Advice please - BF'ing 17 day old with a cold

[RememberingMyPFEs]

My LO has a sniffly cold and isn't feeding as normal. She's taking 5 mins, falling asleep/dropping the latch then asking again 20/30 mins later. I'm still getting wet/dirty nappies at the moment.

Should I be forcing her awake for longer feeds or let her rest between shorter feeds? I'm hoping to get out for some saline drops later...

Try putting some breastmilk up her nose if you have no saline before you feed.

Buy a bulb syringe to suck out the mucus (I just do it myself very gently with my mouth, but it is a bit gross).

Take into a steamy bathroom for half an hour and try to feed in there (leave the bath or shower running on hot to build up steam).

Try to hold her in a more upright position whilst feeding to help drain the sinuses.

Gently massage from bridge of nose across cheek bones to encourage mucus to drain.

Raise the head end of her bed (put blocks or books under feet or towel under mattress).

Thanks stitch! Breast milk really is multi-functional

My bf 4 week old has had an almost constant cold (thanks to snotty 3.5 year old big brother) but was at its worst around 17 days and I had the same experience. I just went with the flow as there were wet and dirty nappies and I couldn't wake him even when I tried.

A word of warning is that she may be quite sick due to all the mucus she has swallowed. This is actually good (to get it out) but a bit scary as likely to be forceful (projectile esque) and bright yellow :-(