It's heeerrrre!!!!

Those three little letters that strike fear in the heart of parents everywhere are here: RSV. Bronchiolitis which is the symptoms that RSV can often cause come around every winter. Usual symptoms include breathing fast, having lots of nasal secretions, wheezing and decreased appetite. Lots of different viruses can cause bronchiolitis, but RSV is the most common. You or older children can have RSV but have basic cold-type symptoms, in young babies it can be much worse. Bronchiolitis is definitely a spectrum, you can be just a little bit more sick then your normal cold or really bad and need to be in the hospital. How bad your child's symptoms are can change at anytime. Bronchiolitis symptoms can last up to a month. Antibiotics do not help the symptoms of bronchiolitis. The best thing to do is keep a humidifier going in the room the child spends the most time 24 hours a day. I recommend cool mist, the warm mist humidifiers are fabulous breeding grounds for bacteria. I recently heard something from a patient about the cool mist humidifier will make the room too cold and make kids sick. That is not true. The other thing to do is nasal saline spray and suctioning. I give my own kids a squirt of saline and suck them out with the blue suction bulb whenever they are having a hard time sleeping or eating because they are congested. There is not medication that is safe in young children to make congestion go away. I know they hate being sucked out. I know they cry like you're trying to kill them. Do it anyway. Do use gentle suctioning, don't do it so hard that they are bleeding.

Good reasons to see the doctor:
1. Your child is breathing faster then 60 times a minute if less then 1 or greater then 40 times a minute if greater then 1. Take off their shirt and watch their chest for a full minute and count. Don't count for 15 seconds and multiply. Best to count when they are as calm as possible.
2. They are having more nasal secretions then you can handle with the bulb suctioning. I know around where I live there are several respiratory clinics in hospitals that are open around the clock where you can take your child to be deep suctioned if needed. Ask you doctor. The clinics most likely need an order first.
3. Your child has any signs of dehydration; making less then 2-3 good wet diapers a day, not making tears when they cry, when you look in their mouth it is tacky instead of moist.
4. They are having any signs of respiratory distress. Flaring their nostrils when they breathing, using their stomach muscles to breath or pulling in between their ribs with breathing, otherwise known as retractions.