5 Month Baby with Bronchiolitis

5 Month Baby with Bronchiolitis

Both of my girls were sick during the holidays. Samantha had pneumonia and Stefanie had Bronchiolitis. Samantha is 5 years old and the pediatrician took chest x-rays and prescribed antibiotics for the pneumonia which was in its early stages. She got over it rather quickly. But Stefanie, my 5 month old baby was suffering and my heart ached. She had a stuffy nose, wheezing cough, and you could hear the phlegm gargling in her little tiny lungs while she grasp for air. We took her to urgent care and the pediatrician prescribed Albuterol Sulfate liquid form and told me to continue with the Vicks vaporizer, massaging baby Vicks vapor rub on her chest, saline drops for the stuffy nose, and Tylenol for the aches. We continued this treatment for a week and she was not getting better.

I came home from work one day and my baby was having a really bad cough attack and she couldn’t take a breath. She was turning purple. Once she was able to catch her breath, she was sweating, and her body was really cold. I told my husband, let’s go to the urgent care and we rushed to the urgent care, again. The same pediatrician checked her and this time she gave us a nebulizer with Albuterol, the mist kind for the nebulizer. I asked if they can give her antibiotics or something to help get that phlegm out and calm her wheezing cough. The pediatrician said no, because she is too young.

We used the nebulizer for a little over a week. There were times she looked ok and sounded better and then there were times that she didn’t. I called in to her regular pediatrician for a checkup and the doctor saw her right away. Doctor ordered chest x-rays and saw the spots of phlegm in her lungs and gave her a breathing treatment at the office to see if the Albuterol was helping at all. After the treatment the doctor said it was helping and she also gave us Zithromax and Orapred to take for 5 days. My baby girl was finally feeling better and sleeping through the night. I just ask myself, why she didn’t receive this medication at the first visit. It took 3 trips to the urgent care and 1 to the regular doctor and a chest x-ray to finally get her what she needed.

My baby Stefanie with her new toy, the nebulizer.

Thank you,

Angelica Lopez