What do you do when your toddler has cold? Medically, there’s very little you can do. They’re too young for strong medicines, throat sweets are full of sugar and are a huge choking hazard and there are only so many hot and steamy showers they can have.
It’s cold and flu season now. We’ll all get it at some point, but it’s always worse for little people. They can’t tell us how bad they feel and they don’t understand the things we’re doing is to try and make them feel better.
The little man had quite a nasty cold for two weeks. We tried everything to get rid of it, it was frustrating for him and being woken during the night by a snotty, whinging child wasn’t much for his Daddy or me either.
As if my some sort of magic we were asked if we’d like to try out the Vicks Sweet Dreams Cool Mist Humidifier. The timing couldn’t have been better, but if I’m honest I didn’t know Vick’s manufactured any other products, other than their Vapour Rub, so I wasn’t too sure what to expect.
For those of you that don’t know, humidifiers can help to reduce flu viruses in the air and on surfaces and they’re also great at helping with the symptoms of coughs and colds.
The Vicks Sweet Dreams Cool Mist Humidifier is a multi talented humidifier. Not only does it help restore essential oil enfused moisture back into the air, but it also projects a range of bright and beautiful light images onto the ceiling which is ideal for soothing a restless child.
When it first arrived I was a little surprised by how bulky it is. It’s by no means a small piece of equipment and you do need somewhere substantial to hosue it. I suppose the size can be excused when you realise it does have a 3.8 litre water capacity.
The large capacity allows it to run for up to 24 hours on it’s lowest setting. It’s designed to be used in medium sized rooms, though it does have a variable humidity setting so you’re in control of how much moisture is expelled. I’d say our rooms were over average size and I haven’t turned the dial higher than half way/
As well as keeping the air in the room moist, the machine releases gentle fragrances into the air which help little people to breathe more easily. There are two scents available, Rosemary and Lavender which is suitable for children over the age of 3 months and Menthol which is recommend for us by those of 3 years.
As well as the excellent health benefits the humidifier offers, the addition of the light projector is amazing. It has three different picture themes – sea, safari and stars, which are clearly projected onto the ceiling. None of the projectors we’ve used prior to this display pictures as clear as the Vick’s humidifier.
The image selections are done by turning a simple dial. All buttons and functions are very easy to achieve, though the instructions do make them sound much more complex.
The humidifier is extremely quiet and causes no disturbance during the night. The very slight noise that does come from it is like white noise and is quite soothing. It doesn’t heat up during use due to it’s ultrasonic technology, this means the moisture that is expelled is a cool, (rather than hot) fine mist so it’s safer around little people.
I am so impressed with the humidifier. Not only do the beautiful pictures soothe and calm the little man at bedtime the moisture that’s added back into the air quickly and effectively helps to reduce congestion and ensure a better nights sleep. When the little man was bunged up we noticed a difference after one night using this. He has a much more settled night and was able to breathe must easier.
The main downside for me is the bulky design, it does make storage quite difficult. We’ve resorted in storing it in a cupboard in one of the bedrooms as we don’t have any kitchen on dining room cupboards big enough.
Others may be put off by the price, at £69.99 it’s not a cheap product, and with the pads retailing for around £6.99 for 7 it can work out pricey. We wouldn’t be able to afford to use the machine with a pad every evening, but I’ll definitely use it each time one of us has cold.
You may also need to buy descaling cartridges separately to fit into the base of the machine. How often you need to do this will depend on how hard your water is.
*Sample product*
We chose this humidifier for our daughter’s bedroom, We put this in our daughter’s room for the first time a few nights ago when she started to get a bit of a cold. We used the Vicks Vapo Pads with it to help her breathe a little easier. We were so pleased with the smell and mist amount that were released.