Infant Congestion
Tips for Tackling Infant Congestion
Infant congestion is a fairly common problem and many parents struggle with a baby who is unable to breathe or sleep easily because of an infection. Sometimes an irritation caused by an allergen is also known to cause a stuffed nose in infants. So, whether the membranes inside the nose are swollen from infection or allergic reaction or the baby’s nasal passage is blocked with mucus, all of this is considered infant congestion. A baby will also struggle with the feeding if he or she has congestion and so a parent is usually desperate for a quick and effective solution to the problem.
While there are several medicines that are available for infant congestions, such as the antihistamines and decongestants used by adults facing the same problem, getting the dosage right and making sure that babies keep it down can be something of a challenge and so it is useful to know some tried-and-tested natural remedies for tackling infant congestion.
Steaming is probably the most trusted cure for infant congestion. You should run the shower at high heat and let the bathroom steam up. By sitting with your child in this warm and humid environment, you are allowing the mucus to loosen and come out. Exposure to steam is a good way for the nasal passages to become open once again and you are likely to see a difference in the baby’s breathing within 10-15 minutes. A humidifier also serves the same purpose in terms of creating an atmosphere that relieves the infant congestion.
Keeping your baby’s head elevated is a great way to help your child cope with infant congestion. This is probably the only way the baby will be able to sleep and so you may need to hold your baby in a sling or harness during the day and use a car seat or bouncer to help the head stay elevated during the night. This posture will work better than actually laying the baby down in the crib.
Another thing to help your baby is that you can irrigate the infant’s nostrils with a saline solution to wash out the mucus and to soothe the swollen nasal membranes. There are commercially available saline sprays or you can make a saline solution of your own. All you need is about a cup of warm water and a quarter teaspoon of non-iodized salt. You can use a cotton ball or a dropper to drop this solution into each of the baby’s blocked nostrils. By having the baby lying down or by tilting back the infant’s head, you can make certain that the solution goes through the nostril and serves its purpose. You should do only one nostril at a time so that the baby does not feel uncomfortable. If you choose to do this with a saline spray, the sudden burst of liquid in the nose can cause the baby to sneeze which will also address the purpose of clearing the blockage in the nose.
Opinion is divided on the use of nasal bulb syringes. There are those who feel that the syringe only serves to aggravate the pressure on the nasal membranes and that this prolongs infant congestion. The other opinion is that if the mucus has been loosened with saline spray, the nasal syringe can be an effective way of draining all the unwanted liquid from the baby’s nose. Since infants do not know how to blow their nose, this syringe is a way of providing the additional suction needed to completely clear the infant congestion.
Other than these things that you can directly do to relieve the pressures of infant congestion you should also make sure that the overall atmosphere of the baby’s room is clean. Airborne irritants are the chief cause of infant congestion and so you can make a huge difference by thoroughly washing all the bedding in the baby’s room. Also, if you find your baby repeatedly dealing with infant congestion, you may want to examine the baby care products and switch to natural baby products without any strong fragrances. This also applies to the laundry detergent you use for washing your baby’s things. Strong fragrances and scents can trigger a negative reaction and cause mucus generation and you should watch out and avoid causing this reaction in your baby.
These tips should help you handle an episode of infant congestion but if you find your baby experiencing this often or over prolonged periods of time you should update your pediatrician and seek medical advice.