Newborn has a cold and nothing seems to be helping!?

Hello, my newborn has a terrible cold and she is only 3 weeks old. No fever but she has a stuffy nose and a cough. I've so far tried the following;





Sitting in bathroom with shower on to stem out the bogies


Sleeping her in an elevated position


Putting some vicks on my hands (not on her as that's dangerous but letting her breathe it in off my hands)





Dr seems to be against nose drops and sucking devices as they can damage the nose and I've checked this out online and tend to agree.





Was thinking of getting a vapouiser but I'm not experienced to know if this will help. She also had colic but this has improved, either way she's not sleeping at all. Has anyone found babies do not sleep when ill?





Any suggestions greatly appreciated.|||Nose drops meaning what? You can use saline in a baby of any age with no "damage". It's water with a small amount of salt to fight infection. You can overuse anything %26amp; have it be bad, even saline can be drying if overused, but using a little is not damaging. You CANNOT use regular adult Vick's AT ALL - even on you. If you have regular Vick's the active ingredient is camphor. Camphor for some reason seems to help adults breathe easier, it actually is known to cause congestion in babies. That is why Vick's for babies has no camphor. The best thing for them to breathe is eucalyptus. You can buy it in an oil (it is in organic "breathe easy" products) and is considered safe at any age. You do not apply it to them, you put it in a humidifier or a vaporizer. I actually have soaked a cloth with it %26amp; placed it over the heat vent too - you just need it to circulate in the air really. It helps a LOT with helping congestion move. If you breastfeed you can use breastmilk up the nose %26amp; it helps a TON. What does the Dr say about the cough? To me the cough is a totally different thing than the nose. Runny noses or congestion are pretty benign overall, even in small babies. Coughs can be rather serious though, particularly to tiny ones. If you are not breastfeeding, at three weeks you likely still can produce some milk. If it were me I would trying to pump if I could. What helps tiny babies most is their mom's antibodies to help them fight off infections. Their immune systems are VERY immature. They really lack much of a defense system against even simple bugs. If you can get her into sunlight too I would do that. Getting extra Vit D3 will help to boost her body's defenses. As far as getting a vaporizer, they generally now recommend cool mist ones or humidifiers. There really is a danger of burns with hot mist vaporizers. It is not an issue when she is immobile, but she will not be immobile one day %26amp; you will likely use a vaporizer/humidifier in the time to come as well. In fact all babies are supposed to have one where they sleep anyway to keep mucous membranes moist %26amp; help prevent colds %26amp; such. I would recommend a cold air one. Also - for coughs, warm air can be irritating sometimes. Many babies with chest congestion do better breathing cold air. You can bundle them so they stay nice %26amp; toasty %26amp; take them out in the cool night air or even hold them near a freezer. This is common practice for babies with asthma to help open airways. When she is in the shower with steam does that seem to help her cough or irritate it? It for sure usually helps a stuffy nose. It sometimes causes more coughing though, so you have to be the judge of that one. If you ever are not sure what your Dr is doing seems right or good enough for you, get a second opinion. It took me something like 7 Dr's to find the right one for my kids. I am so not sorry I Kept trying out new ones. I wanted a Dr that seemed like she cared and that treated me with respect. I started thinking none existed %26amp; then I finally found one. Had I stayed with my 1st Pedi soooooo many things would have been different. She was all determined my baby had a belly button infection for no reason I could see (literally) and tried to make me put him on Augmentin when he was less than a week old. When the tests came back from the lab there were no signs of infection. Thank goodness I didn't believe her %26amp; never gave him that antibiotic for NO reason. After that she tried to diagnose him a being protein intolerant (he wasn't) and get me to stop breastfeeding him %26amp; put him on Nutramigen. She even handed me a bunch of info on it %26amp; when I got home %26amp; read it, it contradicted all the advice she was giving me. That is the last time I saw her. :)