phlegm, chesty breathing - 5 weeks old

[Poll32]

My son appears to have phlegm and chesty breathing - he can be quite wheezy(?). This seems to be more at night and thus his breathing at night is v.loud and I see him trying to clear his throat, but obviously he doesn't yet have the strength to do this. He is often sick and brings up mucus. I have been advised to raise his head at night (put a blanket or something under his mattress) which I have done, but this has not improved. The 'raspy' breathing carries on for a bit in the morning. Any other advice or help you can give me please?

Firstly, I'd have a check up at GP to listen to his chest.
You can raise the matress underneath slightly so he is raised.

Try also, putting his in a steamy bathroom. Put the shower on until it's really steamy and shut the windows. This will really help clear his head.

If his nose is gunky, you can buy nasal aspirators but make sure they're approved ones for babies.

If he's very sicky and seems to have a reflux prob, ask the GP if he could prescribe some baby Gaviscon which helps to keep his milk down. Make sure you ask GP first though.

My DS was exactly like this. I took him back to the GP every couple of weeks until they took me seriously. At 11 months he had a general anaesthetic and a laryngoscopy (camera down windpipe) to see what was wrong.

Turned out to be a dairy intolerance. I exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months and carried on until he was 12 months. I eat a lot of dairy and he was having yogurts, cheese etc in his diet.

From 12 months he has been on a dairy free diet and the results are good. He is now 2 years 9 months and no longer has the Darth Vadar breathing. More importantly he no longer vomits mucus, unless he has consumed some dairy.

If you are bf can you cut out dairy? If using formula ask your gp to refer you to a dietician. Sort it out asap as my ds was undiagnosed for 12 months and the laryngoscopy showed a burnt and swollen larynx and swollen foodpipe.