stuffy nose?

it seems like nolan's nose is always stuffy.  i use the syringe and can get a little booger or snot out but it still always sounds like its still stuffy.  it doesn't always seem to bother him, like he's used to it.  but i can hear it and it bothers me that i can't clear it.  i use saline drops and the syringe when he needs it.  he sleeps in our room in his crib and we sleep w/ the fan on medium (its a habbit) and he's not under it or anything.  he doesn't have a cold either...  so would it be something other than a stuffy nose...  is it that he's a loud breather?  

[GRose]

Do you have any pets? Do you think maybe he is allergic to something? I know when Noah was younger he just always had a runny/stuffy nose, he just always had a little cold. I would mention it to his doctor.

[kennedydp5]

nope...  no pets (i want one though, lol!) and no smoking.  his next appt is set for the 23rd.

[GRose]

I would just bring it up then, hopefully it is nothing major :)

[AnnieBrooke]

For some reason, my son's pedi is down on those little suction bulbs for the nose.  She claims they cause more mucus than if you leave the nose alone.  I don't know her reasons for saying this, but she is the head of pediatrics at our hospital so I followed her instructions.  (We go after nose stuff with Q-tips.)  Maybe it's worth a try to use something else besides the bulb.

[kennedydp5]

actually i clean my own nose w/ q-tips and everyone thinks i'm a wierdo, lol!!!  idk about nolan though...  do you use the johnson ones for baby's or real q-tips?

[AnnieBrooke]

Real ones, I didn't even know there were ones for babies.  LOL  I sometimes pull off some of the cotton so they will fit into the little orifice, and also occasionally break one in half and use the broken end of the cardboard "stick" (which usually creates a handy little crochet-hook shape) to pull out hard stuff.  The latter, I do only if I am CERTAIN I can hold his head still.  Maybe I should look for the ones for babies, they sound like less trouble.  :)

[kennedydp5]

the baby ones get fatter as they get to the stick part so its really hard to mess up and stick it too far in an ear or nose.  

what do you think of nasal mist for babies???  i saw it in parents magazine.  i've alwasy used drops and am not sure of an actual mist in a baby's nose.  have you heard of anyone trying that?

[AnnieBrooke]

I'd ask the doc before using anything like that.  All that information came out recently that baby cold meds were worse than useless -- you never know what's in them.  One thing that is great is a humidifier.  Augie's head clears right up from breathing the plain water vapor that his puts out.  It seems paradoxical that breathing something moist would clear out guck from the nose, seems like it would just add to it, but it does.