Congestion problem when sleeping

[YvonneC-M]

My 10-month-old DD gets congested when she's sleeping horizontally, so whenever she and I co-sleep, she ends up waking after a short while because the congestion obstructs her breathing. Our short-term solution has been to put her to sleep in her car seat because the upright position keeps her sinuses clear. She sleeps great there, but we need a better option. We've tried a humidifier, a vaporizer, and an air purifier, to no avail. Anyone have any ideas?

[rzberrymom]

what about those sleep positioners/crib wedges that let them sleep with their head raised up?

[YvonneC-M]

Is there a way to maintain skin contact and breast access with those things?

[rzberrymom]

I'm not sure--they can go in your bed, so I would think there would be a way to maintain skin contact (unlike the car seat). I guess you could try it by propping up on a pillow--I think the positioners are just less squishy and therefore safer.

[Halfasianmomma]

I've struggled (and still sometimes struggle) with this since DD's birth. She's 20 months now. Unfortunately, she inherited my sinus issues, so I suspect she's got a lot of excess mucus in her nose. My solution is to always give her a hot bath right before bed, to make sure it loosens up the stuff in her nose, and to follow-up with an application of saline solution (Hydrasens or something). Since she's not good at blowing her nose yet, I either use a baby nose blower (it's a contraption that helps you remove the snot out of a child's nose), or sometimes just gently removing stuff with a Q-tip. I used to have to get up in the middle of the night to suck the snot out of her nose, but as she's gotten older, things have gotten better.

I also keep the room rather cool and as dust free as possible. Stuffed animals are few and far between, and kept far away from the bed area. All bedding is washed in HOT water to kill any dust mites. I also use a humidifier.

All this generally helps DD sleep a lot better. She's also gotten good at sleeping with her mouth open.

Hope this helps!

[summerforever1977]

DS had this issue and I dealt with it by always using saline followed by the NoseFrieda (really awesome snot sucker) before bedtime. As he got older and I got more desperate for him to get longer stretches of sleep I found Breathe Right nose strips for kids. They are meant for ages 5 and up, but I started using them as soon as I found them which was around 15-18 months; they are a little big on him, but they do the job really well. I will also use a menthol oil vaporizer and that helps too. Good luck.