Anyone know anything about RSV? My 6 month old has

Hi there my daughter has never had RSV but my sisters daughter did when she was 6 months old and the advice she has for you is to stay on top of the breathing treatments and the antibiotics. She also said that catching it early is best and it sounds like you did so good for you!
I will pray for him to have a very quick recovery!

Good luck!8

Hi,

Sorry that you child has this! My son had RSV when he was 9 weeks old. I sure wish that the hospital showed videos of what to do for RSV, instead of how to diaper him!

At 6 months, your child should do well, so try not to worry too much!

Everyone should know that respiratory distress can come on quickly! My son had been sick and running a temp, so we took him to the ER (since he was a newborn, the doctor told us to). They checked him out and sent him home with a nebulyzer and albuterol.

The next day, he saw the pediatrician at 4pm. He wasn't wheezing and we were told to continue the breathing treatments.

At 10pm that night, the breathing treatments weren't working as well, so we called triage nurse. She told us to open his passageways by sitting near hot shower and give a second treatment. It worked and he went back to sleep (although the meds made him so jumpy and made his heart race that I hated to give it to him - esp a second dose!)

At 2:00am, I woke to him "hitching" and struggling to breathe. His whole body jumped, like with hiccups, with every breath. I immediatley started a breathing treatment and called nurse back. She told me to hold the phone up to the baby and she listened to him breathe. Then, she told me to hang up and call 911! He was admited to the hospital that night, for 6 days.

Things to look for:
1) Breathing Rate. Place your hand on his chest and count his breaths per minute (easier to do when he's sleeping). 30-40 per minute is okay and expected with RSV. 50+ and your baby is having a hard time getting enough oxygen.

2) nostils flaring - if your baby's nostirls are flaring with each breath, he's struggling. Check this with his respiration rate.

3) Wheezing - but this is harder to tell on your own.

4) retracting - lift up his shirt and watch him breathe. This is hard to tell,at first, but once you see it, it's unmistakable. See if the skin between his ribs is dimpling in with each breath. See if the spot just above his tummy, and below his sternum is dimpling. You may see this without the rib dimpling. If there is rib dimbpling, then he's struggling to breathe.

If you've got retracted breathing and a high respiration rate, then you've got a problem. Generally, no retraction and a low respiration rate and you baby is okay, even though he may sound awful. Trying to ascertain where the breathing difficulty is, is tough. Even the intake nurse in the ER told me "He's fine - it's all upper respiratory". I said, "Well, I was told to call 911, so I did". Of course, the ER pediatrician admitted him, so what did that nurse know! My son's respiration rate when I counted and called the nurse, was 72 and it was 60 when the paramedics took it after second 2am breathing treament.

Knowing to count his respiration rate and check for retraction made life EASY after that! I checked for those things on all of my kids, during every tough cold after that. It was great peace of mind!

Sorry for my typos! Also, my son needed the breathing treatments, after he left the hospital. I can't remember how long. He needed them periodically for sebsequent cold for about 3 months too. The cough lingered for awhile.
Best of luck!

"Only a life lived for others, is the life worthwhile" - Albert Einstein

Our son had RSV, but was older: 16 months. It sounds like you caught it early, and I think the best thing you can do is to stay on top of the treatment program your doctor prescribed, even if your child seems to be doing better. Our son had it bad, and had to be hospitalized for three days (he literally went from a so-so cough in the morning to being rushed to the ER that night; no signs of illness prior to that). He had horrible retractions, and wasn't able to maintain his oxygen levels. He was on oxygen, and was given a combination of breathing treatments, antibiotics, and steroids.

Good luck, and I hope your little one is all better soon!

Jennifer, mom to one special little boy

Thank you Optimist for the good information - very detailed. I have an 8 week old and worry about RSV. We have avoided malls, supermarkets, restaurants since he was born. I thought this was typical for only newborns...but it sounds like a child 6 months - 16 months can also get it. Oh my. Thanks again for sharing!

LisaMommy is a 38 year old discussion leader for arizonamoms.com from the Paradise Valley/Scottsdale area. Her two boys are ages 8 months and 3 years old.

My son had RSV when he was about four months old. It took him about two weeks to get over it completely. We had to give him breathing treatments at home with a nebulizer and albuterol, which was hard because he was too little to understand why we were doing this, he just knew he didn't like it.
He didn't require hospitalization, thankfully, and the treatments did the trick but it was difficult to see him that way. I don't think I slept more than an hour or two a day for that whole two weeks.
It is highly contagious - your son probably could have picked it up a variety of ways. It's possible that it came from the exposure to other children at the play dates, but in my son's case he had no exposure to other children at that time in his life and he still got it. He's an only child , he was being cared for by my mother in law during the day while my husband and I worked, and she wasn't caring for any other children at that time. It was winter so we didn't take him out in public much. I suspect that it could have inadvertently been brought into the house by my sister in law - she's a respiratory tech at PCH. Who knows - one of us could have picked it up anywhere. We were all very careful about washing our hands before touching the baby, but somehow RSV still found him.
Hang in there - it sounds like you are doing everything that you should. I hope you baby is well soon.

My son was a preemie and all the doctors seemed to be very concerned about RSV and we had no idea what it was! I did some research though because a friend of mine found out her son had it. I agree with everyone else in that if your son is 6 months, his chances of SERIOUS complications are greatly reduced. My friend's son was 4 months and he was hospitalized but after about a week, he was out and acting fine. I also read that EVERYONE can get RSV. One previous comment stated that up to 16 months can get it when I read that most kids will all get it at one point before they're 8 years old. It is just the risk of complications that make RSV such a horrible thing and this is usually when babies are very young or have other "at-risk" health issues.

PLEASE don't worry too much because your son also needs you to be that "fun" mom and not "worrisome" mom. I totally understand your concern...I mean, he is your SON. But HE shouldn't have to be worried either and he can sense that you are. I will pray for you and your family and I am SURE everything will be fine in a few weeks.

Ya'll are soooo helpful!!! Thank you! He seems like he is not getting worse so that is good. It's sort of just the same. My daughter now has it. Hers seems WAY worse. I was thinking of taking her in to an urgent care by my house that is brand new and is never busy. She has a barking cough. I don't think I have ever heard a cough like this and I have been sick before. It's truly like a bark. I thought that was just a saying. She just isn't feeling good at all. I'm glad my 6 month odl didn't get that cough. With the passy switcharoo that she is always doing with our 6 month old it's no wonder that she caught what he had. We start off with her having the pink one and him the blue and two sec later she has switched them and she is fast. Since she is almost 2 do you think I can give hr some cough meds? I put a call in to the dr but I haven't gotten a call back yet. I won't do it until he calls back. That new fda warning scares me...

Elizabeth is a discussion leader for arizonamoms she writes about everything from her needing mommy advice to crazy and silly stuff that happens. She lives in the West Valley with her husband and 3 children.

Hi there. Just joined this website, and it's wonderful with all of this info. on just about everything. I have an 18 month old who had RSV a year ago right now. Ironically, she has the exact same symptoms now, but the RSV test came back negative. We are doing the nebeulizer w/ Xopenex every 4 hours. Yesterday she was great and needed only 2 treatments, and today it was hard to make it to that 4 hour mark. I wish I could just get her to "hack" it out!!
Hope your little one is feeling better soon, it does take awhile. Be patient...

mom2two

RSV is not just transmitted by children. Us adults get it to, it is a strain of the flu viruses. But, to us it is just flu/cold symptoms, not breathing problems. Its when the virus invades the babies bronchioles that it becomes a problem. My son is 7 months and also has RSV, but it is only in the upper respiratory tract right now(hopefully it stays that way). His cousin is in the hosp right now with it(4 months)and her twin sissy also has it but is not hospitalized (not in lower resp tract). my husband and i just got over what we thought was just a nasty cold. we know now that it was most likely due to the RSV virus. My in laws (twins parents)also just got over the same cold. And to older kids like toddler ages, the RSV virus can present itself as bronchitis, bronchiolitis. The virus invades their brinchioles, but they are older and stronger. docs give the diagnoses of bronchitis or bronchiolitis and prescribe antibiotics because they are not sure if its being caused by a virus(possibly RSV) or bacteria. (the twins big sissy-2 yrs old- was diagnosed with bronchitis a couple days prior).

This is late, too, but just found this site. My son (almost 1) had RSV in January, also, for almost the entire month. He also had croup in December. Then, 3 weeks ago, he had a really bad case of croup, had to take him to ER for treatment, then got a very bad ear infection which is still going on and now has croup AGAIN! 3rd time! My daughter who is 3 has had croup before but only once a year and I thought that was pretty normal. Does anyone have kids who get croup so often??? I am worried that he is going to get it every time he gets a cold??? So tired of sickness!