[shawnamarie1977]

Morgan, my 9 month old, has had a fever and cold for about 5 days now. On Wednesday we took her to the ER because she was coughing uncontrollably and throwing up from it. They diagnosed her with croup, gave her a steroid medication and sent us home. It did seem to help for the rest of the night, but she still had the cough and fever all week. I called the hospital a few nights ago and they said oh don't worry about a fever just give her tylenol, she doesn't need to come back. Today she was listless and very unhappy so back we went. They did a chest xray and she has now been diagnosed with pneumonia. We have an antibiotic prescription for her and they said it should start to kick in without 48 hours - if not to bring her back. In the meantime though she is so miserable. I've never seen her so lethargic, and have such persistent coughing.

Have any of you been through this with your little ones? I have had a cool mist humidifier in her room for a while now because she gets a lot of chest colds etc., and it has worked wonders with her sleeping. But How can I make her more comfortable during the day? Even the Tylenol doesn't perk her up.

Any tips / advice?

[BensMom]

I haven't specifically been through that, but yes, I've been through it. Both of my kids were very sick as babies. The older one would routinely get fevers of 105-106 until his adenoids were removed at 2.5 y/o. He's been great ever since. My younger was more complicated with immune deficiency (neutropenia and IgG deficiency). He had intussusseption twice, RSV twice, asthma, and a host of other illnesses. It was rough! He's 3 now, and the doctors think he's outgrowing the immune deficiencies. (Actually... he has another 6 mo check-up tomorrow.)

If you feel something isn't right, don't give up. Go back to the ER and demand answers. If she's sleeping, not losing too much weight, and doesn't seem to be in any distress, she's probably ok with the cool mist and such. Personally, I prefer Advil to Tylenol. It's an anti-inflammatory (helps with inflammed airways), where Tylenol is only for pain.

[shawnamarie1977]

Thanks. We had her to her pediatrician the other day who put her on an antibiotic that specifically targets pneumonia, and she is much better today. It's just good to see her smiling and playing again.

She is sick a lot too, she has GERD, and in her 9 months of life she has probably had 6 or 7 colds / respiratory infections. Not diagnosed asthmatic yet, but it wouldn't surprise me eventually.

She's not 100% yet, but she's no longer coughing all day and lethargic and feverish so it's a great start!

[BensMom]

That's great! Hopfully she'll continue to improve.