Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Mixed Messages

So, last night Kaylee woke up sniffing and coughing. The stuffy nose really freaked her out a lot. A stuffy nose in a breast-fed baby is a difficult thing, because they can't nurse when they can't breathe through their noses. So we dutifully flushed it out with nasal saline and used the Evil-Booger-Sucker (TM). But it was no use, she was still stuffy, so we gave her half a dose of infant decongestant. After that she had a really peaceful night, and she could nurse.

So, I called her doctor's office this AM to check on the dosage. The nurse called me back and said they don't recommend giving babies medicine before 3 months, because we want to track their fevers. "But Kaylee doesn't have a fever." And we went back and forth a few times, until I realized that the fever thing was moot. The infant decongestant doesn't have any tylenol in it, so it wouldn't effect a fever one way or another. So, I got no useful information out of the conversation.

They don't like to give infants medicine because they want to track fevers. But my infant has no fever, and the medicine I gave her wouldn't bring one down if she had. But I'm still not supposed to give her medicine. It makes no sense.

During both my pregnancies, I refused to heed any doctor's advice that sounded made up. For example, I ate goat cheese, cold cuts and took many long hot spa baths. And I had perfect kids both times.

I think in the case of the infant sudafed, I would have gotten a much more coherent response from one of the doctors, but I really don't want to spend the day there for a little case of the sniffles. It's beautiful out. Can you blame me?

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