How to clean out a baby nose

Cleaning Your Baby’s Nose

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Nasal congestion is annoying at all ages, but babies are unable to take care of the problem on their own. Treating your baby’s nasal congestion is important so they can easily breathe through their nose, especially while breastfeeding. Thankfully, a variety of simple solutions allow parents to handle congestion quickly and with minimal objection from the infant.

How to Tell if Your Baby Has a Stuffy Nose

Because some babies are resistant to congestion remedies, it's important to confirm that this is actually the issue before proceeding with a bulb syringe or aspirator. In most cases, you will quickly be able to determine if your baby's nose is blocked.

Often, mucus will be visible to the parent, either within the nostril or surrounding the nose. Otherwise, nasal congestion can be detected based on noisy breathing, snorting, or general irritability.

What Causes a Blocked Nose?

A variety of common conditions and illnesses can cause your baby's nose to become blocked. These include.

Common cold or flu
Exposure to dry air
Allergies
Deviated septum
Exposure to pollutants

In general, babies are more prone to congestion than older children or adults, as their nasal passages are small and need time to develop. In most cases, congestion is mild and, while the nose needs cleaning, parents shouldn’t be overly concerned.

If the congestion occurs deeper in the baby's chest, worrisome issues such as asthma, pneumonia, or cystic fibrosis could be the cause. Monitor congestion and get in touch with a medical provider if the problem does not respond to the home remedies outlined below.

Best Options for Cleaning Your Baby's Nose

Whatever the reason for your baby's nasal mucus buildup, it's important to clean the nose to promote comfort and make breastfeeding easier.

How you clean your baby's nose matters, however, as some techniques that are typically safe for older children and adults can be harmful or deadly for infants.

These steps will help you clean your baby's nose safely and relieve the discomfort that accompanies congestion.

Promote moisture with a humidifier. Like adults, babies are more prone to stuffy noses during the winter, when the cold causes the nasal cavities to expand. This promotes mucus secretion and can lead to congestion.

A humidifier can increase moisture levels within your home to limit or break up mucus. This will make your home more comfortable for both you and your baby. Also, it will limit your need for using more invasive options such as syringes or aspirators.

While humidifiers marketed for babies and children aren’t required, it helps to choose one that doesn’t need to be refilled or adjusted in the middle of the night. If you don't have a humidifier, breathing in steam from a hot shower can also help.

Use a saline nasal spray instead of decongestants. Never give cold products such as decongestants or antihistamines to babies. These can prompt life-threatening complications in children under age four. Due to concerns such as the potential for overdose, manufacturers have voluntarily stopped producing and selling over-the-counter cough and cold products intended for children under age two.

While many parents rely on tools such as bulb syringes and aspirators, saline spray can sometimes be used as a substitute or to make the remainder of the process easier. Place your baby in a reclined position with the chin tilted up and spray two or three drops into each nostril.

Try a rubber bulb syringe. Parents often use rubber bulb syringes to suck mucus out of their babies' noses. This can be used with or without saline spray. However, saline spray thins hardened mucus and makes it easier to remove.

When possible, use the bulb syringe when your baby is already relaxed. Be prepared for wiggling, as some infants are resistant to this technique. Consider teaming up with another adult to make the job easier.

To begin, squeeze all air out of the bulb to create a vacuum. Place the tip of the syringe in your baby's nostril before quickly releasing the bulb. This will suction mucus from the nose and clear the nasal passages.

Substitute your syringe with a nasal aspirator. Many parents find nasal aspirators more convenient to use than traditional bulb syringes. Often, older infants and toddlers resist bulb syringes, making it difficult for parents to fully clear away congestion.

A typical aspirator involves a flexible tube, with one end placed within your baby's nostril and the other used for sucking. Depending on the type of aspirator you purchase, the snot that is sucked out may land in a tissue or a disposable filter.

As with a bulb syringe, you can initially use saline spray to loosen hardened mucus. Wait up to 30 seconds after applying saline before you follow up with the aspirator.

Whether you choose an aspirator or bulb syringe, both tools should be thoroughly cleaned with soapy water after you've finished clearing the mucus from your infant's nose.

How to Help a Baby or Toddler Clear a Stuffy Nose

Nasal congestion—no matter your age—isn’t comfortable. It can make breathing difficult, your head feel foggy and even your throat scratchy. As adults, we can reach for a tissue and over-the-counter meds for help, but for babies and toddlers, their snot is another story. Often, they are at the mercy of their parents.

“Babies are built to breathe out of their noses. They aren’t very good at breathing out of their mouth yet,” said Jonathan Skirko, MD, a craniofacial plastic surgeon and ear, nose and throat specialist at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson. “When their nose is stuffy, it can interfere with feeding and sleeping. And when it’s associated with rare conditions, it can even be dangerous.”

While the thought of pulling boogers out of anyone else’s nose makes many people gag, when it comes to their own little ones, parents roll up their sleeves and do what they have to do. It can be scary, especially if you’re cleaning your baby’s nose for the first time, but don’t worry.

Dr. Skirko shared the following tips and tricks for cleaning your little one’s nose.

Tips and tricks for clearing your baby’s or toddler’s nose:

1. Pump with a saline nasal spray

Most infants, babies and toddlers can have a lot of improvement with spraying saline (salt water) in their noses and letting them sneeze out the boogers.

2. Suck them out with a nasal aspirator

A nasal aspirator in combination with a saline spray can work well in getting all the gunk out.

The problem, however, is that there are a lot of products out there today, but only a few that work really well. And some that are a little bit much for some parents to stomach, such as devices where you suck out boogers with your mouth. Dr. Skirko suggests a newer product that has a pump and an ergonomic design called Dr. Noze Best. Instead of using your mouth, it uses battery-powered suction to clear nasal congestion in babies and children.

Although nasal aspirators can be effective, limit how often you use them “as they might cause swelling from the trauma,” Dr. Skirko said. “You can push up gently on the tip of your child’s nose and look in with a cellphone light for thick, crusty boogers. If present, suction can help. If not, suction doesn’t help swelling.”

3. Try a steam session

Steam can work wonders for babies and adults when they have nasal congestion. Try steaming up the bathroom with a hot shower and sitting with your baby or toddler for a few minutes. If it gets too hot or your baby is uncomfortable, get some fresh air.

4. Elevate the crib mattress

Place a folder towel under one end of the baby’s mattress to elevate their head while they sleep. The added height, even just an inch, may allow mucus to drain from their nose while they sleep. It may also help keep stomach acid in the tummy, so it doesn’t contribute to swelling.

(And remember: always put baby to sleep on their back and don’t put items in the crib!)

5.

Run a cool humidifier

Dry air can lead to congestion, so running a humidifier in your child’s room may help add moisture into the air and relieve irritated, dry nasal passages.

6. Show them how (for toddlers)

As your baby ages into toddlerhood, they will be more developmentally ready to learn how to blow their nose with a little coaching and encouragement.

Start by showing them how to sniff in and out with their mouth closed.
Then try sniffing out while holding a tissue to their nose.
Keep if fun. “For my youngest, he would blow his nose but only barely. So I told him to blow it harder like Hulk and that worked like a charm,” Dr. Skirko said.
Patiently remind them to blow when they have boogers trickling out.
Keep tissues nearby for easy access.
If the outside of the nose is getting irritated, BoogyWipes or lotion tissues are sometimes helpful.
Teach them how to properly dispose of tissues (so you don’t have them scattered everywhere) and how to wash their hands after. Washing their hands is the best way to keep their illness from spreading.

7. See their primary care provider

While little ones are snotty by nature, if you have concerns about your baby or toddler’s congestion or if they are showing any other signs of an illness, such as difficulty breathing, wheezing, fever or cough, contact their doctor.

Occasionally children may have severe congestion from a cold or sinus infection or it could be related to rare nasal abnormalities, asthmas or severe allergies, which may require a visit to a pediatric ear, nose and throat specialist or a pediatric pulmonologist.

To find a Banner Health specialist near you, visit bannerhealth.com.

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Product information in this article is provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only. It does not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Banner Health of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual.

Children's Health Ear, Nose and Throat

How to properly wash a child's nose and choose a solution

How to properly rinse the nose of a child and choose a solution - Gazeta.Ru

August 24, 2022, 08:15 Family and Children

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Washing the nose of a child will help free the nasal passages from mucus, it is useful for the treatment and prevention of SARS. Gleb Vladimirovich Simonov, a pediatric otorhinolaryngologist, a leading specialist of the Semeynaya clinic network, told Gazeta.Ru about how to properly rinse a child’s nose and how to choose a solution for rinsing.

How and with what to rinse a child's nose

According to Simonov, washing a child's nose with a syringe or douche with a solution of table or sea salt is the easiest and most harmless way to get rid of a runny nose and relieve swelling of the mucous membrane at home.
The doctor added that the saline solution moisturizes and cleanses the mucous membranes, so washing the child's nose is indicated not only for a runny nose, but also as a preventive procedure that moisturizes and cleanses the mucous membrane of the child's nose and increases its protective functions.
He clarified that it is impossible to prescribe such a procedure on your own, since only a doctor can determine the cause of a runny nose in a child.

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“It may turn out that the problem is not SARS, but, for example, an allergic reaction, and completely different methods will be required for treatment,” says Simonov.

The specialist explained that a solution for washing the nose of a child with a runny nose can be either prepared at home or purchased at a pharmacy. But in the latter case, there will be more guarantees of effectiveness and safety, since such solutions are sterile and have a balanced composition.

“The concentration of salt in solutions for washing a child’s nose, which can be bought at a pharmacy, is optimal for delicate and sensitive children’s mucous membranes. It allows you to avoid burning and other unpleasant sensations, ”the doctor explained.

How to wash a child's nose at home

the amount of sea salt solution into the nostril that is higher using a pipette or syringe. After a short time, water, as well as crusts and dirt, will flow out through the nostril below.

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Parental chats are evil. And happy are those mothers and fathers whom fate has avoided reading all the time...

29 August 06:14

“Even such a useful procedure as washing the nose has contraindications. Contraindications to washing the nose are severe swelling, in which case the solution for washing can get into the middle ear and cause infection and inflammation," Simonov warned.

Also contraindications for washing the nose of a child at home, he attributed frequent nosebleeds, which may indicate fragility of blood vessels, and deviated septum.

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Can I wash my nose with sea water?

Anna Yakovleva, otorhinolaryngologist at Dmitry Vasilenko's ENT CENTER, warned against washing the nose with therapeutic or prophylactic purposes directly with sea water.

“Warm sea water is also home to bacteria, especially in the high season and if the beach and water are crowded. Do not forget that there may also be a discharge of waste into the sea. E. coli in the bottom silt layer of the Black Sea is a classic of the genre. Why is she in your nose?
To moisten the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory tract with sea air, it is more useful to breathe. And it is better to wash the nose and throat with pharmacy forms of sea water, where it is diluted to a therapeutic concentration and previously cleared of harmful impurities,” the specialist concluded.

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How to wash the nose of a child: solutions, methods, rules

Washing your child's nose with saline is the most effective and harmless way to get rid of a runny nose at home. Unlike an adult, it is usually difficult for a child to determine what exactly worries him and why water flows from the spout or, conversely, it is very stuffy. Difficulty breathing is the first sign of a viral infection or a common cold. But there are other reasons: for example, allergies.

The appearance of mucus indicates that there is a problem, and the body is actively fighting it. Clear liquid secretions delay the progress of germs, allergens and viruses. When the nature of the discharge changes to thick and green mucus, as an immune barrier, it no longer works.

The cold cannot be ignored. On its own, unfortunately, in most cases it will not work. There are quite a few side effects in rhinitis: capriciousness, headache, general malaise, etc. Quick and effective help is indispensable.

The content of the article:

When should a child's nose be washed?
Nasal wash solution for children at home
How to wash the nose of a child?
Peculiarities of flushing for children under one year old
Contraindications for nasal irrigation

When should a child's nose be washed?

The saline solution used to wash the child's nose moisturizes and cleanses the mucosa. The procedure is indicated not only for the active treatment of rhinitis, but also as a regular hygiene - this is the easiest and most affordable way to help a child cope with a runny nose or nasal congestion.

Symptoms	Washing effect	Regularity of the procedure
Clear liquid discharge	Constant hydration ensures the protective effect of mucus, its desired consistency and rapid elimination.	Every 1-2 hours except for sleep. It is not necessary to specifically wake up the child in order to comply with the treatment regimen.
Thick green or yellow mucus	The risk of secondary inflammation and complications is reduced. The accumulation of mucus, purulent formations, old clots, and with them microbes and viruses are removed. The mucosa quickly recovers	At intervals of half an hour, 1-2 hours after eating. Do not wash during sleep
For prevention	The nasal passages, sinuses are cleared, clots, crusts are removed, the mucous membrane is moistened, its protective function is maintained	1 time per day in the morning while washing (before breakfast!). Maybe not every day

To fully restore respiratory function, it is necessary to determine the exact cause of the common cold and conduct a course of treatment under medical supervision. Proper rinsing of the child's nose is just one of the procedures. Unlike drugs, it can be carried out independently, without a doctor's prescription, from infancy.

Nasal wash solution for children at home

A saline solution is recommended as a nasal wash for children. It is better to buy it in a pharmacy: special preparations based on sea water have a balanced composition. A number of nuances are associated with this:

Ready-made preparations based on sea water, preparations such as Sialor Aqua do not require preparation. Washing can be carried out immediately after opening the ampoule. The salt concentration in it is approximately 6.5 g of salt per 1 liter of water. Such a low concentration avoids unpleasant sensations in the form of a burning sensation, because children's noses are very sensitive to excess salt. Having delivered unpleasant sensations once, it will subsequently be difficult to rinse, but with the ready-made solution of Sialor Aqua, this situation is excluded - the concentration is optimally selected even for washing the nose of an infant. The package contains 10 anatomical ampoules with sea water - each a single dose. One is enough for a single use.

Sea water for washing the nose "Sialor Aqua"

Homemade saline or sea salt nasal wash for children. For 1 liter of warm (not hot!) boiled water, 1 tsp is required. salt (table or sea without additives). This corresponds to 9 g of salt per 1 liter of water. The composition is saturated with sodium and chlorine salts, enriched with magnesium, zinc, potassium, calcium and normalizes the natural functioning of cells. When the salt concentration is exceeded, a burning sensation is felt - this is extremely unpleasant for the baby, so it is not worth increasing the amount of salt when preparing the solution, it will not become more effective from this.

Neither one nor the other composition has side effects, an overdose is excluded. At the same time, you can quickly use the finished product, without doubting how balanced its composition is. It is conveniently and economically packaged - no pipette or syringe needed for irrigation.

How do I wash my child's nose at home?

The easiest way to explain to a child how to do a nose wash and why this procedure is needed at all is to show it to yourself. Attempts to wash the nose quickly, strictly and without explanation will not work. As soon as he suspects the possibility of pain, and the syringe and syringe are associated with it, all mother's efforts will be nullified.

The technology of introduction and irrigation is simple, but requires strict sequence. You need to do the following:

Place the child facing the sink.
Tilt his head over her, slightly pushing forward and to the side, not laying on her shoulder.
Inject a sea salt solution into the child's upper nostril. When using a pipette, it is necessary to inject the whole into one nostril; syringe - up to 2 ml. Using ready-made bufus "Sialor Aqua", count 2 drops for each nostril
With the correct position of the head, water will flow from the lower nostril with the remnants of mucus, crusts, pus, etc.

Scheme of nasal lavage with saline solution

For one washing of the nose of a child with a runny nose, a single injection of the solution is enough, it is not necessary to repeat several times in a row to enhance the effect - it is better to carry out the procedure several times during the day - following the recommendations on the ratio of water and salt guarantees painlessness. Having tried once, the baby will not be afraid to rinse his nose, especially when he feels that breathing has become easier.

Peculiarities of washing the nose for children under one year old

It is more difficult to wash the nose of a very small child than to someone who is older in age. Explaining how to behave will not work. Show too. You need to do everything gently, quietly, without sudden movements. Many mothers at first are afraid to carry out any medical manipulations on their own, fearing to harm or hurt the baby, so in this situation we recommend not to worry and adhere to the following rules:

Buy saline nasal wash for a child marked 0+.
Lay the child on their back.
Turn the crown to the side.
Instill 2 drops into the upper nostril.
Raise the glans so that the residue flows out through the lower nostril.
Repeat with the other nostril.

At the end of the procedure, you can clean the nose with a cotton flagellum soaked in baby oil. It will soften the mucous membrane, eliminate discomfort and allow you to remove dried crusts. Often, children under one year old do not need to drip a solution for washing the nose - 2-3 times a day is enough. As soon as the nose breathes normally and the discharge is noticeably reduced, washing can be left only as a morning hygiene procedure.

Contraindications for nasal irrigation

Before starting the procedure, objectively assess the child's condition. It cannot be carried out categorically if there are the following problems:

Severe swelling that interferes with breathing.

In this case, there is a risk of saline solution and infection in the middle ear. First you need to eliminate the swelling.

Otitis.

It is impossible to wash the nose with otitis media. We recommend only carefully instill drops.

Allergy.

The manifestation and development of an allergic reaction in babies is unpredictable.

Fragile vessels and, as a result, frequent nosebleeds.
Nasal lesions.
Deviated septum.

You can go outside no earlier than 30 minutes after the end of the procedure. Water remaining in the sinuses can cause a cold or inflammation.

Having worked out the technique, mothers often introduce rinsing the nose with saline for a runny nose to children from a year old in the list of daily hygiene procedures. It is possible to maintain the working condition of the mucosa by other methods. For example, additional humidification of the air during the heating season, regular walks on the street, and compliance with the drinking regime.