Oh the mystery of congestion! Our little angel came home full of life, smiles and mucus! We were instructed by the nurses (from the hospital) to take a piece of tissue, twist it and put it up our baby’s nose to encourage her to sneeze. We tried this method for a few days and she sneezed out some mucus, but was still severely congested. In fact, she would choke on mucus she was trying to break up. Now, I’m sure being a first time parent may have been the reason for our “freak out,” but still, it’s not settling to hear gurgling while your little baby is trying to sleep …. poor thing!

Now, we tried everything to cure our little one’s congestion!

#1. Tissue up nose? Check!

#2. Burping her after every feeding (to help break it up)? Check!

#3. Put a pillow underneath her crib mattress to elevate her while sleeping? Check!

#4. Bought a vaporizer and put it near her crib? Check!

#5. Bought a nasal aspirator (after reassurance from a friend that it should help)? Check!

#6. Used saline drops? Check!

#7. Sat with her in the bathroom while the shower produced steam? Check!

Yet our little angel was still congested!

Then, after much self-reflection, I realized there were two things I hadn’t tried:

#8 -Q-tip up the nose to clear out the boogers …AND…

#9 – making the room warmer (similar to the steam in the bathroom trick) but for a longer period of time (aka more than 10 mins)

Now I wouldn’t recommend these last two to anyone without consulting your doctor first, but together they worked! I was extremely careful at ‘booger digging’ with the Q-tip, (as her nasal passages are so tiny & I didn’t want to irritate them or push the boogers back down her nose) and voila! clearer breathing during the day. At night, around 8pm, I would set the heater to 27*C to warm up the room as a whole. At 10pm, I would turn it down to 24*C and put our baby to sleep. In the middle of the night, I would put the heater back up to 27*C if I noticed her sounding congested again, and then back down to 24*C if I heard her breathing easier or if it had been 2-3 hours, whichever came first. Yes, the heater idea was redundant, but I read online that a warm room does help the baby sleep better but may also increase the chance of SIDS. So switching the temperature back and forth was necessary in my mind. Nevertheless, this system allowed for better breathing at night.

So my message is: Don’t ever give up or admit defeat! Keep trying and eventually something will work! Our little one has been getting better every day!

*Always consult your doctor FIRST before following in my footsteps*