Allergies in an infant?? Anyone have experience?

[peach]

My DD is 5 weeks old. From about 10 days old she was a bit congested but we thought it was her clearing out things from being born.

Then our entire family got colds, and the baby seemed to get it too. But we are all on the mend, and she is still super congested. We suction out her nose a lot, and we have her sleepining inclined but still I am up most of the night with her because she is having trouble breathing and needs to be upright. Her nose is running clear, but so were ours when we were all sick.

We have a doctor appointment today but I can't see my good doctor for another 10 days so we are seeing a doctor today that is a useless twat, and I doubt we will get any answers or help.

How do you tell a cold apart from allergies??? I am still congested but definitely getting better so I know it COULD still be a cold that she has. But she was occasionally congested before this too...and we do have a cat.

[peach]

10 days is standard here - I live in Canada. It takes longer to see your doctor here, and my doctor is amazing and so she has a full load of patients too...if I went to a different doctor I could probably be seen sooner but generally I like to wait and see her. If it's super important, I can get in the same day to a different doctor - I just called this morning for an appointment for DD and they got me in later this morning.

She is still sick, but if it's just I cold I am not too worried. I just want to rule out that its allergies or something more than a cold since it has been hanging on for a long time now and she was a bit "snotty" before that too.

Yup we use a humidifier in our room at night, and have her sleeping elevated.

[chickens987]

DD was congested/snotty for about 6 weeks solid. We just did all the usual (steamy bathroom, nosefrieda, saline drops, humidifier) and it eventually cleared up. No idea what might have caused it.

[peach]

Was that when she was first born?
A friend said that if they are delivered fast, they can be congested because during pushing apparently they clear out their lungs, but if you only push for a few minutes it doesn't have time to clear out. And it can take weeks for them to do it themselves afterward.

No idea if that is true or not, but I only pushed for 10 minutes so maybe?

[Deleted]

Your doctor sucks! Also Canadian, and at our GP, babies get in same-day wether its urgent or not. Now, if I want to see a doc, that could take a few weeks unless its urgent. Now, my GP is retiring and I don't know if our new doc will be that good, we will see.

Our GP has said that animal allergies tend to develop later, at least 12months +; so its probably still the cold, or possibly asthma (thats what my DS has). Keep in mind that while you may have recovered, your child has a much weaker/new immune system so it will take them longer to recover from things.

[Deleted]

I don't think your doctor sucks. I think your doctor is busy and doesn't keep appointments empty just in case someone wants in. I'm in generally the same boat - I can see SOME doctor today, but to see MY doctor requires booking a few days at least in advance.

I don't think they will diagnose allergies in babies, from what I've read, but I don't remember what I'm basing that on.

[chickens987]

Mar 20, 2013 11:45:08 GMT -5 peach said:

Was that when she was first born?
A friend said that if they are delivered fast, they can be congested because during pushing apparently they clear out their lungs, but if you only push for a few minutes it doesn't have time to clear out. And it can take weeks for them to do it themselves afterward.

No idea if that is true or not, but I only pushed for 10 minutes so maybe?

It was actually from about 3.5 months on.

[peach]

Just got back - they sent me for an xray of her chest to rule out a chest infection. No chest infection, and her oxygen levels are excellent. They diagnosed us with a virus, and sent us home with saline spray and told us to keep using the humidifier and vicks. If she doesn't improve in 48 hours they will see her again, but since she has been sick for a while already the dr said she should improve soon, it is just taking her longer to get over this because she is so tiny.
Thank goodness! I was just getting worried it was more than a cold since it had been soooo long but I guess her little body needs longer to fight it than the rest of us.