What a headache Ziana has been lately. It started last week with a crazy cough and runny nose only in the morning– nothing too serious that alerted us. The cool, calm and collected child I knew disappeared, she was now cranky and cried in pain.
At first, we thought it could have been whooping cough, but she didn’t have any of the symptoms like uncontrollable coughing, fever, vomiting or diarrhea. Then we thought maybe she’s just teething, which can cause a cold, but that wasn’t it since it was more than just a cold. After a couple of days we took her to the doctor because it continued and the coughing just got nastier. My amazing pediatrician took swabs inside her nose to get tested, but stated in the mean time to get a cool mist humidifier, clean her nose continuously, prescribed albuterol sulfate and sodium chloride to use with the nebulizer in order to clear her airways and nose. The same thing I use when I get asthma attacks– scary. It’s fine for us as adults to use the nebulizer, but seeing a child using a mask for breathing is sad.
The next morning the doctor called stating Ziana had RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) in laymen terms a virus! He stated to continue the treatment and if it got worse to go to the hospital immediately, but it should go away on it’s own in 5-8 days
What RSV is a virus which is the most common cause of two lung disorders in babies, bronchiolitis (which swells the small airways and fills them with mucus, blocking airflow) and pneumonia (an infection and inflammation of the lungs). Both very serious and in many cases especially babies 6 months and younger can be deadly. Ziana is 8 months on Sunday so my mind is at ease just a bit. FYI, adults can get it too, but its not as serious since our lungs are much more developed than theirs.
I read more on the virus from none other than Baby Center, RSV is easily spread via droplets in the air or contaminated surfaces. So if someone with the virus sneezes or coughs near your baby, or touches something that your baby then touches before putting his hands in his mouth, he can easily pick it up. The virus can live on hands and surfaces for up to six hours.
With that I still needed more information! I went to RSV Protection which gave me more in depth details on the virus. Babies 0-2 are at a higher risk in getting the virus during the season fall going into spring. You can also check the risk assessment to see if your child is at a higher risk than other children.
Now lately we’ve going out a lot where everyone has been holding Ziana and I allowed it. How dumb of me! I use to have everyone wash their hands, but I stopped. On top of that Ziana is crawling everywhere, putting her mouth on everything and of course she has to fit her hands in her mouth.
Just remember that if their crawling make sure you wash their hands constantly and anyone holding your baby needs to be squirted with hand sanitizer. We also bought a steam mop from Shark which at least helps us clean the floors a lot easier.
I know things are going to get much worse once she goes into a head start program or daycare. Having to deal with all thosecoughs, colds and who knows what else is going to be fun, fun, fun!
Thankfully, even with a nasty cold and a drippy nose my little Buddha belly is still smiling through it all 🙂
These are pictures from a birthday party we attended this past weekend when her cold was still in the early stages.
*Collaboration with Latina Bloggers*
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