What can I do?

well ur husband is totaly wrong because its ur child not anyother's child i think u should get up and do wht u r doing because this way ur child love about u will increase. i donot know perfectly but i think if ur son makes habbit then what . he will leave after few time

Look men don't know anything. Your baby is sick and he needs all the extra attention he can get. I have heard it is bad to prop up the matress. Don't do that. If you have a chair you can sit in while holding him, get his favorite blanket, book, toy, etc. Sing to him and rock him. Try baby vicks to help clear his passages. He will not expect this all the time. Men are just dumb.

I'm an attachment parenting type parent, so my answer will definitely be biased. I think children need their parents attention whether they are sick or well and whether it's day or night. If he's feeling miserable, why would your husband think it's out of line to give him comfort?

Hello there, the situation is quite tuff as your son is only 17 months old, who just can speak a little, still cannot describe the symptom he is having. So being a mother, obviously you will try to give him comfort and let him sleep and rest well. If the problem persist and he doesn’t seem to be recovering well, please take him to see the doctor as it is better safe than sorry. Your husband is half right as your boy will get used to what you treat him now and will demand more once he realizes you will be there for him. Children are very clever!!! But personally I will suggest you continually to do so until he recovers. Health is the priority! Then gradually you can switch back to the original manner. All the best!

I think to some extent you are both right. Both my hubby and myself would sit up with our son when he wasn't feeling well and quite often it was my hubby who sat with him through the night. Our son is almost 5 yo now and he still seeks out my hubby when he doesn't feel well. He'll lay with our son, until he's resting comfortably and then come back to bed. For the congestion, do you use a vaporizer? There are some fairly inexpensive ones at WalMart/Target etc. Some of them have an inhalant that is steam activated. It has made a huge difference with our son, who seems to always have cold symptoms (just allergies, however) We also gave our son an extra pillow as he got older, just to prop him up higher and help him breathe easier at night. I know it's a tough subject, but at 17 months, I think helping your child get comfortable enough to sleep isn't exactly coddling...they don't know how to do it themselves at that age (tho I wished they did, we lost alot of sleep w/ our youngest) at 4 years old, our son knows he needs to fix his pillow to sleep propped up a bit higher, so I believe the time was well-spent. Hopefully some of this helps you.

In our country most of our children at that age, sleeps together with their parents. May it be they are sick or not. Basically, they are left to sleep alone when they are of bigger age already. That is probably in our country there is always this tendency that sons or daughters will only leave the parents when they get married already. I cannot decider for you in your case since you have different ways and customs, however I know that we have the same love for our child and we will not be able to sleep properly if something is wrong. So I guess it would be better to have your child beside until he is fine already.