What questions to ask? 10-week-old with nasty cough for days

[gregoryfey88]

Our breastfed 10-week-old has had a cough for about four days now and we’re seeing a paediatrician later today. The cough has slightly worsened and there’s now some nasal congestion. No fever from armpit temperatures. Both parents had colds in the last couple of weeks (sore throat, runny nose).

Here are some questions we’re hoping to answer at our appointment - any other pointers?

1. Listen to chest: listening for something specific and what does it tell us?
2. How seriously should we be taking this infection given there’s no improvement after a number of days?
3. Is it necessary to take their blood and how will that impact diagnosis/treatment? If we assume they caught the infection from us, can our blood work be useful instead?
4. Which other symptoms developing would require further treatment, e.g. fever, fast breathing, poor feeding?
5. Do we need to be taking (rectal) temperature routinely/frequently or only if we see other signs of fever? What are those signs?
6. What are the likely infections - common cold, COVID, RSV? What are the differences in how to treat them?
7. Are there potential treatments that aren’t available in our country?
8. What medications are safe at this age?
9. What are the more serious risks at this age, e.g. bronchiolitis, pneumonia?
10. Where do we go if this develops into an emergency?

It’s a lot of questions but as you can probably tell we’re starting to have our first panic. Thank you so much for any support or advice you can give!