Blocked nose making baby breastfeeding difficult

[Scuba]

Please can anyone give me some advice on the following.
I breastfeed ds first thing in the morning when he wakes up. During the last 4 morning a blocked nose has meant that he can't feed even though he wants to.
I'll probably stop giving his twice daily feeds soon but would rather choose when because he really enjoys them. I know I shouldn't have let him fall asleep at the breast, but I've had a lot of difficulties with his sleep. I'm dreading getting him to sleep without a breastfeed but any advice would also be welcome.

Have you tried something like Karvol capsules just before a feed to help clear his nose?

My DS was happy to swap his bedtime bf for a cuddly bottle feed and then a snuggle face down on my chest with his head on my shoulder whilst we rocked gently in the rocking chair. He was generally awake but nice and drowsy when he went into his cot.

Have you tried saline nose drops? Your dr may also be able to recommend a decongestant that might work for babies (I think the antihistamine products like Dozol may work too).

Try Vick on your breast, near where his nose is - but not too close. Or the baby version, Snufflebabe, as directed

You can get saline nose drops from the chemist. They work by thinning out the mucus. All you do is sqirt them in baby's nose before putting them on the breast. Baby breathes in, mucus loosens, baby sucks. Easy. Worked a treat with the sluglet.

my baby really hated the saline nose drops. I tried to aspirate as much as I could before resorting to the nose drops. They do work though. Scuba, I don't understand why you didn't want him to fall asleep at breast? Chiara fell asleep at breast all the time - didn't think anything was wrong with it.

My Grandma recommended a drop of breast milk down each nostril rather than the saline nose drops. It worked a treat, but is really quite difficult to get the aim right.

What a lovely image!

lol! I had the same advice for DS2s sticky eye - more than his eye was sticky by the time I'd managed to get any breastmilk in there!!

Don't laugh .... but here goes.
When my DS was b/f I was given a "bogie buster".

It's a bit like a ball with a nozzle on the end. The nozzle is put in each nostril and by pressing the ball the bogies are sucked out ! Sounds totally horrid - but believe me it works. It's not sore - but it did give DS a bit of a shock

It worked wonders and you can get it from the chemist quite easily. You'll find it near all the Avent bits and pieces. HTH

Crystaltips - we have one of those too - it's called a 'snot sucker' in our house!!

DS is never very impressed by it, but it does do the trick!!

I think it's called a nasal aspirator in the shops and I think that I've seen one in the Jo-Jo Maman Baby catalogue too - if I've got that name right.

Oh yes, I had this problem with blocked noses stopping my ds breastfeeding.

What I used to do was to put my ds's nose in my mouth and gently suck to clear his nasal passages. I mean it's only baby snot when all is said and done. It hardly tastes of anything and I spat it out anyway. It worked a treat.

Thanks very much everyone for your replies it's heartening to know that there's someone out listening and I'll get some feedback and sound advice.

I've tried the saline drops but they seem to have stopped working plus he seems to have suddenly decided he's not going to tolerate them anymore. I've also tried karvol and olbas oil but they haven't done the trick

I haven't tried breast milk, vicks or snufflebabe yet but will do. Does anyone give lessons on how to shoot milk from the breast, I'm not sure I'll be conciousness enough to fire straight at the time in the morning ;o

I'm off to find a bogie buster or snot sucker tomorrow. Who on earth invented these things?

Soupdragon thanks for the advice about the bottle at bedtime I'll be giving that a try next month.

Chiarasmum i think it's lovely that the baby goes to sleep on my breast and I really am not sure how I'll manage to get him to sleep without it. It's just when I was a very new mum I was constantly told about how difficult it was going to be to settle baby at night when I stopped brreastfeeding. He's never been the best of sleepers and it was the easiest way to get him to nod off. so now that I'm going to stop soon I'm worried.

Tigermoth what can I say it seems such a simple solution, if I can do it I'll let you know how it goes.

I'd be really interested in hearing how others coped or got over the transition from breast to settling baby down at night with or with out bottle.

Once again thanks everyone.