Nighttime Congestion « Back to Group Discussions

[Gracecody]

Hi there,

Luke (11 weeks) has been having persistent congestion in his sinuses at nighttime, after laying flat for awhile. I mentioned it to our nurse practitioner at our 2 mo well check last week and she said she thinks it's normal. It isn't a huge issue but it does affect his sleep...typically he'll have a long stretch of sleep first thing and then wake up a little congested and nurse, and then it gets worse and he's up every 1-2 hours because he wakes himself up with his snuffling.

It's in his sinuses; his nostrils are clear but it does drain some into his nostrils after he's been up and awake for awhile in the mornings.

I'm just paying closer attention to it now I think because I proactively cut dairy out of my diet when he was born (because my 2 other children both had sensitivities to dairy) and now I am considering adding dairy back in. Have just been thinking about whether the congestion could be a sign of a sensitivity to something else, most likely soy? I have a little soy milk with my morning coffee and soy yogurt a few times a week, plus as you know soy is a common ingredient in many other foods.

Just thought it could be helpful to see if any of you have experienced this with your babies and if you have any thoughts on it. Thanks!

[Mama2ChicknLil]

Poor Luke! And poor you...you must be pooped! When Kai started getting really stuffy about a month ago I bought the cadillac of all humidifiers (cool air) and started irrigating his nose/sinuses with bm. I find it easier to hold his head and squirt the milk in there, but some moms say expressing into a clean cup and using a dropper is easier. I usually try to get 4 good drops in each nostril. I wait about a minute and then use the aspirator to suck out the softened boogies and left over bm. The bm helps keep infections and bacteria at bay. After this I give him a warm bath, dress, and nurse him to sleep. Since implementing this system he has stopped waking up crying and stuffy at 4 am!!! Give it a try and see if it works for you, but fair warning...Luke will probably scream as though you are disemboweling him, Kai does :( but its the only way to deal with his congestion!!

Good Luck tonight mama!!

[Gracecody]

Thanks for the reply! Our sleep issues have gotten much worse lately so this now seems like a minor thing to me!

Luke has started this horrible routine of getting tired around the usual time (8pm) at which point we'll go lay down in the bedroom and nurse side-lying in the dark. He will snooze while actively nursing for an HOUR or so, and then when he gets full he starts pulling off the nipple every 10 seconds which is quickly followed by refusing to nurse and wailing. At this point I have to find some other way to get him to sleep since he is now overtired and very, very difficult to settle. SOmetimes I can't get him to stop crying at all. the thing that usually works is running the vacuum cleaner while bouncing him on the exercise ball. My husband is better at calming him than I am. He has finally been succumbing to sleep around 11pm this way and it's such a drag. I am obviously one to wonder what I did to cause this every time things get really hard like this, and I can't figure it out. growth spurt?! Ha ha.

[time4latte]

is it possible he's teething?

[Mama2ChicknLil]

Oh mama that sounds exhausting!!! Does he ever take a nap earlier? Around 6 or 7? Kai does and I've found that some days its better to start the going-to-sleep-routine before that nap, it's early, but it seems to help him get settled. I think since the time changed he;s been confused...not quite ready for bed, but sheesh, it's dark out!!! That combined with the 3 month growth spurt is probably to blame for Luke's sleep issues. Does he take a paci? Kai gets upset if he nurses for too long because after a while he doesn't want any more milk, just to suck, and he gets frustrated that I'm still having letdowns. The first time he pops off (assuming he ate) I just stick his paci in and he's gone...maybe that will work?

[Gracecody]

I am not sure if he's teething, could be. he's been drooling a lot more but I think that's normal for this age too.

He does nap earlier, his last nap of the day usually ends around 6 or 6:30, then I have til 8 tops til he times out. And he goes from happy to distraught in literally about two minutes so I have to make sure our room is all ready for the night between 6:30 and 8. We don't do a drawn out bedtime routine, usually I just change his clothes and we lay down to nurse and turn off the light! Last night I even had him dressed for bed before hand because he's been refusing to nurse if he gets too upset.

Unfortunately he hates the paci! I do have a soothie the kids offer him when he's sad in the car and he has never really taken it, he chews on it and then gets extra mad and wants nothing to do with it. He's like my first baby, my husband used to call the pacifier the "agitator" because he would react the same way.

I am just hoping it's the 3 mo growth spurt as he's 3 mos in a week...and this will pass soon! It totally sucks.

Tonight I am going to try giving him some of the wishgarden colic ease remedy when he wakes from his evening nap and see if that could possibly help...yesterday evening I could hear his tummy gurgling and then he had a mucusy poop. Still yellowish brown though, just weird mucus all through it. so I have to wonder if his tummy has been bothering him, which brings me back to over-analyzing my diet. Sigh...my first two children could not tolerate dairy until around age 2 so I proactively cut it out when Luke arrived, and I had to try some of my mom's famous yummy Christmas cookies the day before yesterday. They are of course laden with milk and butter as is everything she cooks. So I wondered if it was the dairy and I've also been having more soy than usual. I think just for my own sanity I am going to make sure I'm not having either of those to see if it could help.

thanks for letting me ramble and vent! :)

[Mama2ChicknLil]

No worries mama...I'm thinking of you for sure :(

Kai has those crazy yellow/brown mucousy poops also, only a few a day now, but he definately has to work for them. Last night he started trying to poo around 4am and it didn't come out until 11am. He is usually calm and happy though, so as long as Luke's not irritated (hee hee, agitated) I wouldn't worry too much. I'm under the impression that between 3-4 months of age they are just becoming so aware of their bodies and their surroundings that everything is dramatic. I'm sure it'll settle down soon...I find that as soon as I vocalize my frustrations about something Kai then stops doing it, and finds something entirely new to drive me crazy with :)

Speaking of which, he's with my sister, and I've been baby free for hours...and I am having to restrain myself from going to her house and just getting my baby!!