Since he was 2 weeks my baby has been waking up late at night squirming and crying from frustration because he can seem to get rid of the mucus in his throat. When he wakes up or comes to, he can smile and behaves like he is not bothered. The noises he makes while clearing his throat frightens me and keep me up at night. Some nights are worse than others, especially when he gets clingy and wants to breast feed all day. It seems like the only thing that helps him is feeding him more to put him to sleep. As a result he is 9 weeks old and a warping 15 lb super baby.
I've done the saline drops and spray in the nose and elevating him but that does not seem to help. We've even started letting him sleep in his swing upright when he gets really loud to help him relax and sleep.
What is going on?
It could be acid reflux. My son had severe acid reflux and he always had a congested sound to his breathing. The extra feeding could be helping by "rinsing" the throat and also because milk is a base and neutralizes any acid that would be building up.
It could be that there is something in his room that he's allergic too. Or there could be something that you are eating that he's having issues with. I would ask the dr.
M.
I had the exact situation with my son when he was 16 weeks. He caught a cold and then had lingering mucous for a month. He had to sleep upright in his swing or would cough all night and keep himself awake. We tried the cool mist humidifier, saline/bulb syringe flush, steam shower and nothing could get rid of the mucous. Finally I took him back to the peditrtician and it turns outr he had bronchitis. They gave us an antibiotic and the mucous was gone in two days. perhaps your son also has bronchitis? Hope this helps.
J.,
My first thought is a food allergy of some sort. Since it started well before solids would be introduced it must be something in your diet. It may be hard, but elimination dietrs work best. Start by removing one item every 4 days from your diet, the most commom allergens are dairy and eggs. Be sure that if you did not make something from scratch that you read the labels very carefully so that you are not accidentally adding somehting back into your diet.
SOmething else that you may want to consider is the chemicals that you use to clean everything from the dishes to the laundry. After two weeks, I bet you did laundry, he may be sensitive to the chemicals that you use in the house. Did you know that there are more chemicals in the average kitchen than there were in a well stocked chemistry lab in the 20th century!
If you would like to try non-toxic products, that won't harm you and are less expensive to use, email me ____@____.com
Here are a few websites that you might find useful:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T080100.asp
http://www.babycenter.com/baby-symptom-guide
These have a lot of information regarding symptoms of such things as allergies to the common cold and what you should be concerned about and how you can treat them or whether or not you should consult a doctor. I do remember when my son was young we had to take him in the bathroom with us early in the morning and run the shower so he could get some steam in the morning and we bought a cool mist dehumidifier that we used at night. He did not have allergies but did have some congestion on and off, usually during the winter flu season or spring allergy season. Good luck!
J.,
Several things come to mind that others have not yet posted. I always look within at diet in many circumstances. If you are nursing, he might be sensitive or allergic to something. First thing would be dairy products, second is wheat and soy. If you are not nursing, I'd look @ his formula. Same allergens apply. If it happens to be reflux, he does not have to have medication. That is just a bandaid and doesn't really address the problem. Seek out a holistic pediatrician who gets it about diet.Also, chiropractic is great in this situation as well. I don't know the area in which you live. You can go to Birth Options Alliance yahoo group and find a list of holistic pediatricians or email me.
L. M
hello, I agree with Laura M. Diet is a good place to start. Goat, hemp, or almond milk could be an option for you as well a baby...know your source when it come to what food you consume...M.
J.,
I do not know if you have any pets in your house, but if so, your child may be having a reaction to your pet. You can ask your doctor about this if you think this could be a concern. Just a thought...
He may have acid reflux....sometimes the only symptom is congestion/cold type symptoms....breast milk is soothing to the esophagus and stomach and can ease the acid that is creeping up. You might try having him sleep on his side, or elevated....I would check with Ped too.
He might have a milk or milk protein allergy.
have you had him seen for allergy testing?
I know exactly what you are going thru. I am a mother of two myself (5yr and 2yr)and i went and still am with my second one. He has been doing that since he was weeks old too. I was scared too and has been my only complain to my pediatrician but she said just use saline. When he turned 15 months i couldn't take it being scared anymore, so i had him test for all kinds of things (cystic fybrosis, celiac, blood test etc...) and he had none of the above. he is a healthy 2 year old now. So, my advise is to not worry. It's one of those things that your baby will outgrow and i know is hard on you. As long as your baby is growing fine, i would not worry at all.
Try giving him some luke-warm water to drink. My daughter did that and turned out she was just thirsty. Could explain why he wants to breastfeed all day - its liquid. My ped said that with lack of water, the mucus thickens. Once Lilly had a couple ounces of water - she was great. She also has reflux and your ped can recommend somethign for that. Lilly is on baby zantac and it works wonders. Easy home remedy that may work for you... and since he isn't exactly on the low side of the weight track like my son isnt, giving him water will not fill him up so he doesn't want to eat as much as he needs.
