2 week old struggling to breathe when BF

[lainey1981]

Hi,

My DS is 2 weeks old tomorrow and has had a stuffy nose for the last few days
today it seems to be affecting our feeding as he keeps spitting out my nipple seemingly unable to breathe.
any suggestions on what to do?
have tried steaming but hasn't made any difference and obv can't get to my doctor til tomorrow for saline drops (I've seen them mentioned on other threads)
i expressed some milk earlier and he took this fine from a bottle.
is it possible that it's just his stuffy nose making it hard for him to breathe when Bfing or could he be rejecting the breast in favour of the bottle - i have been giving 1-2 feeds a day from bottle as I have v damaged nipples due to his posterior tongue tie

TIA x

My ds is struggling with a stuffy nose too, we both had an awful night's sleep because of it. You can make your own saline drops, it's just salt and water - google for the exact proportions. I also use a bit of karvol on a muslin near him at night.

If you're worried about him prefering a bottle could you try cup feeding or syringe feeding instead of a bottle?

Have read on here that some people squirt a bit if breast milk up there! Might be worth a try...

I think the bottle is easier to feed from with blocked nose as you don't have to suck as hard i.e. don't have to stop breathing for as long. Hopefully its just temporary.

We used a nasal spray like this one, I found I couldn't get the drops to actually go in the nose and the spray worked better.

Spray it in, wait a couple of minutes, and a big bogey would come sliding out.

I know they seem a bit delicate for a spray at that age but DD didn't seem to mind at all, in fact she barely reacted.

you could, and i am being genuine, try and have a quick suck on his nostrils before a feed. You can buy nasal aspirator thingy too for same job. try feeding him more upright to see if nose clears. stuffy noses are a bugger, feeds take ages with constant latch on / off