Which is better? I looked at both kinds of humidifiers, but neither one of them said which is better for certain times. Does it matter?

I went with cool mist just because I couldn't imagine hot steam in the GA summer. :lol:

I have both but very rarely use the hot steam :nod:

We use the hot ones in Joe's and Frances' rooms because they help keep the rooms warmer.

Our ped told us she thinks the hot ones are a safety hazard and she never recommends them.

Our ped only reccommends the cool mist ones. Our old ped did too. Probably for the reason Sarah listed :dunno: (they tend to spit water when they get clogged!)

We have a cool mist one - hot mist just seems like it would breed bacteria.

Our pharmacist said that vaporizers (hot mist) are better for colds as the cool mist humidifiers may make the room too cool for babies with colds. [Gosh, try saying that four times fast! :lol2: ]

actually the cool mist breeds the bacteria so therefore we use hot. As long as baby can't reach it I don't see it being bad.

actually the cool mist breeds the bacteria so therefore we use hot. As long as baby can't reach it I don't see it being bad.

Right - we only have ours on when they are in their cribs so there is no risk of burning.

Our ped recommended a cool mist humidifier, so that's what we use.

When they are stuffy and congested we use the hot steam vaporizers with the vapo steam in them. It really helps to loosen the congestion and they are only on at night and away from the kids so they can't get burned if clogged. In the winter we do have a whole house humidifier going at all times though.

We've had both . . . the cool one started to smell moldy though (yeccchhh!) and no matter how often I cleaned it or what I cleaned it with I coudn't seem to get it to go away. So now we use the hot one, only while the baby is in the crib, and it works just fine! Also, the hot steam treatment is really good for coughs and congestion.

we use the hot mist one when trey has a cold, and only when he's in his crib....

We have one hot steam that we use in our room and the rest of the big rooms have cool mist. Caiti sleeps under a bazillion blankets, she needs no humidifier:lol:

We use cool mist

We also use hot mist. Its steam which doesn't breed bacteria, it kills it. We also own a cool mist. I've tested both on myself. The cool mist just doesn't break up congestion like a hot mist one. Think of taking a cold shower when you have a cold vs. a hot shower. Which one clears your nose better?

We use the steam one... no problems with anyone getting burned on it, other than me :doh: It really made a big difference with the girls, as congested as they were from December-February... The cool ones didn't seem to do as good of a job for my problems, so we got the steam one when Jacob was born.

I had a cool one & it didn't help so I changed to the hot steam (per pharmacist recommendation). Hot is much better IMO.

We have cool mist ones since the winter has been so dry with the heat running in the house all the time. It really helped with that. Now that Zack has this nagging cough that won't go away, I think the hot steam ones might be better for him, but I don't have one.

One thing with the cool ones is the filtes breed mold like you wouldn't believe. I just threw away the filter in the one that had been in Zack's room because it was awful and I didn't know how to clean it right. I think the mold may contribute to his cough/allergy type symptoms.