It’s been six weeks and my LO still hasn’t been able to sleep properly due to his blocked nose and congestion.I tried everything in the book but nothing seem to work for his congestion and the problem only happens at night. He’s ok during the day drinking 4-5 ounces of milk every 3 hours and then sleeping 1-1.5 hours here and there but night is a total different story.
He drinks 3-4 ounce milk at 11:00 PM then wakes up at 2:00 AM then drinks 3-4 ounces and after that the congestion starts to happen. He’ll wake up at 3:00 AM due to blocked nose, I’ll try to clear his nose using nose frieda and other ways but nothing seem to work. After that the poor guy will wake up every single hour till 9:00 AM due to blocked nose and sniffing. Even if he’s sleeping he’s continuously grunting, sniffing and making noises that seems like there is something stuck in his throat. So I can’t sleep and then I can’t sleep during the day due to my internal clock so I am at the verge of losing my mind.
I’ll be back to work in couple of weeks and I am still unable to figure out how to deal with this. His ped says it’s normal for this age and weather and there are no medicines available for such young babies.
If there are no solution to this any idea at what age he’ll be able to sleep for longer hours or would be able to clear his throat and nasal passages on his own so I can think there is a silver lining to this.
It will get better by 8-10 weeks inshAllah. Also have you considered the grunting etc may be a bit of reflux? That too causes grunting and noises like something is stuck.
Have you tried steam bath and humidifier?? There is nothing you can give to them at this young age. Steam works. Run hot shower in bathroom with door closed, once there is enough steam, sit somewhere with your baby and let him inhale it. Get an aspirator too. I have an electric aspirator which works really good. You can ask your ped about nebulizer too to clear his airway. Cold in babies is awful. It takes it time to go away. There is not much you can do. Its worse at night when they are sleeping because the body is in horizontal position, and the congestion builds up. It will take its time but it will go away.
Mine is about 7 weeks now. He got a cold around week 4 and it was just painful to hear I also tried everything but it took time to go away.
Here’s what I did:
Humidifier in his room (cool mist one)
Saline spray
Propped him up slightly when he slept
Warm steam at night…literally ran the water in the bathroom tub and sat with him in it
That’s all anyone can do because you can’t give him anything.
For his sleep…someone told me to set a routine of some sort. Meaning, make sure you’re doing the same exact thing every single night without fail. We now have him sleeping from 11:30pm to 5am every night Alhumdulillah. His night routine is a warm bath, massage, wrapping him up in a sleeping suit and then warm milk. That has been working so far. Alhumdulillah…watch me jinx myself now!
Oh and the other thing is…towards the end of the day we try not to let him sleep too much. That way he’s tired when he’s about to hit the bed.
Try putting a pillow under his head, I find when my little one has a stuffy nose at night that making his head a little elevated by putting an extra pillow under his head helps as this helps the snot from rising and settling in the nose and prevents a blocked nose. I also sometimes put baby wixx on the side of the pillows and edge of duvet (the edge that is near to his face) and sometimes put some on his clothes on chest area, I avoid putting it on his skin just on his clothes and around him....
ok by far I have already tried:
Nasal Drops and Nose Frida; it works for a while but after an hr or 2 we are back to the drawing board and I don't want to overdo also because he has smaller nasal passages at this age and I don't want them to be scratched or irritated with excessive sucking
Cool mist Humidifer
Changed the bed sheets, comforter even the room thinking may be he's allergic to something
Vicks Vapor Rub; I rub it on front and shoulders of his shirt and not on his chest as the Ped has advised not to do that
I sit with him in the bathroom for hours with steam on so that his congestion is opened, it opens up but then after 2-3 hours it comes back again
He's now mostly sleeping on my arm/bicep on side so that he's elevated.
Last night I even tried putting him to sleep in his car seat to keep him elevated as he wasn't sleeping in his swing but someone on baby center advised against that also.
Any other tricks???
Well he has an established bedtime routine in place and now he expects us to go to sleep at 9:00/10:00 PM, he masha Allah say also plays during the day and only takes light naps.
I can bet he’ll sleep for continuous 4-5 hours in night if not for the congestion.
For us.. Saline, suction bulb, and humidifier work. Some nights we had to clean the nose couple times in the middle of the night. Oh and propping the head up or sleeping on side also helps.
If you're already doing everything recommended, just be patient. There's nothing you can do aside from these common tricks...after this its waiting game and being consistent with the home remedies.
Awww I hope your baby feels better soon so you both can get some sleep!
I second what others have said - steam showers (run a hot shower and sit in the steam filled bathroom with baby), humidifier, saline drops and suction bulb or nosefrida. What always helped my kids sleep better when they had a cold was rubbing a bit of vicks on the soles of their feet and covering them with socks.
My LO made scary grunting noises at night too and turns out she had silent reflux (though it sounded exactly like congestion). She started sleeping loads better once the ped put her on a feed thickener and antacid.
If it's reflux it will get better with time. Till then meds do help a lot!
My LO made scary grunting noises at night too and turns out she had silent reflux (though it sounded exactly like congestion). She started sleeping loads better once the ped put her on a feed thickener and antacid.
If it's reflux it will get better with time. Till then meds do help a lot!
Um....mine makes grunting noises at night too and it sounds just like congestion.
My LO made scary grunting noises at night too and turns out she had silent reflux (though it sounded exactly like congestion). She started sleeping loads better once the ped put her on a feed thickener and antacid.
If it's reflux it will get better with time. Till then meds do help a lot!
A cold is most likely not going to last more than a few weeks at most. If the nose is being cleared regularly and the grunting is occurring at night and there's not much sign of congestion during the day.. then consider if it may be reflux.
Um....mine makes grunting noises at night too and it sounds just like congestion.
Could be reflux.. does he get a lot of hiccups? That is also a sign. Also my LO had an acidic smell to her mouth and hated being kept horizontal. She'd wake up the instant we put her down in the crib. It was because the acid bubbled up to the back of her throat and woke her up, poor thing :(
Good news though, is that it does get better as the baby starts being more upright. It peaked at 3 months for us, but has been getting steadily better. Now at 6 mos I give her meds only as needed, which is just once or twice a week.
I also tried everything but it took time to go away.
