Tips for when your baby has a cold

When your baby has a cold, you’ll do anything to relieve their discomfort. This blog post is about how to know if your baby has a cold. We’ll also share some tips on how to relieve the discomfort of your baby’s cold.

Signs that your baby has a cold

For babies, a normal cold can be recognized by one or more of the following symptoms: a slight fever (up to 38 degrees), a runny nose, coughing, a sore throat and/or dirty eyes.

When a baby has a cold, these symptoms can persist for as long as three weeks.

Tips for a baby with a cold

When your baby has a congested nose

Babies and infants often suffer from a congested nose when they have a cold. This makes it difficult for them to drink properly and to get enough sleep. Their throat can also become dry. It is important to keep your baby’s nose clean.

• To remedy a swollen mucous membrane, you can use a nose spray or nose drops. Make sure you use a spray or drops with the correct age indication.
• To remove excess slime, you can use a nose cleaner. Squeeze the ball and insert the nozzle into the nostril. Keep the other nostril closed with your finger. Slowly release the ball and the mucus will disappear into the spout. The other nostril can be cleaned in the same way.
• The Difrax Electric nose cleaner only needs to be turned on, and it does the work for you. The attachment can be exchanged and the long battery life means it is always ready to use.

When your baby has dirty eyes

When a baby has a cold, it can often suffer from teary and dirty eyes.

• You can clean the eyes with cooled boiled water and clean cotton wool, a cloth or some gauze. Use this to gently stroke the (closed) eye from the outside in. Use clean cotton for each eye.
• Tip: Are you breastfeeding? Then you can also use a few drops of breast milk instead of cooled boiled water. Breast milk is a sterile fluid and has a healing effect!

When your baby has trouble sleeping because of a cold

Coughing and a stuffy nose will probably make it difficult for your baby to sleep. The following tips can help your baby to sleep better.

• Place a rolled-up bath towel under the mattress by their head. This will raise the upper body a little, giving your baby less trouble breathing through their congested nose.
• Menthol or eucalyptus that is specifically suitable for babies can have a soothing effect on the airways.
• Create the right room temperature. For a baby, this is around 18 degrees, even when they have a cold or when they aren’t feeling well.
• Attach a humidifier to the radiator to ensure a good level of humidity.
  
• A pacifier for comfort and peace.

Good to know

• Medicine won’t cure a virus cold any faster; it will only suppress the symptoms of a cold.
• Fever and coughing are natural immune responses of the body. A fever creates a high body temperature, making it difficult for the virus to survive. Coughing makes it possible to cough up excess slime. Both reactions are useful for a quick recovery. Therefore, only give medication if your child finds it really difficult to sleep and/or eat.