We include products nosotros think are useful for our readers. If you purchase through links on this folio, we may earn a small commission. Here'southward our procedure.

We include products we recollect are useful for our readers. If y'all purchase through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here's our procedure.

Intro

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a serious cause of respiratory infection that can affect people of all ages. But it'south nigh serious in babies.

A babe's airways aren't as well-adult, so a baby isn't able to cough upwards mucus every bit well as an older child. In almost people, RSV causes cold symptoms, often with a cough.

In babies, RSV can cause a more serious disease called bronchiolitis. Babies with bronchiolitis take wheezing along with their cough.

RSV can lead to other severe infections, including pneumonia. In some cases, babies may need to receive treatment at a hospital.

RSV is a virus, so unfortunately there are no medications that tin can cure it in order to shorten its course of infection. Here'south what you need to know.

Symptoms of RSV in babies

In older children, RSV can cause symptoms similar to that of a cold. But in babies, the virus causes more than severe symptoms.

RSV is nearly ordinarily transmitted from November to April, when cooler temperatures bring people indoors and when they're more likely to collaborate with each other.

RSV tends to follow a timeline of symptoms. Symptoms peak effectually the 5th solar day of the illness, simply they may start experiencing symptoms before or later.

Initial symptoms may not be all that noticeable, such as decreased appetite or a runny nose. More astringent symptoms may appear a few days subsequently.

Symptoms a babe may have with RSV include:

  • animate that's faster than normal
  • difficulty breathing
  • cough
  • fever
  • irritability
  • lethargy or behaving sluggishly
  • runny nose
  • sneezing
  • using their breast muscles to exhale in a way that appears labored
  • wheezing

Some babies are more vulnerable to the symptoms of RSV. This includes children who were born prematurely, or babies with lung or heart problems.

When to see a pediatrician for RSV

RSV cases can range from mild common cold symptoms to those of astringent bronchiolitis. Simply if you doubtable your babe has RSV, it'south important to call your pediatrician or seek emergency medical care.

Symptoms to scout out for include:

  • your baby appears dehydrated, such as sunken fontanels (soft spots) and no tear production when they cry
  • coughing upwardly thick mucus that's gray, green, or yellow in color making it hard to breathe
  • fever greater than 100.four°F (38°C), rectally obtained, in babies younger than 3 months
  • fever greater than 104.0°F (39.four°C) in a child of any historic period
  • thick nasal discharge that makes it tough for baby to breathe

Seek immediate medical care if your baby's fingernails or oral fissure are blue in color. This indicates your infant isn't getting enough oxygen and is in astringent distress.

Treatment for RSV in babies

In the nearly severe cases, RSV may crave the assistance of a animate car known as a mechanical ventilator. This automobile tin assist to inflate your baby's lungs until the virus has had time to become away.

Doctors used to (and some however exercise) routinely treat most cases of RSV with bronchodilators. Just this is no longer recommended.

Examples of bronchodilator medications include albuterol, which is under the brand names:

  • ProAir HFA
  • Proventil-HFA
  • Ventolin HFA

These are medications used for people with asthma or COPD to help open upwards the airways and care for wheezing, but they don't assistance the wheezing that comes with RSV bronchiolitis.

If your little 1 is dehydrated, their doc may also provide intravenous fluid (IV).

Antibiotics won't help your baby's RSV because antibiotics care for bacterial infections. RSV is a viral infection.

Tin parents treat RSV in babies at home?

If your doc gives you the OK to care for RSV at home, yous'll likely need a few tools. These will continue your baby'due south secretions equally thin as possible and so they don't affect their breathing.

A seedling syringe

You can employ a seedling syringe to clear thick secretions from your baby'southward nose. Get one here.

To use the bulb syringe:

  1. Compress the bulb until the air is out.
  2. Place the tip of the bulb in your babe's nose and permit the air out. This will pull mucus in.
  3. When yous remove the bulb, squeeze information technology onto a cloth or paper towel to articulate the bulb.

You should peculiarly use this tool before your baby's feeding. A articulate nose makes it easier for your baby to eat.

This tin can likewise be combined with over-the-counter saline drops, which can be placed into each nostril followed correct afterward with suctioning.

Cool mist humidifier

A humidifier can introduce moisture into the air, helping to sparse your baby'south secretions. Yous can buy cool mist humidifiers online or in stores. Make sure to make clean and intendance for the humidifier properly.

Hot h2o or steam humidifiers could exist harmful to your baby considering they can crusade scalding.

You can likewise talk to your kid's physician about treating any fevers with acetaminophen (Tylenol). Your medico volition give you a suggested dose based on your baby'southward weight. Do non give your baby aspirin, as this can be dangerous to their health.

Preventing dehydration in babies with RSV

Providing fluids, such as breast milk or formula, can be important to preventing dehydration in your infant. You can also ask your md if you should give your baby an electrolyte-replacing solution.

Keep your infant in an upright position, which makes it easier for them to breathe. You can keep your baby more upright in a stable and secure car seat or baby seat while they are awake at times during the day.

At dark, y'all can raise your child'due south mattress by about three inches. Yous can identify an object underneath your baby's mattress to keep information technology higher up. Always place your baby on their back to slumber.

Limiting your baby's exposure to cigarette smoke is likewise vital to keeping them healthy. Cigarette smoke can make your baby's symptoms worse.

Is RSV in babies contagious?

When an otherwise healthy infant has RSV, they're typically contagious for three to viii days. The child who is contagious should exist kept split up from other siblings or children to prevent transmission.

The illness is spread from direct and indirect contact with an infected person. This could include touching the hand of an infected person after they sneeze or cough, then rubbing your eyes or olfactory organ.

The virus can besides alive on difficult surfaces, such as a crib or toys, for several hours.

Outlook for RSV

Babies tin make a total recovery from RSV in i to two weeks. Most babies can recover from RSV without having to receive handling in a hospital setting. But if yous call up your babe is dehydrated or in moderate to astringent distress, seek emergency medical care.