3 week old his terrible congestion at night

[DanniCL]

My 3 week old ds is really struggling with his breathing at night due to bad congestion. He doesn’t have a cold or temperature and he breathes fine during the day. I have taken him to the doctors twice, but they say his chest is clear and can’t see an issue. He has a heart murmur and we are waiting on results from a echocardiogram he had on Wednesday. Not sure if it’s related though?
The doctor suggested tilting his cot as mucus could be catching in his throat instead of running down but that doesn’t seem to help. I have resisted using a dummy up until tonight but although he is more settled, he seems to have to stop sucking every few minutes to catch his breath. Saline makes him sneeze but doesn’t do much else. I’m really struggling to sleep as in so paranoid his going to stop breathing but don’t know what else to do.

He has no problem eating but takes him ages to finish a bottle. He has put on 1.7 ounce since birth, so in every other way he is really healthy. I’m just a total lost end

DD was terribly congested when she was tiny, it turned out to be a symptom of her allergies to cows milk protein and soya. Worth considering, particularly along with the issues feeding.

How was the birth? Sometimes babies are a little mucous-y for some time after birth (especially if the birth is assisted) and this takes a while to clear. If chest is clear and no temp/fever and baby is well in himself otherwise then I don't think you need to worry. Babies can be very noisy breathers particularly at night, mine used to keep me up snuffling and grunting too! It's very common. However, if you feel in your gut somethings not right then take him back to GP who can hopefully reassure you. You need to be able to sleep as lack of it doesn't help the worrying

@gotyerhat I did wonder if he had an allergy because he really has to strain to have a poo and looks in a lot of pain and barely burps but the doctor has ruled that out due to the amount of weight he has put on. We have a weight review on Wednesday so I’ll see what the HV says (he put on 1.7 pounds not ounces in 3 weeks)

@Thaimoon the birth was complicated, I ended up having a csection after failed induction and forceps. I’ve heard mucus is a common problem with csection babies so maybe it is just that.

I don’t really know but it’s so worrying listening to him and feel there’s only so many times I can take him to the doctors without being looked at as the paranoid first time mum!

The dummy didn’t work, he spat it out after 10minutes and hasn’t accepted it since,

My DS had congestion from birth we took him to the doctors like you checked etc but all good and suggested a saline spray. He is now 19 weeks and it has basically gone but still gets the odd night he has it, it may be worth pointing out he did have an allergic reaction to his skincare products we used for the first 15 weeks, all of the allergy symptoms including the congestion started to go when we switched products. We thought he had a dairy allergy at first but cutting from my diet did not help which was when we started trying other possible allergens.

To help we used baby saline spray when his nose was blocked and during the night we always had a humidifier on, vicks do a good one but the menthol inserts can’t be used until 3 months, also snufflebaby was good we put a drop in the humidifier at night.

C section babies have more mucus as they are not pushed through the birth canal. My youngest ds was congested. Doctor told us to run the hot shower and bring him into the bathroom to steam him or put him in his buggy with the rain cover over it but with a little gap at the end and boil the kettle near it do as the steam could circulate around his buggy. Like your ds by son was only congested at night. When he was a few weeks he got eczema and then asthma, he is 8 now and grew out of both. But he is allergic to egg whites.