HELP!!! Any advice for helping a snotty 12 week old sleep

[SkilpadsMom]

Hi all,

Am exhausted and feel like I'm wading through treacle to get through the day -

Am EBF my 12 week old DS, and he is usually a regular waker at night for feeds, so used to 2 or 3 wake -ups and feeds at night, but he has had a really bad cold with sneezing and really runny nose. This has resulted in him choking when he lies down t sleep.

He can't really manage more than an hour or two at best,, and I have found that I am resorting to holding him upright in my arms and trying to sleep like that, so that he gets a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. He looks awful and my usual cheerful smiley baby is pale and miserable.

I am currently using:

1. Karvol plug-in recommended by chemist
2. saline nosedrops
3. propped head of crib up...

Anything else I can do and when do I go to the Doctor - this has been going on for 3 days now...

I got a room humidifier when DD got a really bad cold at 6 weeks (she was too young for anything) and it worked so well. I can't remember the brand and can't find a similar one on google but I think it was from Boots.

Thanks EauRouge
Will look into getting one soon if this doesn't clear up...

I feel your pain - ds developed a cold at 3 weeks and wouldn't sleep lying flat but was too young for anything like Karvol. I used saline drops which seemed to help loosen the mucus and help him get rid of it. I also put books under one end of his moses basket stand so that his head was raised slightly. However, sorry to say that nothing really helped him sleep better other than lying upright on me. It passed after a week or so . I didn't see the gp as his temp was fine and he was still feeding well. Hope he's better soon

I know they say they're too young but I would give some calpol.

Also, I bought a little device which meant you could 'suck' the mucus out from their nose. It worked really well and helped my DS to sleep.

Also, I had him sleeping in his bouncy chair as this kept him more upright.

When my DS got a cold I would give him a really long hot steamy bath just before bed, really got him cleared out so he could sleep for a few hours (until he got bunged up again later but at least 3/4 hours clear usually)

You could also try getting him to sleep in the car seat, not good for long term use obviously, but with the slope and the possibility to rock it I found it so great for these horrible snotty times!

HTH and your DS gets better soon.

As well as the steamy bath I use Olbas oil mixed with hot water in the sink (more steam) or on a tissue out of reach in his room and prop up the cot at one end (slope realy does help - although my ds, who is a real wriggle bum often ends up sideways by the morning :))

We put a bowl of hot water with a few drops of olbas oil under the cot about half an hour before bed time...

Thanks everyone - will try the steamy bath and buy some olbas oil...

GetTheHAlloweenPArtyStarted - i did think of using the car seat but felt that everyone had said they shouldn't stay in them too long, so really grateful to hear that I can give that a bash...

will hope for a better night tonight...

Good luck tonight - my DD regularly suffers with stuffiness which only seems to occur at night. There have been times when the only thing that will work is letting her sleep upright on me - however, olbas oil for children has been my saviour so far.

I was just going to start a thread on this as my dd, 13 weeks, has just developed snotty nose/ cold symptoms & waking herself up and had no idea what I could do to relieve her misery. Thanks for posts above.I start back at work on monday so hope it doesn't last long. I can cope with her waking a couple of times a night, like you, OP, for bf but I won't look good going into work shattered looking Monday morning if she's up all night!! I wish it was me that had her cold rather than her.

I rana really really hot bath to fill the bathroom with steam, and added some Karvol to it as it was running. We then sat in the bathroom for about twenty minutes, after I had squirted saline drops up her nose - this seemed to help slightly for the night, but I also had to resort to sleeping upright with her on me.

Aaah, we're all in it together - DS (12 wks) has just about got over his really bad snottiness, but is still snuffly at night and coughs like a 40-a-day smoker.

What helped us was the humidifier running in the bedroom, a hot steamy bathroom, (me sitting on the loo seat holding him while I ran a v hot shower so he got a sauna-like steam room to breathe in), and then a thing called the nosefrida snotsucker (might be a US thing, but I think Boots do a version). The latter device is absolutely disgusting but helped so much - you're basically blowing their nose for them. Saline drops to loosen things up first helped.

I'm going to get some Olbas oil for children from somewhere - I've not seen it over here but if I have to get my mum to post it to me from Yorkshire, I will! It sounds great!

Hi everyone - sorry that we are all in this together, but at least I don't feel like I'm the only one with a snotty baby!

The olbas oil has really helped, as have the saline drops, and he takes them being shot up his nose like such a trooper - poor little man

Still terrible sleep, but me darling, dear wonderful DH took him from 5.30 this morning, and left me to sleep until 10am!!! waking for feeds with DS being brought in to me was the only interruption! Feel positively euphoric - its amazing how little it takes to make us sleep deprived really happy...

I tried olbas (sp?) when DD has a horribly snotty cold and it seemed to work a treat.

Wet a flannel/Muslin
Wring it out
Sprinkle liberally with olbas oil
Hang on Radiator or near crib/cot

I actually got DH tp try this recently when he had man flu, and it actually worked on him too.