baby is four months old has heart defects pulmonary stenosis, asd and vsd and has the cold, just a slight cough is due to have surgery for the pulmonary stenosis in one weeks time, how can i help get rid of cough before this time. Anesthetic evaluation is on Friday 18th March 2011. Looking foward to a detailed answer.
Hi... Thank you for consulting in Chat Doctor. Cough and cold are viral 95% of the times in child Chat Doctor.  For cold, you can use anti-allergics like cetirizine and for nose block, saline nasal decongestants will do. Paracetamol can be given in the dose of 15\u00a0mg/kg/dose (max ceiling dose 500\u00a0mg) every 4-6th hourly, that too only if fever is more than 100F. I suggest not using combination medicines for fever, especially with Paracetamol. For cold, you can use Cetirizine at 0.25\u00a0mg/kg/dose every 12 hourly for 3 days. For nasal block, plain saline nasal