aspirators & humidifers

This winter had been really bad when it comes to babies with colds, and Samma is no exception. She's just been so congested for as long as I can remember, which leads to a productive cough that keeps her up at night. No fever and she's acting as she normally would, which leads me to believe this is just a cold that will never end. We've tried the bulbous nasal aspirators, but they just weren't effective, not to mentioned just hard to use when you have a squirming infant... so after a couple of recommendations, we finally decided to suck it up (haha - get it?) and purchase this:

Graco Nasal Clear Nasal Aspirator

It was $20 at CVS -- I could have spent $2 less on Amazon and gotten free shipping with Prime through AmazonMom, but we needed it, and we needed it fast. The suction is effective thanks to two AA batteries, but it's loud. It offers 10 short melodies to try to distract baby, but they really don't do much to drown out the intimidating BUZZZZZZ... it's effective though, once you get beyond the battle to get the tip near the nose. And it's not invasive like the bulb aspirators can be. And, if you're sick like me, you can see all the crap you get out of baby's nose in the clear collection container. Ahh, the joys of being a mom...

But an aspirator alone just isn't enough.

And I dragged my feet for the longest time because I didn't believe it, but I was wrong, and now I don't put Samma to bed without turning on her humidifier.

Vicks Germ Free Cool Mist Humidifier

We really lucked out with this one. When Sam first started getting congested, and she was sleeping in her own room, we knew we had to do something for her to help clear up her nose. This was around Christmastime, and wouldn't you know, for one of our many swaps a brand-new humidifier was put into the mix! And it's been great too, and I can tell the difference between the nights she has it on and when it's off.

And that's MB's little spiel on infant congestion and what you can do to help resolve it. =)

5 Months!

22 weeks tomorrow.

So what's new?

Sami's rolling more. We're still going from back to tummy, and then freaking out once we realize we're on our tummy and can't go anywhere, but her time on her stomach is getting longer and longer, and others who have been watching her say they've seen her roll back from her tummy to her back... sadly I think I'm the only one who hasn't seen this yet. Pics or it didn't happen, right?

She absolutely LOVES her Jumperoo... and it helps wear her out for bed, to boot! We still need to put a box underneath it so that her feet can reach to push off of something, but you work with what you got!

Teething hasn't been too bad lately. Sure, she's drooling all over the place and putting everything in her mouth, but she hasn't been too inconsolable as of late, which means less Oragel to be used, and that actually makes me feel a little bit better. We can still see the little white teeth under the gums in the front, so they're working they're way up slowly but surely...

And she's found her feet!!!

But above everything else, I think she's going through another growth spurt. Before I would be able to feed her one last time at 7pm, she'd go to bed, and be pretty much set until 5am... which was great because that meant I could pump before bed. Now, not so much, as she's waking up for food around midnight, and if I try pumping before bed I won't have enough offer her when she's hungry. It's quite the dilemma.

And I think we're putting a pause on solids for the time being. We've been trying, but it's been more of a battle than an enjoyable experience, and she's still young enough where she doesn't need to be out through all that. So we'll wait it out a week, try the rice cereal again, and see what happens. Who knows, she just might not want the rice cereal, and we can go to oatmeal and veggies once she hits 6 months.

*shrug* But we'll pull through it. We always do.

Shameless Plug

I entered Samantha into MikeFM's Crybaby Contest!

The CryBaby Photo Contest

It's set up like a versus-battle, so you gotta go through all of the pictures voting on which one of the two shown you like the best.

And what picture are you looking for, you might be asking yourself? Only this gem taken from Halloween:

Just remember to vote for Sami every time she comes up! And vote often - the contest is running until March 1st! And if you do, I'll make sure she shares that $1,000 BestBuy giftcard with you if she wins it all! ;D

Samma says...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Pedialyte is our friend.

Seriously... I don't know where I would have been without you this past weekend.

Let's go back to Friday night... I was able to get Sami to bed by 8pm without incident. At 9pm I heard her do a rather loud, moist cough, so I went in to check on her to see that she had thrown up all over herself and the crib. Not thinking much of it, as Sam spits up all the time, I picked her up, changed her out of her messy clothes, and brought her out into the living room with me so that she could call asleep in her bassinet while I continued to read. All was well until about 9:30pm, when she sat herself up a little like she has been, and this time instead of a cough, it was a definite heave, with bile coming up all over her again. I picked her up and sat her in my lap, rubbing her back and catching what was coming up in her blanket with the next couple of heaves, then changing her again when she was done. Another hour went by and she did it again, and by this time I was getting worried, as I was home alone while Chris was having a night out with the boys. She heaved one more time at 11pm, I called Chris to come home, and I decided to try giving her the leftover Pedialyte the hospital had given us when we were there last weekend. She wasn't running a fever, and there was no crying, so I used my best judgment in deducting that this was either the same or another stomach virus that was causing her so much discomfort. She downed 2.5 ounces and with the exception of one minor spitup, she slept through the rest of the night. Easier for her than me, though.... every time she coughed I was up to check on her.

By 6am she was awake, and she was hungry. I fed her the last two 2.5-ounce bottles we had of Pedialyte, which she took gratefully, and while she went back to sleep with Chris, I ran to the 24-hour CVS to stock up on another bottle. I told myself that if she could keep the morning's feeding down, I would split the next feeding with Pedialyte and breastmilk 50/50, and if that stayed down well enough, then I would go back to exclusively breastfeeding. By the late morning she was in great spirits, and we were able to get her back to regular feedings, but man... a sick baby is an unhappy baby, and makes for a sad momma.

Know what else makes for a sad Momma? Catching her sick baby's sickness the day after. Yup, I got whatever Sami had and was in bed all day. The worst part was I was so dehydrated, I could barely breastfeed her, so Chris had to give her at least one meal via pumped milk... it really sucked. =(

But we're getting better now... I just wish there was a Pedialyte for adults. Oh wait...