A female asked:
My granddaughter has her first cold. she is almost 5 months old. she has some sinus drainage (clear) not a lot is making it to her nose, she has a cough but no rattle when breathing, no fever. i have watered her bottle down, done back percussions, have sa
1 doctor answer • 1 doctor weighed in
Dr. Laura McMullenanswered
Pediatrics 23 years experience
There : There are no over the counter cough or cold medications that are safe to give any children under 2 years old. They were all removed from the shelves a few years ago. Research showed that they did not help kids feel better in that age group and in fact could be harmful.
If your granddaughter is congested, you can run a cool mist vaporizer in her room and use saline and nasal suction to clear her nose. Otherwise you just have to let it run it's course.
You should not add water to her bottle. Even though this was common practice years ago, we found that a baby's kidneys are too immature to be able to handle water. Too much water can lower an infant's salt levels and cause seizures. You should continue breast milk or formula and can use a rehydration solution such as pedialyte which all have proper salt ratios for little ones.
If she develops a fever, has any difficulty breathing, stops eating/drinking, acts very irritable or sleepy or acts sick in any way, call her doctor right away.
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5.3k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
Last updated Oct 3, 2016
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