Here Comes Sickness: The Onset of the Cold and Flu Season

Ahhhh, fall. My favorite time of year.The leaves turn, the air gets a little crisper, and football is in full swing! The one thing I dont' like is that it's also the start of flu and cold season. As Mudhoney once sang, "HERE COMES SICKNESS!", and unfortunately it's already hit my house.

Last year the flu and colds hit our house HARD. I think I spent more time working from home during last winter than I was at work. Absolutely brutal. Poor Jack seemed to just pick up everything from daycare and bring it home. While he was able to weather most of it fairly well, it hit me like a ton of bricks. We did however pick up some tricks and found some really good products to use to help us all get through the long winter months.

Disclaimer: I am not employed or receiving compensation from any companies mentioned here on in. I just like their products and have found them useful in our lives. This is just what works for us. I'm not going to link to them directly in an interest to not feel like I'm schilling for them. Use your Google-fu to find where to get them. 

One thing we learned last year from our pediatrician is that there have been recent studies that link nose saline use to a lower number of office visits. The more you use it the less office visits you have. We started using Baby Simply Saline and I've got to say it seems to work. At least the colds don't seem quite as bad when he does get them, plus it makes all his snot more viscous which is great for what we use next.

If you are a new parent let me tell you a little secret, those blue bulbs you get when you come home from the hospital? Yeah, they are pretty much worthless. The things barely have enough suction to get anything out. Getting frustrated with the stupid thing I started looking online for alternatives and found that in Europe and Japan they've been using a product called NoseFrida for quite a while.  

Essentially its a tube with a tip on it that you put at the opening of the kids nose. On the other end is a cap with a filter in it and a longer tube attached. You put the tip up to the nostril and suck out the snot. It sounds super gross I know, but it works and you don't get anything even close to your own mouth.  ack feels good enough after it that he now will lean forward for you so you can clear him out. If a baby will sit through it and actually want to do it again, you know it's working.

Another product we found is called Zarbees. Zarbees is relatively new on the scene, but we've found it to be great for Jack's coughs. Zarbees is essentially a blend of honey and immune boosting ingredients so your little one needs to be at least one year old to take it. Honey has been used for centuries to treat sore throats so it makes sense that someone would come up with a cough syrup for kids under 4 (very few products out there for kids between 1-2 years old). It's perfectly safe and the company has done clinical trials at Penn State to affirm it's effectiveness and safeness. We ALWAYS have a bottle of this stuff around, works wonders.

Another product we've found is Pediacare Gentle Vapors. We use it in conjunction with BabyRub from Vicks. Gentle Vapors is a plug in unit that has a little pad you put in it. The pad has menthol, eucalyptus, camphor, lavender and chamomile in them and work with the BabyRub to keep things going well. We immediately noticed a difference when we used the Gentle Vapors. Jack slept better with less waking up coughing. 

All of these products help us get Jack through his colds with as little discomfort as possible. He made it through his first cold of the season with only one bad night and today seems to be much better. <sniffle, cough> And on queue I am starting to get sick. Fun times.  

Let me know things work in your house when your little one gets sick.  I'm mostly interested in stuff you use for between 1-2 as there seem to be more meds and things out on the market once they reach 2 years old.