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We are just on the other side of all 3 of my kids having RSV. They got it really, really, bad, so my experience may be different than yours will be, but here is what we did and what our ped said:

Don't give ibuprofen or tylenol for the fever. These meds suppress the immune system and basically every time you give her a dose, that's 6 hours that her body won't be fighting off the illness. If she is absolutely miserable and in pain, give it to her, but if not, let the fever do its job. Fevers suck, but they are also a good thing and are a sign your child's body is working to fight off the virus.

Use saline drops in her nose like crazy. Keep her nose as clear as you can. This will help avoid ear infections, but also improve her breathing and with RSV, any little bit of help when it comes to breathing is much needed.

Give her lots of fluids. My LO got incredibly dehydrated when she had RSV (as well as pneumonia and ear infections) and she needed several bags of fluid when we got admitted to the hospital.

Watch for signs of respiratory distress like pale skin, blue-ish lips, sluggishness and lethargy, quick pulse, flaring of nostrils, rapid, shallow breathing, grunting sounds, etc. We have an oximiter and I monitored my kids' o2 levels once I realized how hard we got hit.

That's really all you can do. Hang in there, and I hope she feels better soon.

It could last 1-2 weeks, unfortunately. Even the fevers can last for a while (although not that long). RSV can live for a long time on surfaces, so try and be diligent about cleaning things like counters, door knobs, light switches.

@matador84: you can get an oximeter from the drugstore.

@Rainbow Sprinkles: so scary that all 3 had it at once.

@matador84: I hope DD feels better soon!

@Rainbow Sprinkles: Oooh I feel like that would be a good tool to have around. It can be used for kids and adults?

Ask your doctor if you can do breathing treatments while they are sleeping. We had a mild case of RSV and they said we could sneak in once she was asleep and hold the machine in front of her face while she slept.

My twins both had RSV. I was in the children's hospital for 5 days. The other never got bad enough. My son did go to the hospital and urgent care once because I thought he was bad enough to be seen. He was sent home both times. I did it out of caution considering his sister was in the hospital. I was pretty confident that he would be hospitalized and admitted. Luckily he wasn't.

Oh, my daughter was giving breathing treatments while in the hospital but my son was not. When she was rushed to the hospital, she was destating and her oxygen levels were dropping to the 80s. Plus, she had a respiratory rate of 80 when normal kids her age should be in the 40s. She also had signs of retraction. All of this were signs of respiratory distress for her. What I saw at home was wheezing. I had no idea how bad she was and I'm glad I took her in when I did.

I was told to be very good with washing hands to reduce the contraction rate, but that regular adults and children could be carrying RSV or another type of virus but to them it would be just a cold. Since they are young and were preemies, they are a bit more at risk.

With my DH having severe asthma, I splurged and got the owlet care monitor that measures their respiratory rate and oxygen by pulse oximetry. I know some say it causes stress and anxiety but considering DH was found blue at 6 months and rushed to the hospital, I'm already worried about them. I bought it and it has arrived but I haven't set it up yet.

Ugh...both of mine had RSV in December, which DID turn into pneumonia...but only for my eldest. We spent 3 days at children's hospital with DS1, due to pneumonia. Thankfully, with DS2, who was 6 months at the time, we only had a few sleepless nights (holding him upright so that he could be comfy) and a lot of general misery...but no pneumonia or complications. I, too, have an oximeter, which I bought after DS1 got out of the hospital. I got it because I didn't realize, when we were at home, how low his oxygen levels were...even with nebulizer every 4 hours. It definitely gives me peace of mind and will help me make decisions on ER visits quicker, should this happen again.

I'll update on DD too..

She had mild fever started last Sunday afternoon/evening. Then developed what I thought was a cold and a bad cough. Fever spiked up to 102 Wed night, went in Thurs morning and confirmed RSV. That must have been the worse of it though; no fever as of Friday and by this past Saturday she was back to herself, but runny nose and bad cough is still there.

DS just got over RSV, and I have to say that it is much better at ~16 months than when they are tiny. Definitely tons of suction and saline - the doctor said to suction 3-4 times a day, more if needed, even though he screams and fights it.
We also ran a humidifier on high, and put books under one end of his crib so it was tilted up (we had to make sure his head stayed on the high end, but it wasn't a problem). It made sleep SO much better than the nights when he was flat.

Good luck!

@littlejoy: We haven't had RSV but have had a lot of ER visits for my 3.5 year olds breathing issues. They can confirm RSV with a nose swab and test. In terms of pneumonia, there isn't really a way to confirm, even with a chest x-ray, if you are having any wheezing then they don't know for sure if it is just diminished from that or pneumonia.

If you are worried I would not hesitate to take them in, don't mess around with breathing issues.

DS had RSV and pneumonia last winter. He tends to be vulnerable to breathing issues so we had taken him to the hospital as we couldn’t control the fever and he was lethargic and not eating, fast breathing. Confirmed pneumonia via X-ray and RSV came back from the blood test.