Gummed up nasal boogies

[rootofnewt]

Parents who have gone before . . . I have a question.

In the early morning--sometimes around 5am, Ronan wakes up somewhat with a really stuffy nose. Except, there's no visible snot. It's obviously further back, where the sinuses drain into the nasal passages/throat. But it's bad enough that he can't breathe from his nose. Needless to say, when he half-rouses for that nursing session, he quickly rouses all the way, because he has to go "suck suck, unlatch, breathe. suck suck, unlatch, breathe." It's not very conducive to baby going back to bed. I've tried putting him to sleep tummy to tummy with me, propping myself up on pillows. He doesn't much like that. I've tried letting him sleep in the crook of my arm, propped up again. Again, not a favorite (and tends to impinge on various nerves of mine). Today, I even propped him on a fairly firm pillow (he's a bad/side sleeper). That gave me an extra hour, but he wasn't sleeping very deeply.

And when he can't breathe, he cries, making the mucus issue worse. After about 10-20 minutes sitting up, he's clear to breathe and nurse just fine, but if I sit him up in the bedroom, he's WIDE awake. So we just get up.

Normally, the guess is irritants in the bedroom (at least, so far as Dr. Sears says). Well, I have a dust mite allergy, among everything else. We shower before bed. All the bedding gets washed weekly on hot water and dried on high heat. Pillows and mattress are in encasings. We use vellux blankets. We have a HEPA standard air filtration unit. We use the ultra (actually, the new higher filtration) Filtrete air filters in the furnace.

And last night, I added a warm water vaporizer/humidifier. I had it on the lowest setting, since it can't go all night on the highest (small unit). Tonight, I'll try running it on high when Ronan first goes down, then refilling it around midnight when we go to bed and let it run on low all night.

Thoughts?

Frankly, I've been skittish about the humidifier. The nice thing about winter is that the lowered humidity levels cause the dust mite population to level off somewhat. But something has to change.

The really weird thing? He doesn't have this problem during his naps. He naps in the same room, same bed. It's only for an hour or two, but he doesn't get stuffed up.

Comments

[wolfden.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's a touch of a cold or just the difference of being flat longer overnight.

I used saline drops and a bulb syringe to clear the yuckies out of Tatiana's nose when she was small.
Of course, saline drops and a bulb syringe aren't going to help with the not being wide awake at the end.

I kind of doubt that there are irritants in the bedroom. Though with the cold maybe the air is too dry for him. I wonder if saline drops before bed would keep it from happening. I think Dr. Sears tells how to mix Saline drops for infants at home in one of his books.

We always put a pillow under her mattress when she was stuffy to elevate her head but she always slept in the crib beside the bed not in our bed so I don't have anything helpful along those lines.

Teething often causes odd nose issues as well. How long has it been going on?

I hope it gets sorted soon.

[melody-rossiter.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem when cats sleep on my pillow (a lot). Do your cats have access to the rooms that Ronan sleeps in? If so, is it possible to seclude them without too much damage to the carpet in front of the door that will be closed? You might try it for a few days and see if it even works.

In addition to dust, he may be sensitive to mold. I don't know if it forms in your home or not, but it might be a good time to check the usual places- in the closet, under the bed, behind furniture. Anywhere that is generally dark.

Generally, people who have allergies are likely to have a child with allergies- not even the same ones. I don't know if he's old enough to have an allergy scratch test done, but you might want to ask your dr about it.

I wonder if there is a decongestant that is safe to give him before he goes to bed. You might ask your doctor about children's benadryl, as well.

[mmymoon.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem just in general. (Which leads to a lot of LOVELY sounding morning gargles.) It doesn't happen during naps, only if I sleep for a long time. (Maybe it has to accumulate?)

I get some relief if I run the humidifier -- I've honestly wanted to invest in a second and see if really cranking it out helps. Our house gets fairly dry.

If you find a miracle solution, let me know! Otherwise, maybe once he's mobile, start teaching him to put warm-hot water in his mouth and hold it for a while. (If I can't gargle, I find that just filling my mouth up with hot water dissolved a lot of nastiness.)

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I was going to suggest the humidifier until I got where you discuss it. I have that problem with dry air; I love my humidifier.

Honestly, I can't think of much else.

[mustelidmania.livejournal.com]

I do think that the stuffiness is worse the longer he sleeps. It was that way with JDavyd too. Try cranking up the humidifier like you are thinking of doing. Sometimes the tiniest bit of vaseline under each nostril helps as well. And of course, not sleeping flat.

Ronan

[(Anonymous)]

Is it possible that something you guys are using when you shower is what he is reacting to? I know everything you use is hypo=allergenic, but everyone is different.

If I were there, I would take him in the morning so you guys could sleep longer. :-)

Love, Mom

[nadyezhda.livejournal.com]

is it because he has a little milk in the back of his throat from a previous nursing session? I would try to nurse him a little more vertically and see if that helps.

Good luck, I know how tough this exact problem can be! *sympathy*

[compostwormbin.livejournal.com]

Mold allergy maybe? Humidifiers can aggravate that.

Hmmmm

[(Anonymous)]

We've been running Ronan's Vicks Vaporizer non-stop at night...and then we also run a fan on low in the bedroom to keep the air circulating. It stopped his congestion within a couple days.