Recipe for homemade nasal saline???

[Mishta]

Hi all,

My little 5 month old has a sinus cold and I'm looking for a "recipe" for saline. I have sea salt and water (obviously), but I'm not sure of the quantities for each.

Has anyone made their own before?

Thanks,
Kristin

[sapphire_chan]

For myself, I do about 1tsp for 1 cup water. This is very very approximate though and is usually more along the lines of a biggish sprinkle in however much the nearest container holds. It's quite mild.

For a 5 month old, I'd err on the side of less salt.

[sunnygir1]

I think I use more like 1/4-1/2 teaspoonsalt to 1 cup water. I also add a tiny pinch of baking soda to make it sting less.

If you can slip it in while the baby isn't screaming, it seems like it isn't particularly uncomfortable.

[Mishta]

Thanks so much! I also just read on Kellymom.com that you can also use breastmilk instead of saline. I just tried that before her nap so we'll see how that goes. The recipe for saline on Kellymom.com calls for 1 tsp of salt to 2 cups of warm water. So I'll try that and see if it helps.

[texmati]

Originally Posted by Mishta

Thanks so much! I also just read on Kellymom.com that you can also use breastmilk instead of saline. I just tried that before her nap so we'll see how that goes. The recipe for saline on Kellymom.com calls for 1 tsp of salt to 2 cups of warm water. So I'll try that and see if it helps.

I was about to suggest this-- when DS was little I could just squirt some up his nose. lol! Good times