied it to the outside of the cot and we had a calpol vaporiser plug in. Her room stank but it really helped and she only had a total of about 3 hard nights.

skydish79

Leinster1980 wrote: »

Doctor said he did have a red throat and ear. He's inconsolable now and won't even let us hold him. He's struggling with bottles because of his blocked nose. Used the saline spray but still blocked. I just feel useless. I hope it'll pass soon. Nearly a week of this now.

Try a nebuliser, might help with him been blocked up or salt therapy

pwurple

skydish79 wrote: »

Try a nebuliser, might help with him been blocked up or salt therapy

If salt therapy involves actual salt, stay away from it with a baby. Their tiny kidneys are not able for much salt.

Leinster1980

Well we had a horrific night. Asleep by just after 11 and awake again at 1230. Very unsettled sleep until 7. Gave him his bottle, again struggled with it and went back to sleep until just after 8. Mammy and daddy are exhausted. I'll try the wet cloth on the rad with the vapour rub. The plug we tried but the light keeps him awake might try to block it out. We're on day 9/10 now I'm hoping it starts to get better soon.

mirrorwall14

Leinster1980 wrote: »

Well we had a horrific night. Asleep by just after 11 and awake again at 1230. Very unsettled sleep until 7. Gave him his bottle, again struggled with it and went back to sleep until just after 8. Mammy and daddy are exhausted. I'll try the wet cloth on the rad with the vapour rub. The plug we tried but the light keeps him awake might try to block it out. We're on day 9/10 now I'm hoping it starts to get better soon.

Blue tak the light?

Leinster1980

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Blue tak the light?

Going to put electrical tape over it. Put damp cloth with snuffle baby on it on the rad and you could really smell it in the room. Hopefully tonight will be better. Thanks for everyone's help.

moving_home

Ya we put duct tape over the light on the calpol plug in. It's a disaster.

I swear by a cut onion in the room for snots and cold. It stinks but definitely helps. I know people use it for chest infection too but luckily we had no experience with this.

Leinster1980

moving_home wrote: »

Ya we put duct tape over the light on the calpol plug in. It's a disaster.

I swear by a cut onion in the room for snots and cold. It stinks but definitely helps. I know people use it for chest infection too but luckily we had no experience with this.

I'll try anything! So it's worth a try! I'll be able to write a book by the end of this!

LegacyUser

Our three kids didn't go to a creche and I am always astonished at the frequency of illnesses of those that do. The added problem here is that I presume you are still required to attend work, despite no sleep. This deadline means potentially dosing the child with all manner of things to speed up recovery.

More than likely the child needs rest and reassurance more than anything. The doctor is right in not prescribing anything strong for a run-of-the-mill virus. In our house this would be a dvd week, with child attached.

I do sympathise with you, it is a difficult situation you are in here, but time is the cure really and truly.

madeinamerica

Just to second an earlier post on nurofen being tough on tummies. It was the first thing I thought of when I read your description of your baby getting upset after having the nurofen. It can be very rough on stomachs. my husband can't take it at all as he's prone to ulcers and anything with ibuprofen in it absolutely kills his stomach. I've read that it can even be bad with suppositories or coated pills as it can still effect the stomach once it is in the blood stream. So i don't give it to my son at all just in case. Paracetamol stuff only. Paracetamol suppositores worked when he was really sick and wouldn't take anything. Also, fyi normal vicks is for 2yrs+ as far as I remember.

Someone else on boards recommended to me before: sitting in the bathroom with him with the shower running scalding hot to get the bathroom all steamy might help his congestion. Bring in some of his toys to distract him while in there.

Apart from that, you have my sympathies. My 18 mo started creche recently and we've all been sick since! Not fun!

January

Nurofen doesn't agree with my little boy either, he had reflux when he was a baby so that might explain it.

Just keep him comfortable, plenty of fluids, jelly if he won't drink and icepops (you could make your own out of pureed fruit if you like). Use the snufflebabe and keep them dosed with Calpol or paralink suppositries (not both as they're both paracetemol).

Leinster1980

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all your help. I think we're on the mend after two weeks. His nose finally cleared on Sunday and he's slowly getting back to himself. He's still a bit off his bottles, but he's horsing solids back into himself. We've had to do a few night feeds as he was waking up with hunger. Last night night was our first "normal-ish" night. We taped up the light in the calpol plug in and I put the snuffle baby in a wet face cloth on the radiator. We also had baths every night. We let him eat whatever he could manage and fluids. I can't honestly say that any of what we tried worked but it made me feel better that I was trying to make him more comfortable. Both mammy and daddy are exhausted but glad he's on the mend. He's back at the creche today......let the re-infection commence lol!

Thanks again everyone! Being a first time mam you tend to question yourself a lot but it was in some way reassuring that we weren't alone