How to Help a Baby with Nasal Congestion

Mothers who are in search of what is good for nasal congestion in babies sometimes try to solve the problem with options such as nasal washing. Humidification of the baby’s room can also prevent nasal congestion.

Nasal congestion in babies can be a nightmare for mothers. Babies who have difficulty in breathing and are constantly unhappy and restless due to congestion push mothers to seek various solutions. As the solution process gets longer during the nasal decongestion procedures, the anxiety increases and sometimes even irrational options are tried with the hope of a cure. It is almost impossible to find a mother who has not dealt with the answer to the question of how to open a stuffy nose.

What is Nasal Congestion (Stuffy Nose)?

Nasal congestion is directly related to the anatomical and physiological structure of the nose as well as its functions. The nose, which is used as a breathing organ, warms, filters and moistens the inhaled air before it reaches the lungs in order to fulfill the respiratory function. In this way, it is ensured that many pests such as dust, pollen or bacteria are eliminated before they reach the further parts of the respiratory system. In addition, especially in winter, the cold air in the environment is brought to a level close to body temperature without reaching the lungs directly.

While performing the tasks stated here, the capacity decreases with the narrowing and blockages that occur, and even the congestion sometimes reaches such a point that it becomes impossible to breathe through the nose. This situation, which is called nasal congestion, follows different courses depending on the causes and effects it creates and may need to be eliminated in different ways.

While the nose performs the functions mentioned above, nasal cavities called concha are used. Nasal congestion is the swelling that occurs in the soft tissues around the cavities, which are known as nasal flesh among the people, have the feature of secreting mucus and are covered with shaky hairs.

Among the causes of nasal congestion, allergic nasal congestion is encountered in many cases. It is easily determined that such complaints increase with the increase of pollen especially in the spring months. The amount of mucus secreted from the cells in the nose increases and this is reflected to us as a runny nose. Apart from these, nasal congestion may occur in babies due to developmental anatomical reasons.

If the complaint of runny nose in babies has become chronic, all the answers to the question of why the nose is blocked, a detailed examination should be made and the underlying reason should be revealed. There are also cases of nasal congestion during pregnancy where there is no allergic or cold condition. This condition, called pregnancy flu or pregnancy rhinitis, occurs near the end of pregnancy and ends on its own after a course of about two weeks.

What Problems Does Stuffy Nose Cause?

Babies with constant nasal congestion are likely to develop complications such as throat infections and pharyngitis due to mouth breathing. These complications also cause postnasal discharge complaints in infants.

Since it is not easy to clean the nose in babies, various solutions prepared for nasal cleaning are used to prevent similar problems. When the baby’s nose cleaning is not done, babies who have difficulty in breathing may cause uneasiness and constant crying and many other problems as a result. The ideal time to clean your baby’s nose is after a bath.

After the bath, the mucus residues in the nose soften and allow you to clean the baby without hurting it. You can also use physiological saline solutions that soften the mucus. One of the most prominent functions of breathing through the nose, deep breathing, provides the development of the capacity of the lungs. As a result of shallow and inadequate mouth breathing, muscle groups called respiratory muscles come into play, and as a result of the work of these muscles, undesirable results called posture disorder may occur in child development. However, various health problems that are likely to develop are encountered.

Causes

One of the leading causes of nasal congestion in infants is developmental anomalies in the nose and nasal passages. Adenoid enlargement, which is popularly called adenoid in infancy and later childhood, is the primary cause of obstruction. Another important cause of nasal congestion in babies is sinusitis. It is an important problem as it requires a long and tiring treatment process and is resistant to physiological serum-like solutions.

In addition to these, if there is unilateral nasal obstruction in infants and especially in children above a certain level, object obstruction should be suspected and necessary investigations should be made in this direction.

Treatment

One of the most important problems that appear in the minds of mothers is finding an answer to the question of how to open a stuffy nose. Nasal congestion treatment is based on the cause. Many factors such as upper respiratory tract diseases, allergies, adenoids, dry air, and blood accumulation in the nose can cause nasal congestion. When nasal congestion is experienced, a specialist doctor should be consulted and the cause of the obstruction should be investigated.

Usually the stuff that clears the stuffy nose is nasal sprays. At the same time, chest balm, which is prepared with natural ingredients, moisturizes and softens the skin and facilitates breathing with its fresh scents, can help overcome non-persistent blockages.

Mothers who are in search of what is good for nasal congestion in babies sometimes try to solve the problem with options such as nasal washing. Nasal cleaning in babies with saline can give very good results in terms of relaxation of the baby and therefore the mother. Humidification of the baby’s room can also prevent nasal congestion.

You can humidify the baby’s room with a steam machine, and sometimes surgical solutions appear among the answers to the questions asked about how nasal congestion in children is. If such a conclusion is reached as a result of the examinations and tests performed for the causes of the obstruction, surgical intervention should be performed without delay and such a problem that may prevent the development of the baby should be eliminated in the short term.