It is very common for the newborn baby to have nasal congestion and sneeze, even if he does not have a cold. It is due to an inflammation of the mucosa that lines your small nostrils called newborn rhinitis.
We usually think that the baby has had a cold, even when it has a few days but there is no fever or watery secretions and congestion intensifies at night or when the room temperature drops.
It rarely causes respiratory problems, but as happens to everyone when we have a blocked nose, nasal congestion interferes with feeding and sleeping the baby.
Whether you take the bottle or the breast, the baby only breathes through the nose and having a busy mouth can cause blockages, discomfort when feeding or directly reject the shots. That is why it is convenient to clean your nose before feeding.
The baby's sleep is also disturbed when there is nasal congestion because, unable to breathe as usual, the baby becomes irritable and cannot rest.
What should we do to relieve nasal congestion in the newborn
- The important thing is that the snot flow and for that we must frequently wash the nostrils with physiological serum. Babies often like this procedure, but it is necessary to do so. In Babies and more we have explained in detail how we should clean the newborn's nose to cause as little discomfort as possible.
- We must keep the baby as upright as possible, with the head held high, taking into account that it is a newborn and hardly has the strength to support it.
- We should also raise the head of the baby's crib (two piles of books on the front legs usually work divinely), since congestion worsens when lying down
- Avoid environments with smoke or dust and cold currents.
- We can use a cold air vaporizer to moisten the environment and help the mucus flow.
- Offering the breast or bottle frequently also helps the mucus to circulate.
