14 week old with stuffy nose at night - driving us both crazy!

[Ucledu]

Hello MN'ers. My 14 week DS is fine during the day but every night he gets a stuffy nose. After a while, it wakes him up. We've been using nasal drops, which he hates, to clear him up and put him back to sleep. Any suggestions on why or what to do would be great.

He sleeps in a room with a pretty constant temperature of 21c, using a tog 1 grobag and undergarments. There is no indication he is cold. The room is a bit damp, so we've been using a dehumidifier some of the days to try to address that. He's sleeping on a "hypo-allergenic" cot mattress.

He's been breastfeeding at 2330, 4am and 730, but last night woke up every two hours, sniffling. A quick feed and he's out like a light.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks a lot.

My ds was snuffly until he was about 6 months old. Nothing much worked for us but I can list all the things we were advised to do and hope you have more luck!

Snufflebabe (suitable for over 3 months) - rub on chest.
Dab of olbas oil or Karvol on cotton wool on radiator (this was winter - you may well not have the radiator on!).
Damp towel on radiator (see above).
Sit for 15-30 mins in steamy bathroom before bed.
Nasal aspirator thing (or snot-sucker as we called it!), although if his nose isn't actually running it probably won't help.
Put a couple of books under his cot to raise the head end up.

I'm sure there was more but struggling to remember . . . we were advised to humidify ds's room (wet towel on radiator or bowl of warm water under cot) so you may not need the dehumidifier. Good luck!

nasal aspirator
keep room warm but not hot, no drafts
consider using Karvol
place folded sheet under mattress to elevate head slightly

but the snot sucker is a marvel

We had this and the only thing that helped was me cutting dairy and wheat out of my diet, although he had other allergy symtoms like watery eyes and a little excema, this may not be the same for you.

That's too drastic for most people but I don't eat wheat anyway so it wasn't a huge problem. You could bear it in mind if you try everything else to no avail.

If you are going to use Karvol capsules you can sprinkle the drops on a muslin (or anything similar)and tie it round one of the cot bars.

Fearscape has listed all my tried and trusted methods!

hi just a suggestion but do you wash all bedding at 60 deg to kill dust mites.dust mites can cause runny nose etc i would give ds's room a good wet dust,hoover (moving all furniture if poss to hover behind/under)and wash all bedding/curtains at 60deg including removable cover off mattress.Is there any possibility that there may be mould spores in ds room as you mentioned room is damp.And air the room everyday.

also agree raising head end of cot and karvol etc
good luck

Second Weezy on the dust thing, DD used to get snuffly in the same way. Then I discovered the amazing dusting power of a wet wipe - the room's never been so clean! Also vacuuming but if your vacuum doesn't have good filters on it (i.e. does the room 'smell' vacuumed after you've used it?) I would try and do this first thing in the day so that any dust chucked out again has time to settle before bedtime. Also if you are sleeping in the same room there can be a lot of dust in the air from a duvet being moved around on your bed too.