Congestion!

ginamarie001

So my LO will be 5 weeks old on Tuesday. He has had congestion at night since day one. Our ped says this is common in newborns and that we are doing everything we can (use saline drops and suction, humidifier). Our ped also confirmed that he doesn't have a cold and is too young to develop any allergies (a concern of mine since we have three cats). The congestion screws with his sleeping schedule big time. And it kills me to hear him struggle when the saline doesnt do the trick and he can't clear his nose. His bassinet has the option to have him to sleep on an incline which we thought would help but not so much. We had him sleep flat last night because we felt he couldn't get his gas out when he was strapped at the incline position which was another problem altogether. 

Anyway...is there anyone else going thru this? Any advice to make my LO more comfortable at night?? Thanks  

Tucanreg

Yes!! Our LO has the same issue at night! We are on our second bottle of saline!! My biggest issue is nursing. Sometime she is so congested it's hard for her to nurse! 

 I have found that after we put the saline drops in we hold her upright for 5 minutes to help drain. It does help sometime but makes our nighttime routine longer.. 

 Let me know if you find any other solutions!  

aarondora

Have you tried different aspirators? The bulb suction from the hospital wasn't doing it for us, so we got a battery powered one that Gerber makes. It works pretty well to get some of that mucus out and it doesn't seem to irritate my son because you don't have to put it far up his nose like the bulb suction.  One thing we found when suctioning is that sometimes you have to cover the other nostril so that there is more of a suction. I have also heard of Nose Frida where you can use the device to suck the mucus out (but it doesn't get into your mouth), I heard that works well. 

 If you get the gerber one, after you use it if you suction up some water you'll be able to see all the stuff you've got out. https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2585646

I also watched this video that helped: https://www.babycenter.com/2_how-to-use-a-bulb-syringe-to-clear-your-babys-mucus_10357065.bc

 Good luck! Oh and you can just put a few folded up blankets under the mattress under where his head is so that he is slightly inclined. That seemed to help my son in his bassinet