What should I do if my baby has a stuffy nose and can’t sleep well? 3 solutions

If the baby has nasal congestion when sleeping at night, it will seriously affect the quality of sleep. Parents are very worried when seeing the baby in pain. Experts say that in this situation, you can use three methods: steam fumigation of the nose, use of saline nasal drops, and nasal spray, and the effects are very good.

1. Steaming the nose - Relieve mild nasal mucosal edema

Many smart parents have tried some tips to relieve baby's nasal congestion, such as preparing a cup of boiling water and placing it next to the baby's nose to relieve edema by inhaling hot steam, or creating steam in the bathroom and letting the baby stay in the bathroom for a while, or even applying a hot towel to the nose. In fact, these practices are all reasonable. When the baby's nasal cavity inhales water vapor, it not only helps relieve edema, but also facilitates the discharge of secretions.

However, these tips usually work quickly but lose their effectiveness quickly. If your baby's cold has not yet healed, the trouble of nasal congestion will continue to occur.

2. Use saline nose drops to help clear nasal secretions

If there is too much secretion in the baby's nasal cavity, such as snot or mucus, it will block the respiratory tract. For children over 3 years old, just blow your nose, and you can pick out the boogers if there are any. But babies who are too young cannot blow their noses, and they cannot breathe through their mouths, so a stuffy nose is a disaster for them.

Therefore, it is necessary for parents to help their baby clean his nasal cavity. You can drip saline nasal drops (you can make your own, 0.65% saline) into your baby's nasal cavity to soften the secretions and stimulate the baby to push the secretions from back to front, and then use a ball-shaped nasal aspirator to suck out the secretions.

Some doctors also believe that children should not use nasal aspirators, as they believe that it will damage the nasal mucosa. In fact, if used correctly and not frequently, it will not cause much harm. In order to make the baby breathe smoothly, sleep and drink milk more conveniently, it is not a bad idea to use it appropriately.

Since babies have smaller nasal cavities, cotton swabs are too large and are not very practical. Although older children can insert cotton swabs, the cotton swab is used with a force pushing from the outside to the inside, which may push the secretions deeper.

3. Nasal spray - relieve severe nasal congestion caused by colds

If the above treatments fail to relieve your baby's nasal congestion, and your baby can't sleep well because of the nasal congestion, can't eat well, or even struggles and cries, then you should consider using nasal spray. Some decongestant nasal sprays work by compressing the blood vessels in the nose, shrinking the swollen mucosa and thus opening the nasal cavity.

It should be noted that you should not use nasal drops on your baby casually, especially adult nasal drops. You must use the medicine under the guidance of a doctor, and usually use nasal drops that do not contain ephedrine. Moreover, it should not be used more than 3 times a day and cannot be used for 3 consecutive days. Excessive consumption may have the opposite effect and cause more severe congestion.

In general, if your baby has a stuffy nose but it does not affect his sleep and eating, then you don't need to worry about it. Just make sure he drinks water and rests. If it affects your daily life, then appropriate treatment is needed. You can first use steam to relieve nasal mucosal edema, or use saline drops to clear nasal secretions. If it is too serious, you can use nasal spray under the guidance of a doctor.