Posted by Sessilee Lu on February 20, 2012

Am I Hurting My Baby?

I’m now four months postpartum. Little D was born in late September. Together, we had a great fall and holiday season at home enjoying each other’s company. It was lovely, warm, and sweet!  We got to know each other, learned each others’ tics and schedules (I yell, she cluster feeds) and it was bliss. Promptly, with the new year, I was back at work (13 weeks maternity leave) and Little D was ensconced in full-time daycare.

The hurting in the title of this post does not refer to my daughter being at daycare.  I love daycare!  My 5 year old, still in daycare as  Pre-Ker, has been dropped “in school” since he was three-months old and we are the better for it. As Little D grows, I know I will neither have the patience nor creativity to give her what she needs in entertainment, activities, and learning experiences (a day home from work to me means tv time and vegging out – just saying). And frankly, selfishly, I want to go out, make money, interact with adults, enrich myself professionally, and further my career (more about that in another post). Daycare is a win-win in our family.  So, why am I questioning whether I am hurting my baby?  Well, the poor little one has had a constant stuffy nose for as long as I can remember. Having entered daycare, Little D’s cold and runny nose have just gotten worse.  With a runny nose, comes encrusted boogers.  Yes, I said it and yes, I’m blogging about it. Boogers. It’s a universal annoyance to parents. Like poops, boogers are talked about in our set (they even sell wipes branded  as “Boogie Wipes”).

Little D’s cold has resulted in boogers that range from wet and bubbly to hard and mask-like.  Her poor little nose!

As a concerned mom, for the last few months, I have been seeking various solutions to keep her nose clean.  Here are some of the tools I’ve found:

1. Bulb Syringe:  Early on, the tools in my arsenal only included the trusty large, green bulb syringe that every parent seems to be equipped with from some infant first aid kit.  However, if your baby is like mine, she HATED IT!!!  In fact, I don’t know anyone who likes a pointy probe up their nose.  Little D cried and cried and wriggled every which way to escape the throes of the BULB.   As a result, I needed to seek other solutions to help me help her.
2. Boogie Wipes:  Made with saline, these wipes were gentle and effective and helped to loosen up the dried up stuff.  But, after numerous wipes, even the gentlest tissues likely felt like sandpaper to a sensitive snout, and I believe these wipes had the same effect.  Plus, they could only catch stuff that was already out there to be caught.  So, how to get the tough stuff in her nose that impeded her breathing?
3. Saline drops:  Oh my, they loosened the stuff out but how my poor baby cried and cried.  She cried so much that her eyes produced eye boogers.  Sigh.
4. Nosefrida:  Recommended by our pediatrician, the Nosefrida is the vacuum cleaner for noses.  This contraption was powered by my own sucking (there’s a filter at the end so parents don’t get mucous in their mouths).  With research I found that the Nosefrida had an almost perfect 5-star rating on Amazon by over 600 users.  It looked like a winner.  How could I not try it?  Already sensitive to anything touching her nose, Little D was wary of this newest nasal aspirator.  The trick of this tool was that it doesn’t go into the nose but rather a parents creates suction  and moves the unit around the outside of the nose to loosen the mucous out.

Unfortunately, I must have super sucking power because soon after I started the “cleaning,” her little nose got red and started to bleed.  My poor baby now has a soft spot on the right side of her nose that is so sensitive, even placing a tissue near it (or hovering your hand near it) makes her cry.

My motivation for cleaning her nose was to allow her to literally breathe easier.  But was it worth it to this extent –   blood, screaming, tears, and her little body writhing about  – to clean her nose?  It broke my heart to see her red little nose and know that I caused that pain and damage.

Am I hurting my baby?  Should I just get over it and lose the guilt as a clean nose trumps sensitive skin or is there real pain I’m causing here?

2 Comments »

1. My baby is 5 months old, and seems have a little stuffy nose a lot. She is also in daycare. I also went tried the syringe – she screamed. I have since decided to use a warm wet wash cloth went the come out, preferably before they dry. My daycare seems to be wiping her nose before that happens. Other than that, I try not to spaz about it. That seems to keep her ok. I could very easily see myself going through what you did – in fact, I almost bouhg those wipes and the saline – but in the end, I think letting her body deal with it is probably the best thing. (Unless it becomes extreme.) Best wishes!

   Comment by Anna — February 20, 2012 @ 6:53 am

2. My 5 month old has had a runny nose most of life and is in day care too. I use the saline spray, and if I don’t shove a bulb aspirator in his nose immediately afterwards, he fusses a bit while breathing in and out heavily through his nose, which helps loosen things up and often the boogers just come out. If I do it before feeding, he is distracted enough that I can swab his snotty face with a tissue without trouble.

   Comment by Laura — February 20, 2012 @ 7:41 am

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