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Good morning, ladies!
Good morning, gentlemen!
This is a Fridays-only thread for parents I thought you might be interested in. If you are, let me know if you'd like to be added to the ping list.
But I DID find a good alternative to Nyquil. It's from Tylenol, new stuff called Tylenol Cold & Flu Severe Nighttine. Little bottle (8oz) of this blue liquid. Costs about $5.50 at WalMart.
GOOD STUFF lemme tell ya. First off each dose has 1000mg Tylenol (no that's not a typo), 60mg of the main ingredient in Sudafed, cough suppressant, and antihistamine. What's even better is that it tastes like peppermint. (I have to hold my nose when I take Nyquil or it'll make me gag, no matter if it's green or red) This new stuff knocks me out within an hour of taking it and I sleep like a baby through the night (we're talking 10pm-6:30am or whenever my kids decide to wake me up)
In other news...still haven't heard from hubby. He was evacuated from NAS Pensacola sometime Tues and that morning was the last time I talked to him. GAH. He WAS due to graduate from his school Oct 26 but well that seems to have gone out the window...
Kids are doing good in school. Youngest son Robbie had a horrid first day (that whole separation anxiety thing) but has since greatly improved.
Ok I'm going to go finish my coffee and figure out what to do with the rest of my day. cheers...
Morning! We've had trouble with the baby having high fevers on and off all summer. Ibuprofen (Motrin) works better than acetominophen (Tylenol) and is also easier to find in a dye-free formula.
I'm not sure what's been causing all of it ... colds, allergies, ear infection ... after a couple rounds of antibiotics, we decided we would just treat the fevers and wait, and it always goes away eventually. I wipe his ears out with tea-tree oil, too.
Pediacare nighttime for the girls. Knocks them right out. During the day, the chewable Sudafed. I have to say that since the homeschooling has started, they are not sick like they used to be. This is a blessing because when the little one gets a cold, she also gets a UTC. They talked about an everyday antibiotic for her and I was not happy with that. We are just winging it (she hasn't had one since March).
We have a big problem because both girls are allergic to mosquito bites. Either hives or blisters from them. Benedryl is a mainstay in our house.
For me, three shots of Irish Creme in Coffee. Cures everything.
Good Morning!
I agree on the sudafed and the one thing we use a lot of in the winter (dh and me, too) is Robitussin plain (guaifenesin)....the generics work too, but seem like they taste worse. "Equate" brand of guaifenesin gives me heartburn.
I use this anytime the kids have a cold that seems like the secretions are getting thick.....which for us usually leads to a doctor's office visit for sinusitis or ear infection if I do nothing..... I give it as frequently as the dosage chart allows and push lots of clear liquids, it normally takes only a day or two of this. Guaifenesin thins secretions so that they can drain out and not fester and get infected.
Sometimes a little sudafed helps move them along. We use Robitussin PE for this (guaifenesin plus sudafed), but it's prolly more expensive than giving a separate generic sudafed/generic guafenesin.
The fluids are really very important for clearing out congestion.....the medicine won't thin secretions very well, if there are not enough fluids circulating.
When do I go to the doctor? It depends on the kid. With my youngest, who was very sick with RSV as a newborn, it's usually at the drop of a hat! LOL He's 2.5 now and was needing a nebulizer treatment (albuterol) daily until last February.
With my school age kids....my son is prone to bronchitis, and he has a certain cough....when it refuses to clear up using the recipe above, I know he needs antibiotics and I take him in. My second daughter is very stoic so just about any time she complains I watch her closely for a day or two, if no better I take her in. She has had some wicked strep infections, and ear infections.
My preschooler is also stoic and usually any time she runs a fever it's something that needs to be seen.
My teenager is very hardy, but when she starts sinus symptoms it's time for antibiotics. If she would drink fluids (water, juice, gatorade) and take the guaifenesin she could head it off, but she is *very* stubborn about this. All she will drink is caffeinated soda and that just does not work.
My friend from the Philippines knows a lot of herbal remedies...she swears by garlic (raw) and ginger tea. I've had good results with eating garlic when I feel something coming on. I slice up a clove into three or four chunks and swallow them like pills. Should prolly do this every day, but dislike the "side-effects" :)
Also put some Hot salsa in soups to keep the sinuses open and soothes sore throat. Gargling with vinegar, if you can stand it, helps sore throat.
Baths with the baby soap that smells like Vicks is soothing, too.
Fixing up some screamin' hot soup as we speak and took the pills last night-I refuse to let this cold take hold!
This week, my 5-year-old, Ethan, had a sickness that's been going around here in Southwest Missouri. He had a fever to 104, ear ache, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and body aches.
Because his fever was so high, I took him to see the physician's assistant that we use as our "family doctor". According to the PA, who has seen a lot of this stuff lately, some cases of this illness are bacterial and some cases seem to be viral - usually the viral illnesses don't have the high fever spike that the bacteria-based cases have. He gave Ethan Zithromax (the once-a-day antibiotic) and it really has worked well. After one dose, his fever went down to normal and hasn't spiked since. Tylenol and Motrin weren't helping much with the fever, so it had to be the Zithromax. He was able to go back to school yesterday and has two more doses of the antibiotic left.
Medications that I find that generally work well for my boys are: Pediacare, Triaminic chewables (there are several different ones for sore throat, cough, congestion, etc.) and some of the Equate brand knockoffs of more expensive drugs, like Sudafed and Tylenol Cold and Sinus.
Incidentally, the Equate knockoff of Claritin-D is really good and lots cheaper than Claritin-D, too! Equate brands are available at Wal-Mart. As a general rule, I find Motrin to be more effective for fever than Tylenol.
Most of the time, I buy store brands of ibuprofen and acetaminophen, but I have noticed that Motrin IB works better for my shoulder pain than the cheaper store brands do. My friend, who is a pharmacist, explained that the store brands sometimes use cheaper binding agents than the name brands do, and these cheaper binding agents sometimes don't let the active ingredients in the medications work as well as the active ingredients do in the name brands.
Ya'll have a nice weekend. I've got to get back to work.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, my children will not take medicine--they hate it, so usually they just hunker down in their beds and sleep when they are sick--when the fever is persistant and they are miserable though, I insist on tylenol.
I take them in only when their fever is high AND they are lethargic or wheezing in the chest/trouble breathing or if they have been throwing up for more than 24 hours and can't even keep water down.
As for chicken soup--I just kind of throw things together--no real recipe.
Good morning.
Nothing by mouth for 1/2 hour. If they are dying of thirst after that point, small sips of Gatorade (stick with the dye-free, clear kind!) or Pedialite (which most kids hate) BUT NOT WATER. Every 1/2 hour another sip or two, if they want.
No food for 12 hours after the last puke.
When they are ready to start eating, stick to the BRAT diet for 24 hours. Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, and Toast (nothing on it, no whole wheat). Small quantities of food.
Then add easy to digest foods like yogurt, potatoes, watermelon... ease back to the regular diet.
Of course, She Who Must Be Obeyed demands I face away from her when I climb into the bed, but in the morning, I usually feel 1000 times better.
A rubber syringe full of warm salty water up the nose, letting it run out your mouth. I know, sounds gross but really feels good afterwards.
Well, my twin daughters almost died when they were 6 weeks old of a respiratory virus (RSV). Their first year was a living nightmare. They caught everything. (Their big brother wasn't sick for a whole year.)
When they were in the hospital, I talked to the Ped. ICU doctor a lot, and his main recommendation was to keep them out of daycare and to wash our hands a lot.
So I don't recommend any over the counter medication, but I do recommend no daycare and wash your hands a lot.
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