PLEASE HELP: 4 Month Old Problem:(

She might be lactose intolerant. My son had to have soy formula because he was lactose intolerant. At 19 yrs old he still has to drink soy milk or he will get congested.

Take her to the dr., she probably has conjunctivitus of the eye and needs meds., also she will need presciption meds, not over the counter drugs if they are not helping.

Mimi

This is very common, however you need to contact your pediatrician because they don't recommed medicine at such a young age. Saline, bulb syringe, and elevate her head. Put a pillow "under" her crib mattress.

Sounds like allergies to me. Get her into the doctor and give them the symptoms and make sure you mention that she has always been congested. My daughter was practicaly born congested. She will be 3 in August and we just now got her allergies in control. They might put her on a nebulizer. It really helps with the congestion. Also look at your enviroment. We have to dust and wash her stuffed animals and her bedding 2 times a week. Dallas is very allergic to dust mites and dust itself. Also pets makes a difference. Good luck.

Couple of ideas:

Put books under one side of the crib to elevate her a little while she sleeps - it helps keep the gunk down

Put one of those plug-ins into the wall that spout the vapo stuff all over in her room (there at the pharmacy and they are awesome)

Use Little Noses and a bulb syringe (a lot) - and suck the life out of the gunk

Call the dr. and check on the eye gunk - sometimes it is allergies (she'll need meds) or it could be pink eye (she'll need meds there too). If its just congestion related, at least you'll know for sure. Use a warm washcloth and gently wipe away starting at the center of the eye and working outward.

Poor Baby! I know this is hard for her (and mom too). Just hang in there and she'll get through it in no time!

The doctors told me not to use vicks at that age because it opens there lungs up to much. They said I could use the Johnsons vapor bath. You can try saline nose drops. Squeeze them in her nose one to two drops on each side and suck the out with that nasal sucker. you should probably take her to the doctor. It could be the beginning of something.

B.,
This is going to sound a little weird but it really does work. When my kids were small and would get congested my Grandma told me to slice an onlion like it was going on a hamburger and put the whole onion on a plate on the night stand beside my kids heads so they could inhale the smell of the onion. It really worked and they were able to sleep through the night. for the day time she told me to make a little pouch for them to wear around their neck with the onion in it. My son is now 18 and was sick a few weeks back and i put the onion next to him and he's like mom how does that work?
give it a try and see if it works for you. Also for when your daughter is older a old time remedy for coughing is to mix 2 parts honey to 1 part vinager and give her 1-2 teaspoons. I even take this myself and it works with in minutes and kills the cough.
As to the eye problem, sounds like pink eye. I wouldn't wait too long to get her to the doc just in case it could be something else. Good luck

My baby is going through the same exact thing and it is soooo frustrating! He was sneezing, very stuffy and would cough so hard he would choke or throw up! I took him to the doctor 4 times to try to get some kind of relief for him! Here is what worked for us, he is still congested, but not as much and I am hoping to get some kind of medication at his 6 month appt next week. I used a phone book AND and blanket to get the head of his bed elevated enough. I have the COOL air humidifier. I suction his nose by pitting in the saline drops, letting them sit for a minute ot 2, then suction his nostrils by holding one closed and suctioning the other, then switching (you get mor out that way) He has just now, started to be comfortable enough to sleep from 9 pm to between 4-6 am-a HUGE improvement from waking up every other hour! Also, PediaCare for congestion can help when it is really bad. Now my baby just has a runny nose on occasion, but he also coughs very hard when he wakes up at any time.

my son had the same problem when he was just a few motnhs old... he had gunky watery stuff coming out of one of his eyes,
no other symptoms. turned out to be a blocked tear duct.
just keep a warm wash cloth on it throughout the day as much as possible. it will work it self clean and open.

hope all is well

As soon as you said runny, gunky eye...all I could think of is when my daughter had the same thing. When I took her to the doctor she said that she had pink eye. She got it from a daycare. I would take her to doctor just to make sure.

It could be allergies, common cold, or even a viral upper respiratory infection. Nevertheless, you can try placing a cool mist humidifier in your baby's room. But, what you really need to do is get a bulb suction and an over the counter saline spray - there's one called Ocean Spray. Place some saline in your baby's nose to help loosen the thick mucous, then suction all the "boogers" out! Offer your baby some pedialyte in conjuction with the formula. Formula tends to thicken the mucous and pedialyte should help loosen it. Suction her nose before she takes a bottle and as often as she needs it.
Just wipe her eye w/ warm moist washcloth every time. You may need to take your baby to the pediatrician if her eyes becomes red and stuck together, and your baby starts having fever, hard time breathing, and not drinking as much as she used to.
Good luck. God bless you and your precious baby.

My daughter got the runny gunky eye too and it turned out to be a clogged tear duct. Every 2 hrs or so I would rub underneath her eye lightly toward the inside corner of her eye- she didn't seem to mind. That will eventually unclog the duct. As for the congestion, I'd call your ped- she may have a cold/infection.

I would take her to her pedi. The conjestion could be allergies, but the eye is probably not. It sounds like pink eye, which is highly contagious and you need a prescription to treat. It could also be a clogged tear duct. You could try a decongestant for infants, like Pedi Care for the conjestion and see if it works.

We are going through this with my 5 month old granddaughter. It sounds like a cold and she probably should get on some antibiotics. Too much congestion in the chest can lead to pneumonia. So don't wait. It could be a combination of allergies and a cold. But the gunk in the eye is usually a sure sign of a cold.

B.,

My son was born a preemie and he had gunky eyes and runny noses, and congestion for the longest time and his doctors said it was allergies and once they put him on treatments of albuteral and pulmocort he cleared up. i asked about the gunky eyes and was told that when someone is so congested it has to come out of other places and when his congestion cleared so did his eyes. My son is now 3 and he will get a cough and congestion and if it lasts more than 2 weeks i start him back up on his treatments and it helps every time.

You need to take her to the doctor. Her "runny, gunky eye" could be pink eye which is highly contagious. Have you not taken her to find out why she constantly is congested? I would look for a clinic that is open tomorrow and take her. She is 4 months old, you really should not be giving her any over the counter meds without talking to your doctor first. JMO

She definitely needs to see a doc - it could be a really bad sinus infection (they have made my eyes gunky), in which case she'd need some pretty serious antibiotics - but it could be so many other things that an MD really needs to put eyeballs on her.

My daughter was like that to. she has allergies. I found a great allergy dr in Austin. http://www.austinallergy.com/theclinic.html Dr vigo.. great dr. has helped alot

I would take her to a doctor to make sure she doesn't have an eye infection. With her delicate system things like vicks may be a bit strong for her. If she doesn't have pink eye, pink eye isn't always red (after checking with a doctor) then I would just put a humidifier in her room. She's so young that her system really can't handle much of the over the counter stuff.

Hi B.,
I am also a first time mom and my son started to become congested at one point. When I went in for his 4 month check up I asked my doctor about it and he said that babies tend to get any where from 12+ colds a year. That suprised me but I asked him if it could be allergies because my son didnt run fever, wasnt fussy; he just had a runny nose. Well he said if the mucus is white or clear then more than likely its allergies. If the mucus is green or yellow, more than likely its a cold. I thought that was a pretty good sign. He also told me to give him Childre's Dimetapp (1/2 of .625 ml). He said to give him plain ol'Children's Dimetapp (Not infants). As soon as I give that to my son he seems to get better. His runny nose will stop. As for your daughters eye, well, about a month after my son was born his eye would get swollen and a bit pussy and I also brought that to my doctors attention. He said it was a clogged tear duct (also common among infants but with treatment it goes away within a year). So he prescribed me some eye drops (They only cost $4.00 at Walmart) and told me to put 1-2 drops in his eye and then rub the solution from the inside of his eye out. I did that 3 times a day as recommended by the doctor and within about 3-4 days he was better. It did come back 2 other times but I did the same thing and it went away and I havnt had that problem since. You can ask your doctor about these and see what he says if it makes you more comfortable or if you would like the name and phone number of my pediatritian I will gladly give it to you. He is a wonderful doctor located in the Medical Center Area. Hope this helps. Take care and good luck.

It very well could be allergies! I know that my kids and I have been suffering miserably lately. All this rain has gotten everything to bloom and then there are the mold spores in the air from all of the moisture! If she starts to run any fever at all or the snot starts to look green, take her to the doctor. Even if it started out as allergies, it can turn into an ear or sinus infection.

When they are that little, it's frustrating because there isn't much you can give them in the way on medicine. The vapor bath is great to use. It's soothing and helps them breathe. And that warm, moist air is wonderful!

The best advice I can offer is to get some saline spray and put a few drops in each nostril. Then use that "snot sucker" (bulb syringe) that they gave you in the hospital. If you don't have one, get an <em>ear syringe</em> from Walgreens or another drug store. The nose syringes - especially those that have a hard plastic tip and rubber bulb - don't have enough suction to get much out.

She will HATE having the snot sucked out, but it makes such a difference. And if she cries, it's okay - that's just more saline to flush out the snot!

The other advice I have is to get those "SudaCare Vapor Plugs" (I think that's what there called) or there is another brand that works as well. Those are great and last all night. They really seem to help my kids. I still use them when they are congested! (Don't tell anyone but I sometimes use them for me, too!) Use it in addition to a vaporizer and it will make a big difference.

Good luck. I remember how frustrating and upsetting it is to have to watch them stuggle and feel helpless to do anything for them. Hang in there, it'll get better!

Hi B.,

There is a product by Tylenol that is made for infants that treats congestion. Make sure you get the one for infants, and not children. You may have to ask your pharmacist to get it for you. Sometimes its behind the counter. Also, you can try having her sleep in a swing, car seat or something that holds her head up for a couple nights, until you get on top of it. If she doesn't have a fever, cough or have labored breathing, then i would not worry too much about it, but treat it for her comfort.