SURVIVING BABYS FIRST COLD

Babies first cold is never going to come at a good time, it disrupts sleep, causes a bothered baby and an upset routine, it's not easy. Even with Patrick being our second baby and managing to get to almost 9 months before facing his first bout of the sniffles, we still found ourselves at a loss of what to do. When your baby gets a cold it's always a stressful experience, you want so badly to take the brunt of it for them and I'm sure most of us parents would do just that over and over again to help them feel better, but we can't.

Patricks' first cold of course came at the most important time for us all, my return to work and his start of nursery. I'm guessing he picked up the cold at settling in visits to nursery, as I'm all too aware as a Nursery Nurse that nurseries are breeding farms for germs, it's only natural. But I also realise that by going to nursery, and picking up a variety of bugs and viruses, by the time he gets to school age he'll be incredibly resilient, so it's definitely worth it for me. I was determined at first to let his body do what it could in fighting it off, but after merely a day I gave up on that idea as I just couldn't see him struggling so much. With some advice from a doctor, pharmacy and friends / family, I think we've got our fair share of tips that we can pass on to hopefully help you and your little ones fight off those bugs when they come your way.

#1 Snufflebabes is an absolute must to have in the cupboard. Just putting this on Patricks feet before bed and covering with socks or a sleepsuit, meant he could still get a good nights rest. Previously he had been coughing a lot in the night, resulting in really disturbed sleep and a very grumpy babe the next day. When we used this method it worked incredibly well and nothing can help a baby fight off a bug, better than rest.

#2 Calpol, ahh yes, your good friend calpol. Even though the bottle said not to use for more than 3 days in a row, we consulted a doctor on the third day as his cold still hadn't shifted and we were given the all clear for use it up to 6 days. Thankfully, we didn't actually need it after the fifth morning, but it helped massively. Patricks temperature was up and down and calpol was a huge contributing factor to the downs of it. We weren't exactly giving him it every 4 hours, but once or twice a day really did help give him that little boost when the cold was taking hold.

#3 Small feeds. When a baby is run down and sluggish the worst thing you can be doing is loading their tiny tums with food and contributing to that sluggish feeling even more so. During our doctors appointment with Patrick, we were advised to feed him little and often. It's a given that your little ones appetite might be out of the window, for Patrick it was more his bottles as he struggled with a stuffy nose. But by offering smaller feeds more often, it was a lot more manageable for him.

#4 Get an aspirator. If you have no idea what one of these is, just ask your local pharmacy and I'm sure they'll be able to point you in the right direction. I really recommend the one by snufflebabes, we have a tommee tippee one too which is absolutely pants if I'm honest - but perhaps I am not using it correctly. Aspirators are often nicknames 'snot suckers' for that exact reason. You pop one side of the tube at the entrance to babies nose, and the other in your mouth and simply do as it says on the tin, suck the snot away. Fear not though, it may seem gross but there is a filter to ensure you don't swallow a mouthful of snot. Just don't make the same mistake I did and forget to insert it. *Yuck*. We did this before every bottle feed and sleep, without a shadow of a doubt it's my colf & flu saviour product.