When such events occur I become a momma armed for battle. (You gotta stop those germs in their tracks before the take down the whole family!) My weapons of choice in such germ-wars:
1) a well-staffed, knowledgeable pediatric clinic
2) a neti pot.
In a nut shell: The neti pot allows you to pour saline solution in one nostril, through your sinus cavities, and out the other nostril. Sounds a bit gross, I admit, but it’s the easiest, cheapest way to wash out those nasty germs and get on the road to recovery.
It can take awhile to get the hang of the system, but once you feel the results I think you’ll gladly endure the procedure. Last week was my youngest son’s first time to use the neti pot. He wiggled, and cringed, and gasped, and spit, and stalled, and whined and then proclaimed, “Wow! That does feel better!” Twelve hours later we repeated this process (with much less drama) and he told me, “Now I can breathe when I sleep, Mom.” Later the next day, he actually asked me if he could use the neti pot again.