7m old can't sleep because of blocked nose and cough. Remedies please...

[beanybean]

Help! Poor love keeps getting herself into such a state because she can't get to sleep and when she finally goes off she wakes up either because she can't breathe or because of cough. Does anything really work?

[beanybean]

I've tried putting a couple of books under the feet at the cot at one end to see if that helps but alas no karvol or olbas and I'm stuck indoors not. I think I have tiger balm somewhere though...

[Frizbe]

Yep agree carvol is good, olbas oil in some water on window sill can help, see if you can prop matress up too, I think I used two pillows under the matress to do this with dd1 once. {{{hugs}}} its not nice for them or you.

[mummypig]

If no olbas or carvol, I use a few drops each of peppermint and eucalyptus on a tissue under the pillow or somewhere around the baby. Also keeping babe in the bathroom for a while with lots of steamy air from bath or shower.

My next door neighbour swears by chopped up onion in a sock!

If they are very blocked up then saline solution in their nose can also help loosen the mucous a bit.

Also, only if you feel comfortable doing this, I think my kids all sleep better on their front than back when they have lots of mucus around. It just stops the mucous from dropping down their throat all the time and causing them to cough some more. I personally feel that by 7 months most babies are able to move enough that the risk of suffocating on their front is very low. But that is of course only my personal opinion and not recommended by FSID etc.

[fymandbean]

a sucker to clear the nose... nose hoover

a plug in karvol thingy

tyxylix...

[hazeyjane]

Dd1 had this a lot and we ended up buying a humidifier from argos for about £40, it was and is fantastic.

[beanybean]

Great thanks everyone. I'll def try a few of these tips. Thankfully think she's just going off...

[ApuskiDusky]

Definitely second the humidifier option. We got one after ds got bad croup, and it's seen us through colds and coughs since. Also, at 7 months you can use Vicks vapour-rub on their chest. And it's highly entertaining putting it on, because they think you're tickling them and go into hysterics!

[VanessaParody]

I second Vicks Vapour Rub (and the tickling IS funny!). On the back & chest is good and then truss them up in a sleepsuit so they can't rub their fingers in it.

Some swear that rubbing it on the soles of the feet stops coughing too. It did actually work, but it seems a bit sales boosting hocus pocus to me.