Does this merit a Dr. visit?UPDATE

[buddyleebaby]

UPDATE:
I took her to the Doctor today and he said while she does have some post nasal drip, nothing much else is going on. It's just a bad cold. Her ears are fine, her lungs are fine.
So i am reassured, but now I have to spend the reat of the day listening to my dh say"I told you so."
Thanks for the advice!

DD was running a low grade fever about two weeks ago. We thought it was due to teething. Last tuesday it jumped to a little over 103. The next day it was gine completely but she started coughing and has been doing so ever since. She is very congested. She has occasional coughing fits where she brings up clear mucas and eventually vomits (from coughing so hard). She has mucus in her shest, nose and throat. She sort of sounds like a purring cat. Her lungs are clear. She has not had a fever all week and is in good spirits, although she is waking easily at night.
I am getting a little concerned because she does not seem to be improving. We took her to the Doctor last Wednesday and she advised us to sit with her in a steamy bathroom and not much else.
I know that if it is just a bad cold we have no choice but to wait it out. Does 10 days seem like a long time to have a cold with no improvement? Or am I worrying too much?
Tomorrow the other Doctor will be in the office so I am tempted to bring her back. My DH says that it's up tp me which in husband-speak means he thinks she's fine.
Thanks for any opinions!

[TraciG]

If it were me I'd call & ask to speak to the doc & ask what they think.

Hope she get's better soon !

Sydney had a cold about 2 weeks ago & is still coughing !!

[jamsmu]

DS2 (4 months) was sick the entire month of December. His fever played around in the 99s, but occasionally dipped to normal (or below) or went as high as 100.2. If it hit the high of 100.2, the next day it was usually back down to a low 99. He was congested, sounded very mucousy and his cough kept getting worse. There were days that that nasal bulb was nearly stuck to his nose. After about a week and a half, I took him to the ped., who, at that point said, lets treat it as a cold, but look for blah blah and blah. Well, a week went by, and we didn't see blah blah and blah, but DS was still sick--really not himself. So I took him in again. More of the same. Took him in again a week later, and we started talking about the possibility of RSV. So we cancelled our trip to the Bahamas. (long story--different post.). ANYWAY, when we went back on the 31st, she ruled out RSV, but decided that enough was enough and started treating it as a sinus infection. After 36 hours on Amoxicillan, he's WAY back to normal!!!

What I learned:
-if a cold lasts more than a week in a baby, take him/her to the ped
-if there is a low fever (ie not a concerning one) but it won't go away after a week, take the baby to the ped
-if baby isn't him/herself for a few days, see the ped

It'll hopefully only take a half hour and only cost a co-pay. In the end, I told the ped I felt much better seeing her once a week just to check in and make sure everything was okay. She told me that she was glad I felt that way--better to be safe, you know? And after watching DS not improve for nearly a month, she felt it was time to treat wtih meds--never a first choice. I really think that if I let it go longer, it would just take longer to start the necessary treatment.

Hope your little one is better soon.

[jamsmu]

DS2 (4 months) was sick the entire month of December. His fever played around in the 99s, but occasionally dipped to normal (or below) or went as high as 100.2. If it hit the high of 100.2, the next day it was usually back down to a low 99. He was congested, sounded very mucousy and his cough kept getting worse. There were days that that nasal bulb was nearly stuck to his nose. After about a week and a half, I took him to the ped., who, at that point said, lets treat it as a cold, but look for blah blah and blah. Well, a week went by, and we didn't see blah blah and blah, but DS was still sick--really not himself. So I took him in again. More of the same. Took him in again a week later, and we started talking about the possibility of RSV. So we cancelled our trip to the Bahamas. (long story--different post.). ANYWAY, when we went back on the 31st, she ruled out RSV, but decided that enough was enough and started treating it as a sinus infection. After 36 hours on Amoxicillan, he's WAY back to normal!!!

What I learned:
-if a cold lasts more than a week in a baby, take him/her to the ped
-if there is a low fever (ie not a concerning one) but it won't go away after a week, take the baby to the ped
-if baby isn't him/herself for a few days, see the ped

It'll hopefully only take a half hour and only cost a co-pay. In the end, I told the ped I felt much better seeing her once a week just to check in and make sure everything was okay. She told me that she was glad I felt that way--better to be safe, you know? And after watching DS not improve for nearly a month, she felt it was time to treat wtih meds--never a first choice. I really think that if I let it go longer, it would just take longer to start the necessary treatment.

Hope your little one is better soon.

[Momof3Labs]

My old ped's rule of thumb was that 9-10 days of any symptom was long enough - then it was time for a visit to her office. There wasn't always anything that they could do, but a kiddo who is sick that long should be checked for secondary infections and such that tend to set in.

That said, I think that there's a lot of long-lasting crud floating around this winter. We had a houseful of it in November, and I'm still feeling the effects of it.

[Momof3Labs]

My old ped's rule of thumb was that 9-10 days of any symptom was long enough - then it was time for a visit to her office. There wasn't always anything that they could do, but a kiddo who is sick that long should be checked for secondary infections and such that tend to set in.

That said, I think that there's a lot of long-lasting crud floating around this winter. We had a houseful of it in November, and I'm still feeling the effects of it.

[lisams]

Yes I would, mainly because of the length of time she has been sick. It sounds like she's having a hard time shaking whatever it is and they might recommend something to thin the secretions to get them up and out better.

Hope she's feeling better very soon!

[lisams]

Yes I would, mainly because of the length of time she has been sick. It sounds like she's having a hard time shaking whatever it is and they might recommend something to thin the secretions to get them up and out better.

Hope she's feeling better very soon!

[asha]

OK, DS first got a fever on Dec 19th. Had fever for two days. He was fine for a few days and then back again with a fever around christmas. He was better and went to day care on the 27th. At night he had a really bad fever again. This time the fever was around 103. Really bad. We waited for a whole day, nothing changed.
I am only typing fever, but he had all the symptoms that you mentioned. I figured the doctor will ask us to wait it out, so why other going there.

Finally, after 2 full days of 101+ fever, we go to the doctor, she checks him out and turns out it is bronchitis. She gave him anti biotics and within some 3 hrs after the first dose, he was showing interest in playing. He still had some fever, but by day 2 he was fine. Needless to say I have been kicking myself for not going to the doctor after the first fever episode.

So, you might want to just go to the doctor and get a second opinion. There is nothing wrong with that. If it actually is something else, you at least get the medicines as early as possible. A lot of kids around here are having bronchitis now.

[brittone2]

Those symptoms could be her just having a tough time shaking a cold (my dad has had something like Lori described that just keeps hanging on and on...mostly gone but still enough to be a nuisance to him).

I don't want to post this to scare you, but some of those symptoms can be consistent with whooping cough. It occurs in vaxed kids but often doesn't get properly diagnosed since docs will sometimes not consider it if the child has been vaxed. It floats around more than most people realize...it just gets labled other things in some cases.

[kdeunc]

I would say take her back. Long story short, my ds had been sick since Halloween and the dr office just said give robitussin. Finally over Christmas when he kept getting worse, spiking a fever, etc. they diagnosed RSV and after two rounds of antibiotics for ear infection and any underlying issues he is better! They did tell me that RSV can really linger. Hope she feels better soon.

[juliasmom05]

I don't think you are worrying to much. IMO, I would take her back to the doctor's. Trust your instincts. I hope she gets to feeling better soon.

Marci

Mom to Julia 4/05

[Raidra]

I'd call and speak to a nurse or the doctor to see what they think. Lachlann and I both got sick on Christmas Day, and his cold (cough, runny nose, fever, etc) kept getting worse until Monday, when I brought him into the doctor's office. The doctor said he just had a cold, his lungs and ears were fine. He said that there's some sort of cold virus going around that is lasting much more than the normal length of time, that it seems to take 7-10 days to see any improvement, rather than the normal 4 days.

I took Colwyn up today, too.. he got sick on Monday and his fever and other symptoms have been getting steadily worse. Same thing.. no ear infection, lungs clear.. just a bad cold.

But it can't hurt to call, and even bring her up if necessary.