a steam vaporizer with plain water is fine as long as you keep quite a distance away from the baby and if your baby is crawling. make sure the electrical cord cannot be pulled and this boiling water lands on him. i am a big fan of cool mist humidifiers. they are safer. and finally there are studies that show that vicks in steam vaporizers can have adverse effects on sensitive baby lungs. even though our parents used tons of vicks on us and we survived does not mean it is the best treatment now. just use plain water in a cool mist humidifier and you will get the same beneficial effects without the potential of side-effects.
is a hot steam vaporizer safe for a 5 1/2 month old baby? what about vicks vaposteam?