J has a horrible cough. It's all that remains of the nasty virus he had last week (which included fever, cough, and copious amounts of green sticky toddler snot. Fun, right?) and I really wish it would leave. Like yesterday. J was coughing in his sleep all night last night. If you don't have kids (and aren't a mommy, though I only have my own dear husband for comparison on this issue) you probably don't "get" this, but there's this mommy instinct that kicks in pretty much the second you bring the kid home. When J was a newborn and sleeping in his bassinet next to me, I would wake up when he sighed. I would wake up when he sniffed. I'd wake up if he farted. You get the idea. This is one reason I slept so much better once he went to his own room at 4 months. I think it was 4 months. Maybe it was 3? Anyway, that's not my point. Even when J had moved to his own room, most of the little noises he made were picked up by his monitor, and I learned to tune out all non-urgent noises. We haven't used the monitor in at least a year (other than using his end as a night light... handy feature, that) but J's room shares a wall with ours. If he cries/sings/sneezes/turns on his music box, I can hear it from my own bed. If I am in a deep sleep and he coughs, I drift into a state of semi-awake and begin to assess the situation. One cough? He's fine. Crying for a brief second but stops before I'm fully conscious? Also fine. Coughing til he gags every 5 minutes all.night.long? Dear GOD. There's nothing I can do but I come up to full consciousness, realize there's nothing I can do (I've already given him honey and put vapor rub on his chest and since a bunch of moron parents OD'd their kids on medicine and nobody can give their sick kids a damn thing even though the overwhelming majority of parents and kids had no problems...but I digress. Also, I'm not counting any kids who broke into kid proof bottles. Those are clearly not idiot parents, but rather clever kids). I try to go back to sleep. I even got up twice last night to comfort him and try to help. Didn't work, although I observed that he is coughing while he's sound asleep, so at least he's sleeping. Gah. I have propped up his pillow tonight to a better angle, it seems to be helping. Somewhat. Of course, I have to get him up in about 15 minutes so we can go pick up C from work, but c'est la vie.
I just want to come home and sleep afterward. Hell, I would have gone to bed 30 minutes ago if I didn't have to pick up C. This is one inconvenience of having only one car. *Yawn* Any anti-coughing juju for J would be appreciated.
1 comment:
It could be allergies, my son's been coughing for over a month. Benadryl does nothing for him, but might for J - little birdie behind a pharmacy counter told me the dose for a toddler was half the dose for a six-year-old, this was before idiot parents got all cough medicines banned so that if the cough is bad enough, you just end up going to the doctor and getting prescription stuff. Zyrtec is what does work for allergies here, it's prescription only, but if the cough is that bad, it's doctor time. We went last Thursday when both his preschool teacher AND the school nurse told me his cough (that we'd been uselessly Benadryling for a month) was starting to contort his whole face and turn him red. Benadryl had done NOTHING, and he'd developed a sinus infection. We go through this every spring and fall. I just thank God it's something seasonal and not dust mites.
Refilling the Zyrtec is obviously not optional, we now know.
He was less than a year when he first had fall allergies, and that was the year the whole cough syrup problem started, and the doctor said it was very irritating that she couldn't recommend anything OTC just because STUPID PARENTS COULDN'T READ DIRECTIONS. She didn't say stupid, but that was the gist of it.
There is a tea that if you can convince him to take it a few times a day, MIGHT help. Garlic and honey are both natural antibiotics, you can mash up a clove or two in hot water, steep like tea, and add enough honey to cover the taste.
Poor little guy! I hope he feels better!
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