At wit's end - 4 week old with severe nasal congestion/mucous

[RebeccaNoodles]

Help! Myself and DH are exhausted. My DD is 4 weeks and she's had v bad blocked nose for past 2 weeks - can't sleep comfortably, makes terrible choking sounds when on her back at night, so we have to sit her upright for hours on end at night. On advice of HV, GP and Dr Google we've tried:
-saline drops
-Nose aspirator (she hates it, unsurprisingly)
-holding her in bathroom while shower steams it up
-propping her mattress (safely) at 45 degree angle
-holding her upright almost all day, only lying her flat at night

2 questions: is there anything else at all we can do? And if yours had this, how long did this last? It's so frustrating as she would be such a good sleeper if it weren't for this - we were waking her to feed prior to this!

Thanks, advice and hand hold appreciated!!

Snuffle babe is good for clearing airways for a cold so worth a try but this sounds like an underlying problem.
If you're breastfeeding try cutting out dairy in your diet as this can sometimes help.

Just posting to bump this thread for you. We have had to keep baby upright for a few nights when he had a cold, and it was exhausting, so can't imagine how you're feeling after a fortnight. Hope you get some answers.
I've used Snufflebabe on the soles of their feet which seemed to help.

When my DS was born he was full of mucus for the first month or 6 weeks of his life, so bad that he couldn't breathe when feeding, it was awful. The best thing that worked for us was a Vicks humidifier, it's like steamy bathroom x 100. We used to have it on all night and it really made a difference.

I also find Snuffle Babe helpful. I also use on my DS the Calpol plug-ins but can't remember if there is a minimum age

This is really gross and you may not be able to bear the thought but DD2 was like this and I got to my wits end. In the end we had a warm bath together and I sucked out all the snot using my mouth. I KNOW! But it did really help. You can also very gently massage each nostril at a time which some times helps a bit. The Karvol/Calpol plug ins are good but for 3 months+ I think.

I've heard of the snot sucking before. I'd probably need a gin first.

Cut an onion in half and put both halves on a plate near her head (next to her bed - not in it!)
This trick was told to me by my Spanish friend, I thought she was a mad witch but she said it's quite common there.
My son is now 3, and I do this every time he is phlegmy/snotty or has a cough, it works wonders! Probably in the same way it makes your eyes stream, it keeps the airways nice and clear.
Does make your room smell like a kebab shop, but it's so worth it for better sleep!

What the others have suggested really. And keep up the saline drops to keep everything soft. Don't know which nasal aspirator you have tried, we find this one the best.

I think we had this with each of ours about that age. With no 3 we bought the humidifier mentioned upthread but only used it a few times. It did seem to help though.

I was going to say possible dairy intolerance too.

If you're breastfeeding you can put a few drops of breast milk in each nostril to help clear the congestion. Repeat often.

Saline drops really worked on our little one at that age x

Thanks all. I will try the humidifier and (sigh) cutting out dairy (but what will I do without my bowls of cereal to give me energy for bf?) We have snufflebabe so I will use that in the humidifier.
It's so miserable, sympathies to anyone going through this.

Good luck op. And maybe almond milk on your cereal?

Ds was like you describe, he slept fine in the daytime downstairs but as soon as we took him upstairs at night he turned into a little bundle of snuffles and couldn't settle or sleep. It wasn't till I mentioned it to the nurse when he had his jabs that we found out what it was! She suggested it could be our feather duvet and she was right, binned all the bedding and the mucus went away.
It could be environmental, good luck, it's so draining when they don't settle!