As much as I love holding down a screaming child and nebulizing them, I wonder if it makes a difference. My pediatrician swears by it, along with every single other Brazilian, even the childless ones. I swear, people in Brazil are raised with that thing stuck to their face.
Now, I'm a humidifier girl. I was raised with the hot steam humidifier every time I had one of those horrible colds. Ordinarily, this would be equivalent to Brazilian Chinese water torture but the normally humid Rio de Janeiro is strangely lacking it's every day moistness. I almost want to call up into the clouds and say 'You know, there's a cream for that'.
And I've tried to use a humidifier here. I bought an overpriced cold water one at Lojas Americanas and all it did was make the room rank and sticky. Back to the nebulizer.
So all you experts out there, what does it do? I hear it breaks up the snot, opens the lungs and sinus, and shortens the life of the cold. I always thought nebulizers were a way to get medicine into the lungs and that without the medicine, it's basically a steam room for the lips.
Of course, I'm still using it on my little one. He's a miserable snot factory, coughing and choking the night away. Hell, I would bust out African dance - tribal circle, fire, and all - if I thought it'd make the cold go away.
So what's your verdict? To Nebulize or not to Nebulize?
