vaporiser???

[NEDSMUM]

Hi, my 15 week old son has a cold. His nose is soooo stuffy, he can hardly breathe. When he wakes up and wants to feed, he nearly chokes on the snot at the back of his throat. I bought a vaporiser, however as it is soooo hot here in Nth Qld at the moment, I have to have the aircon on. Does this interfere with the effects of the vaporiser, eg: cause it to not do the job? I've elevated his cot, rubbed baby balsam also. I don't want to try medicines as he gags and chokes and spits it out and I feel awful!

[Mamaduke]

Hi,
At 15 weeks I think your best bet would be to use Fess saline solution for bub's nose. It works really well at this age because they don't wriggle and struggle when you put something in their nose. It's great when it makes them sneeze too because then all the yukky stuff gets blown out. It's available from the chemist.
Just another thing, I find that both my boys get stuffy noses when we have the air con on - I know there's not much you can do when it's stifling but that might be contributing to the stuffy nose. I always thought a vapourise was more for chesty things than noses.
Carly

[katesmom]

I've been extremelly lucky that my dd has never had a bad headcold (major knock on wood), however, I've had tons of them. Are you using a steam vaporizor or a cold air vaporizor? Not that it matters to your question, but steam would add a lot of heat to your house. Vaporizors mainly add water to the air to make it easier to breathe. I don't know if you can use Vicks Vapo Steam on a child of that age, but it works wonders for me and my cats. I've used vaporizors to great benefit on many cats with the vapo steam. And it dries my nose right up. But he may be way to young for the vapo steam.

[Lallas' Mum]

Hi Neds Mum,

I have to agree with Carly. Fess saline solution is the best thing for unblocking little snozes. You squirt it up their nose and is loosens and helps wash out the mucus. It also comes with a little syringe type thing that you can use to draw the snot from their noses.

A vaporiser is only useful if Bub has a cough as the extra moisture in the air eases coughing.

I hope it helps. PS if you are breasteeding a good old squirt of breastmilk up the nose helps too as if it is inhaled it won't do any harm to the lungs (same as the saline).

[sugar n spice]

Do you mean a humidifier?. My sons both suffer from croup but more so my 11mnth old when he was 7mnths he had severe croup and was hospitlised for a wk anyway we asked the nurses and drs if they recomended investing in a humidifier but they said they don't do much, just a waste of money you may as well just take them into a steamed up bathroom and put a pot of steaming water in bedroom (not too close and not near kids who could get to it) to steam the air. The best thing i can recommend for young ones is little fess which comes with an aspirator, you put the drops in and then squeeze the aspirator just near the nostril gently to loosen the mucous. I let my hubby have that job though. When they get a bit older though i recommend the fess spray as they wriggle so much it is quicker to be able to just squirt. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do at that age just lots of cuddles my little one caught a cold at 3wks and there wasn't much i could do, i felt so bad. :o

[matty's mum]

Like Carly my little boy suffers from the air con with a runny nose.
I live in Nth QLD, what we have been doing is only having the aircon on in our room and keeping the door open, with Matt closest to our door so he's getting much cold air.

At target and probably other stores I brought a thing (cant remember the name) it's in the baby section and I think it's safety first brand (dog chewed it so cant check) It sucks out the snot up there nose it works really well, it's shaped like a tear drop round bottom with a thin bit that you put up bubs nose.

Other than that you could try sucking it out your self. My FIL said he had seen a mother do this I could do it, but when there crying cause there hungry and crying makes more snot in the end I did. I know yuk but it's hard to see them suffer. The s not is just clear fluid I can think of worse things to have in your mouth than bubs snot, if you know what I mean. :rolleyes:

[Busymumof3]

I found the vaporiser helped all my kids but don't put it too close to the area they are sleeping in. The vapouriser helps put moisture back in the air...some air-cons can dry it out! I know what it's like up nth as I lived there most of my life and I couldn't live without the air-con!!

I used one of those sucker things that have been mentioned and they don't cost much either! I found this worked wonders and cleared out my bubs nose fast and quick! Made feeding much better for both of us and helped bub get comfy with going back to sleep again...plus it's not medicated so you can use it as much as you like!

All the best and hope the nose clears up!

[Ky]

Other than that you could try sucking it out your self. My FIL said he had seen a mother do this I could do it, but when there crying cause there hungry and crying makes more snot in the end I did. I know yuk but it's hard to see them suffer. The s not is just clear fluid I can think of worse things to have in your mouth than bubs snot, if you know what I mean. :rolleyes:

This method is actually recommended by some of the hospitals in NZ! I have used saline most of the time with my kids but have done this when I haven't had any and it has been the middle of the night ... despite eeeuww factor - it really works!

[nkenward]

Yep I have been a great user of a vaporiser - it does wonders. However, I would not be inclined to use the air conditioner as well - as it could cause a chill and make his cold worse.

My mum used a vaporiser for me when I was a bub as I had bad brochitis.

It works really well. If you don't want to use the vaporiser because of the heat - maybe wait till during the night when it is cooler to turn it on, rather than when he first goes to bed. During the day another way would be to take him into the bathroom and when you are having a shower with hot water - let him breath in the steam vapors - this will also help him clear his nose.

Good luck.