5 month old with cold

My five month old infant had a cold a week ago (running nose, mild fever 99 degrees). He recovered on his own, without any medicines.
=== its like soem sort fo acute bronchiolitis or rhinitis. in most such cases runny nose settles but coughmay last 10 days.
 
For 6 days now, he has cough whenever he sleeps (day time or night time). It has become more severe for the last two nights. I would say it is wet cough as there is some sound of phlegm. He does not have running nose, fever or any other problem. He takes feeds well (breast fed).
=== well most such coughs get relieved when you make them slep on side. it may be due to stridor, low  calcium, secretions and occasionally asthma at this age. practising side or erect posturefor 2 weeks will settle matters in most cases without meds.
 
He also has nasal congestion...he cannot sleep in a room with the fan running, even if he is not directly in the breeze. Is this ok?
=== again, its liek nose gettingd ried and crusted.. that means there some secretions that are getting thick and stuck inside. while sleeping under fan, make him sleep on one side, let teh fan eb on head end of bed or moisten his nose before sleeping and make him sleep with a pillow so no direct blast gets inside. you may also reduce the fan speed.
 
We use Nasoclear 2-3 times every night - but that does not help for the cough - he wakes up almost every one hour at night and during day time naps every 20 minutes. After feeds, while burping, he invariably coughs.
=== nasoclear(normal saline) is very safe, so you may use any number of times, u may use it as a spray too. keeping nose clean with ear buds does help. occasionally cough alone can eb due to refluc disease, but i dont find that likely given this situations. burping cough is common, and burping is a good habit.
 
Should this be treated or will it pass on its own?
=== he may need to be evaluated if teh cough is distressing and dosnt relieve on comforting or taking him on shoulder and patting on back.
 
I tried applying Vicks only on the soles of the feet and covering them with socks (a friend told me about this) to stop the cough but not much effect.
==- its good.. children feel comfortable when some mild irritant diverts their attention. but has no effect on cough.
 
We did not apply Vicks on chest or nose as we were scared to try on him.
== well its safer in small quantities especially mixed with water.. but legally i wont say that.
 
Do help, I am worried. By the way, I have a four year old who probably brought the virus from school - she had a viral infection after my infant son had the cold - I had throat congestion also last week.
== get throat tested for strepts, gargling is good habit to keep throat clean. iust surely viral, read www.pediatricianonline.in for more details about treating cold at home.
 


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HELPING YOU UNDERSTAND CHILDREN, THEIR HEALTH , THEIR ILLNESS, BEHAVIOUR, TREATMENT AND DOCTOR ! Arvhives 2006
yes! the easily approachable,
friendly and understanding paediatrician.
MBBS, MD, DNB and FCPS
from Seth G S Medical college Mumbai.
Currently working as Lecturer in Pediatrics.
drpeds.blogspot.com
Arvhives 2006