How to Protect Your Little One from RSV

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*This post was sponsored as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

I hear the familiar cough and I just know.

See this cough is so very distinctive. It is deep with a trace of wheezing to it.

And just like that my oldest daughter had pneumonia once again.

But it wasn’t always this way for my girl.

She was a relatively healthy baby. At 6 months old, she had her first and only ear infection ever.

She also only had one head cold at around 4 months old.

But her first year of nursery school found her sicker than she’d ever been.

It actually started out as a very bad cold. Or so I was led to believe by her then doctor.

See it was a Wednesday night. She began to run a fever and was stuffy, too.

Thursday morning found us at the pediatrician. Again, the diagnosis was a bad head cold. We were sent home with instructions for over the counter medicine doses, to rest up and also to drink lots of fluids.

Friday was more of the same with her symptoms. By Saturday late afternoon, my poor girl was miserable. Still stuffy, plus she now needed to blow her nose, too. But she was only 2 1/2 years old. So, she didn’t quite know how to blow her tiny nose yet. And now, she was coughing heavily and also running a very high fever.

Her pediatrician didn’t have Saturday afternoon/evening hours. So off to urgent care we went.

What followed was downright scary and unforgettable.

It was here that we learned of her RSV diagnosis.

What is RSV?

It happens to be a common, highly contagious, seasonal virus that affects nearly 100% of infants by the age of two and occurs in epidemics from November through March. RSV can also lead to a mild respiratory infection.

What are the symptoms of RSV?

The symptoms are similar to the common cold or flu. So my girl’s early bad cold diagnosis by her doctor wasn’t far off as RSV can indeed appear similar to that of a bad cold. But can be so much more serious. Why? Because, it can actually develop into a much more severe infection for some. This is true especially for babies born prematurely. My own daughter was born term, but still ended up having RSV.

Her own oxygen levels were low causing her trouble breathing. Thankfully they weren’t low enough for her to need hospitalization. But still, we were told any lower and she would have needed to be hospitalized. She also had a fever of 104.3 degrees. Our poor baby was also coughing and wheezing, but it wouldn’t stop. All are symptoms of severe RSV.

See this was my baby. All my fears of seeing my child so sick were realized that evening.

Thankfully, she did recover. But it took weeks. She missed almost a month of her first year of nursery school, because of RSV.

See there is still no current treatment for it. She was prescribed a nebulizer to help with her breathing. But otherwise there wasn’t much that we could do. So, we pretty much had to wait it out.

And even after having suffered this aliment, she has had comprised lung issues.

She is now 8 years old and had multiple bouts of pneumonia since. But finally last year, she was diagnosed with seasonal asthma. This was caused in part by her earlier RSV disorder suffering. Since being diagnosed, she has been under doctor’s treatment. I am happy to report that her condition has improved greatly. Plus, she hasn’t had another bout of pneumonia in over a year now.

But still, I readily admit that I didn’t know much about RSV before she was afflicted by it.

However afterwards, I became well versed on RSV.

As I stated about there isn’t much in the terms of treatment.

However, prevention for RSV is key.

So if you have a little one, you want to read on to find out how to prevent RSV for them…

3 Easy Ways to Prevent RSV for Your Own Child

1. Learn the signs.

Knowing what RSV looks like is important. So even if someone appears to have a very bad cold, I caution having your little one come into contact with them for this reason. Therefore, keep your children away from people who may be sick. Because RSV can indeed be similar to a very bad cold, I say proceed with caution around those exhibiting cold-like symptoms.

2. Protect your child at all costs.

See all parents can do some simple things to help protect their child’s little lungs from severe RSV disease. This includes as follows: asking everyone to wash their hands after entering your home or interacting with your kid, wash toys and/or surfaces frequently to reduce the chance of exposure of RSV, and also stay away from large crowds when possible.

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3. Work with your pediatrician.

Sadly my daughter’s then pediatrician I felt dropped the ball on this big time. I don’t want to linger on this. See what is done can never be undone or changed. But I will say we have since changed pediatricians. Thankfully her current doctor is proactive with my girl. As earlier stated even has diagnosed her with asthma and even gotten her issues under control now. Therefore, you will want to have a frank conversation with your child’s own pediatrician. Also, you will want to ask if your child may be at high risk for severe RSV disease.

With cold, flu and more season approaching, my hope is that this article educated you about RSV and your little one. Because once again as someone who’s baby had RSV, I can’t caution enough how very serious this disease can be. So knowledge is most definitely power for RSV.

Have you heard of RSV?
Do you know someone who has had or has RSV?
Now, please let me know in the comments…