What is infant nasal congestion?
Infant nasal congestion is when baby’s nose is ‘stuffy’ or ‘snuffly’ rather than obviously runny. It is caused by the inside of baby’s nose being swollen which means that less air can flow through their tiny nose.
Baby
may suffer from infant nasal congestion very early on in their lives, often
within a few days of birth when they’re settling into their new surroundings
and encountering all the new smells of home and visitors and cooking and so on. Or it maybe related to a cold or allergy.
Babies are ‘obligate nasal breathers’ which means they breathe only through their noses. In fact the only time they breathe through their mouths in the early weeks is when they open their mouths to cry! And why do they cry? Often it’s because their cute button noses are all stuffy...
Of course not being able to breathe clearly brings its own problems. Feeding can be difficult and distressing as babies need to breathe while they are latched on to the breast or are being fed with a teat.
If they need to let go in order to take a breath of air they may well swallow air which can lead to the dreaded colic when they start feeding again. And because they need to put in so much effort to feed they get tired out really quickly and may fall asleep before they have had enough to eat. Consequently, mum and dad put baby down thinking it’s mission accomplished - only for the little one to wake within a short time because guess what, he’s still hungry!
Nasal mucus can often be produced in response to nasal irritation - house dust, irritations in the air or perfumes worn by you or your nearest and dearest can all have an effect on a baby and when a little one can't remove the dried secretions on their own, then the mucus will partially obstruct the airway and parents will hear the snuffles as well as see the ‘evidence’.
But the great news is you don’t have to worry. Infant nasal congestion is not an infection and therefore cannot be spread. It is pretty much universal among infants below six months of age - as it is among lots of adults in winter. Even without intervention, most congestion will clear up on its own but where babies have abnormally small nasal passages, allergies or continued exposure to irritants, the symptoms could continue indefinitely.
So what can you do?
4little1’s Baby nose-clear range is just the ticket, giving you a three-point plan from birth to make baby feel better, sleep better and eat better - NATURALLY!
Aside from trying to work out what ‘pollutants’ might be irritating your baby’s nose and removing them, your best bet is to use our award-winning nasal aspirator - with or without saline drops which can loosen the dried-up mucus - in conjunction with our room vapour which has been specially formulated to ease the snuffles of a congested baby.
Your own parents may have sworn by a product called a Wright’s Vapouriser which they would keep in the nursery and use with a solution which would help baby breathe and keep the room - and indeed the whole house - smelling wonderful.
These days a whole host of humidifiers and specialist home air filters are available – but in reality our Baby nose-clear Room vapour is all you need to solve the problem of nasal congestion. A few drops in a warm bowl of water or on a cloth over a radiator – and the job is done. And you don’t have to confine the vapour to the baby’s room. Try some in your bedroom too and see how well you rest.
If you need to use saline nose drops to loosen baby’s blocked nose, you can buy them over the counter or make your own. Make fresh saline nasal drops daily by mixing 1/4 tsp. of table salt in a cup of water. Put a drop or two of the saline into one nostril. Leave it in a minute while massaging the side of the nose (optional), then use our Baby nose-clear nasal aspirator at the base of each nostril to suction out the nose. What you don't get out, your child will just swallow naturally. Do only one side at a time so baby remains relaxed.
When there is visible congestion you can use the aspirator before a feed as well as at bedtime will give your little one twice as much help.
Don’t poke anything up your baby’s stuffy nose like a tissue or cotton bud. A baby who is relatively content even though he’s congested does not have a problem - until someone tries to stick something up his nose!
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