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Hey hey, welcome to the better postpartum podcast. I’m your host Angel Swan, crunchy Christian mama to one and postpartum doula to many. I help moms care for their bodies, minds and newborns naturally during the first three months after birth. If you’re looking for pro tips on how to nurture your body naturally after childbirth, take care of your newborn baby using crunchy mama methods and help your whole family thrive during the fourth trimester, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got a lot to cover. So let’s dive in. I’ll see you inside the episode. Hey guys, I am back. I took a week off of recording and putting out podcast because my daughter caught a really nasty cold and infected all of us and I am like mildly asthmatic. So anytime I get like an upper respiratory infection, it’s like, super extra terrible for me. And yeah, basically, it was like on all kinds of beds had an inhaler, all the things. But anyways, because we were all just sick with a cold. I thought that today’s episode would be great if we talked about natural cold remedies for your baby, because babies get sick. Babies get sick really easily. And nobody likes to be around a sick baby, they’re just really miserable. So we’re just gonna go over a couple things that are going to help both your baby and you be more comfortable and feel better, and get over your cold, a little bit faster. So babies do catch colds pretty easily. Their immune system is still developing, so it’s not quite as strong as your immune system. But even though they’re prone to getting colds, there are plenty of ways that you can help them find a little bit of relief. Now, because they’re so little cold medicine is not recommended for them. In fact, most cold medicine isn’t recommended for babies under two years. So two years of no traditional gold medicines, he got to find some natural ways to make them feel better. First way, is going to be to give them lots of fluids to help loosen up mucus and keep them hydrated. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting fluids to loosen up mucus, it’s gonna really help especially with cough. It’ll also help them with runny nose and congestion. It’ll just help to drain all of that out. Now, if you’re breastfeeding, nurse your baby as often as they want to nurse even offer if they haven’t asked depends on how old your baby is, they might ask they might route around whatever their way of asking is, you know, nurse them as often as possible. If you’re bottle feeding, you can even offer them the bottle more often than you would usually give it to them. You should never guys never give your baby soda or juice. I feel like this is pretty common sense. But I just got to say it because you never know people do crazy things. And it’s really not recommended to give them straight up water either no water unless directed by your pediatrician. In some cases, your pediatrician might tell you to go for the water. But generally babies, they just need milk unless you’re into that toddler stage, but we’re talking babies here. And with the hydration just keep an eye on their diaper output. So if their urine seems a little bit dark in color, that’s usually an indicator that you should get them to drink a little bit more encourage them to drink more I know, you know, he can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. Same thing with babies, but just try your best to get as much water in them as you can. Water meaning hydration through milk. Don’t give them water. Oh, anyway, next thing that you can do is to suck out the snot, like literally suction it out so your baby cannot blow their own nose. I don’t know when kids develop this skill, but it’s not for several years. So you got to help them out with this. You can use a bulb syringe dissection out there snort or you can use my personal favorite tool which is the snot sucker.

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It’s called the nose Frida, this thing is so great. I’m going to link this in the episode description if you’d like to get one for yourself. I’ve made like a little Amazon store where you can go and shop all of these remedies that I talked about throughout the whole episode. And it’ll all be in one link so you can go and get your nose free to it’s a serious game changer. It’s way more comfortable for them than using a bulb syringe. The tip of it is softer and you’re able to get out more snot with the nose free to in one go. So your baby’s gonna prefer it to and honestly, I’ve seen sick babies get there. There’s not suction out and they’re like they’re fussy while you’re doing it, but afterwards, you can tell they just feel so much better. In between uses of your bulb syringe or your nose, fried or whatever you’re using, just be sure to wash it with some soap and water to prevent any infection. And then, like I mentioned, with the nose frita, or the bulb syringe, it’s good to use some saline drops along with that. So before you suction them out, squirt some saline drops in their nose. That’ll help relieve their congestion by loosening up that mucus that’s up in their nose. And if you don’t have a saline spray, you can actually make your own. So all you have to do is stir a half a teaspoon of table salt into one cup of warm water and mix it thoroughly. And you can use a dropper and just put two or three drops of the solution into each nostril and then go at it with your snot sucker. And of course, gently wipe away the any of the mucus not off of their nose when you’re done. And you can protect your little one’s nose from becoming Ra, you want to apply Aqua for or Vaseline something like that on their nose and their upper lip. Because trust me if they have a runny nose, you’re going to be wipe, wipe, wipe, wipe wiping their nose, making it raw and super uncomfortable. And then it’s going to be a fight to even be able to wipe their nose. So get ahead of it and put on that aquifer or Vaseline. Alright, next thing you can do is lift up one side of their mattress so that they’re sleeping at a slight incline. This helps our body to drain mucus and breathe a little bit easier. But please note before you do this, consult with your pediatrician. And then if they say that it’s okay, then go ahead and move forward and try this tip. If you’re in the clear to go ahead and prop up their mattress, you can do this by putting a few books under the mattress to lift up just one side by just a few inches, no more than three inches, but preferably really like one or two. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Never ever use a pillow to prop them up because pillows or other soft plushy things, they increase the risk of SIDS and suffocation and nobody wants that. Alright, so next thing if your baby is old enough to be eating solids, you can serve them something like classic chicken noodle soup. Chicken soup has a lot of nutrients that will help them feel better by relieving their inflammation. Inflammation causes so many adverse side effects. So chicken soup is so good for relieving all those things. You can have them SIP just like warm broth from the soup or you could even blend up the soup into a nice warm puree and give it to them that way. Next thing to do is run a humidifier near your baby humidifiers are so great for relieving a cough or a stuffy nose. When you fill up the humidifier, you should always use cold water, which is going to keep your baby safe. We don’t want to like steam them you know, make sure that you fill up the humidifier with clean water every day. And make sure that you’re cleaning it according to the manufacturer’s instructions. And that’s just going to prevent you know like mold or gross things from growing in there. A really good place to put the humidifier is going to be right next to your baby’s bed, which is going to help them sleep better. If you have more than one humidifier. This is also good because you can have one like next to their bed, you can set it next to their bouncer or wherever you set them during the daytime.

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Just have it like close by at all times of the day for like maximum effect but definitely next to the bed is a really good place to have one. The next thing that you can do is just use some gentle steam to loosen up mucus and relieve a stuffy nose. So the way that you do this is you kind of make a steam room. So you bring your baby into the bathroom with you. You close the door and run the shower and that’s gonna create a little steam room for them. You might even use this opportunity to take a shower. So you can bring your baby into the bathroom and put them in a bouncer. They’ll usually they’re just soothed by the sound of the running water and by the warmth of the steam. They’re going to get relief as the steam just clears up their stuffy nose. So definitely use this approach tunity hop in the shower, get yourself cleaned up, rub this knot off you. And I used to play peekaboo behind the shower curtain to keep my daughter entertained while I took shower. Sometimes when she was really little, like less than four months, I would say we could do this and she would just fall asleep while I showered. It was so great. If they’re a little bit older, you can give them some toys or book to play with during the Steam Room is going to be more effective if you do it right before bedtime. And that’s just because it’s so hard to like, lay down and breathe when you are congested and sick. So doing this before bedtime is going to help relieve that congestion that way you lay them down. Like if you do this steam room 10 to 15 minutes before you lay them down. It just gives him enough time to really work its magic. So go for the steam room, it’s a really good one. Next thing that you can do is a Vapor Rub. I really love to use this chest rub from zombies baby. And again, I linked to everything in my Amazon shop. And the link is in the episode description for this podcast. So it’s called like zombies baby. Natural chest rub something like that. If you Google it or go to the Amazon store that I linked to, you’ll find it but it’s natural when it’s safe to use and you just apply it to your baby’s chest. It has some eucalyptus and lavender to help open up your baby’s airway and help them breathe a little bit easier. And it’s also gluten free. Just in case you’re curious about that. I have celiac and I’m pretty sure my daughter does to her tummy gets real angry when we gave her gluten so just know that whatever products I ever recommend, they’re going to be gluten free because that’s what we always have to use to protect ourselves just when you have celiac, you know any little cross contamination can make you super sick. So anything we put on our hands on our body in our body is got to be gluten free. Next thing to help your baby feel better is to get lots of rest. You want to help your baby sleep better by using those saline drops and your snot sucker before they go down for their naps or bedtime. Turn on their humidifier for the duration of their sleep. And you can even turn it on like as you’re doing their bedtime routine. If they’re having a hard time sleeping on their own, this is a time when it’s okay to give them those extra cuddles. Let them sleep on you if you need to. We just want them to rest because the more rested they get, the faster they’re going to feel better. And the faster you’ll be less miserable taking care of a sad, sick baby. If your baby has a fever, try giving them a warm sponge bath. A bath can be so great for bringing down temperature, like their body temperature by a few degrees. And it’s also really relaxing for your baby. So just fill up their tub with an inch or two of warm water and run it over their body with a washcloth. If they start to get a little chilly, then that’s a good time to end the bath. If your baby’s eating salads offer them healthy foods, like I said before that chicken noodle soup is so good. Give them lots of protein, healthy fats and vegetables that’s going to feel their body just right to fight off whatever bug they’ve got going. If you’re breastfeeding, offer them the boob a whole bunch. Your milk contains immune factors that helps them fight off their bug a little bit quicker. That’s just the benefit of breastfeeding. Your body makes milk that is going to help your baby get through whatever they’re going through at the time. So

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next thing, let’s see if your baby is over one year old, you can offer them a spoonful of honey to sue the cough. This is important. Remember, only if your baby’s over one year, babies under Yep. Babies under one year old should not be given honey. Okay, and this is really important you guys because giving an infant under one year honey can cause them to contract botulism, which is very serious illness and very dangerous to protect your baby. Only give them honey if they’re over one year old. Now, if you’ve tried everything that I have talked about so far, and you still feel like your baby needs an extra boost to help them feel better. Try some homeopathic cold tablets. We personally in my household we use cold tabs by Highlands baby they’re just these tiny Quick dissolving tablets that you pop into your baby’s mouth every hour. And they have worked wonders for our daughter when she has like a stubborn cold. When all the things don’t work, they are just so great. So if you’re interested in drawing those out, I did put a link to them. In my Amazon shop, that’s an episode description, you can go and grab those there. I will just do a little note here, always consult your pediatrician before using homeopathic tablets. My pediatrician, she like doesn’t mind that I use them. But it’s just one of those things doctors are like, they’re not always for the homeopathic stuff. But I’m telling you right now, they work. They work so well for our baby. So give them a try. If you’ve, you know, you’re at your wit’s end, you’ve tried all this stuff, and you can’t figure it out. So when your baby is sick, it is also important to know when to call your pediatrician. So this is when you’re cold is too much, too much for you too much for your baby. And it warrants a visit to the doctor. So call your pediatrician. If your baby has a rectal temperature of 101 or higher. And I say rectal town because that is the most accurate way to take your baby’s temperature. You can’t really do under the tongue for a baby. Those fun forehead scanner attempts, they actually don’t work on children under the age of two. I don’t know why. But they’re just not accurate. They’re usually like two or three degrees lower than what your child actually is. So if you have a thermometer, take the temperature rectally. Oh also don’t take it in the armpit that’s also off. So if your baby has a rectal temp of 101 or higher that warrants a visit or call to the pediatrician at least to see if they want you to come in. Other things to look out for is if your baby is fussy, and they’re not drinking anything, or they’re refusing to nurse if their ears hurt, which might look like tagging their ears or crying. If they’re having trouble breathing, obviously, you got to go to the doctor. And if they have a cough that lasts for more than a week, that is it time to call the pediatrician. Also mucus that lingers for more than 10 to 14 days. Yeah, so a cough or mucus that’s lingering around for a super long time. Maybe I should take my own advice and go into the doctor because your girl’s been sick for over two weeks now. Anyway, that is all I have for you guys today. Sorry, if I sound a little off or out of breath, I like I said I have some issues with my lungs. So

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this was not easy. I feel like I just kind of breezed through all of this really, really quickly. So sorry. Hopefully next week will be a little bit more energetic and fun. But I wanted to get this out there because I know I’m not the only one with a sick baby. And sick babies are no fun and they’re just really sad and we got to do it we can use these natural methods make them feel better. And if your baby sick hang in there. I know it’s hard but they’re going to get better soon. Just do the things that we talked about in this episode. Give them extra snuggles let them rest nurse often you guys are going to be okay. And don’t forget to click the link in the episode description because I’ve got my Amazon shop there with every single like product that I mentioned in the episode. Alright guys, thanks so much for listening. Have a great day. But my Hey, lady, thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you did, would you do me a huge favor and rate and review this podcast. The more ratings we get the more moms we can help. If you want to get more postpartum tips and encouragement, subscribe to this podcast and hang out with me online. You can read my blog at postpartum companion.com/blog. Hang out with me on Instagram at postpartum companion. And join my free Facebook group called the better Postpartum Support Group. If you have your own postpartum story that you’d like to share, head on over to postpartum companion.com/podcast and submit an application to be on the air. Thanks again for listening and be sure to subscribe and meet me back here next week. Have a blessed day and don’t forget to pray. Bye bye now.