Why Do Babies Resist Nose Suctioning? How To Make This Easier On Them – And You

Baby Won’t Let Me Suc­tion Nose: How To Make This Easier Babies are pure joy. From the moment they’re born to that first smile through all the years that fol­low, their adorable facial expres­sions give par­ents unal­loyed delight. Whether you have one baby or five, noth­ing match­es the hap­pi­ness you expe­ri­ence car­ing for them every wak­ing moment. So when some­thing makes the baby uncom­fort­able or dis­tressed, every par­ent tries des­per­ate­ly to solve the prob­lem quick­ly so the baby starts gur­gling hap­pi­ly once again. One uncom­fort­able issue that occurs while car­ing for an infant is a clogged, stuffy nose. Unlike adults, babies can’t deal with the prob­lem by sim­ply blow­ing their noses them­selves. It’s a par­en­t’s job to get that nose func­tion­ing eas­i­ly again. But most babies get cranky when par­ents try to inter­vene and help with a run­ny, stuffed or con­gest­ed nose. How can you make this bet­ter? How can you help make your baby more com­fort­able dur­ing those few min­utes you’re unclog­ging their nose? Why do so many babies resist get­ting their noses suctioned? We decid­ed to research how the experts advise par­ents to han­dle this tricky (and kind of yucky!) task. If your baby won’t let you suc­tion their nose, con­tin­ue read­ing for tips on accom­plish­ing this nec­es­sary procedure. Rid­ding your baby’s nose of mucus and boogers isn’t one of your more pleas­ant respon­si­bil­i­ties, but nonethe­less, it’s a job you’ve got to tack­le. Babies become irri­ta­ble when they can’t breathe eas­i­ly, so the soon­er you get rid of that stuffy nose and con­ges­tion, the better! Here are some of the most com­mon caus­es of a baby’s stuffy nose and effec­tive ways of deal­ing with it so your baby breathes eas­i­ly as fast as possible.

What Causes Stuffy Noses?

• Virus­es and colds
• Dry air, par­tic­u­lar­ly in win­ter when the fur­nace is on
• Poor air cir­cu­la­tion and quality
• Tiny nasal passages

That last one is key. Please think of how sim­ple it is to clean your nose. Then imag­ine what a lit­tle bit of mucus can do to a nasal pass one-tenth the size of yours! It does­n’t take much to stuff up your baby’s nose, so clean­ing it reg­u­lar­ly is impor­tant – before it gets too clogged.

Tools For Easing Your Baby’s Stuffed Nose:

There are a num­ber of ways you can clean and suc­tion your baby’s nasal passages:

- Use a Bulb Syringe

This device has been around for ages and is still a pop­u­lar choice for many par­ents. It is an easy-to-use, inex­pen­sive option, too. Once the tip is gen­tly insert­ed into your baby’s nose, you squeeze the air out of the bulb. Be sure the tip isn’t in too far or press­ing too much against your baby’s nostril. Keep the bulb steady while the air is released into the nos­tril. This is an effec­tive way to get mucus out and get your baby breath­ing eas­i­ly once again. Bulb syringes come in a vari­ety of sizes, so be sure to check to see that you’ve cho­sen the right size for your baby’s physiology.

- Consider a Nasal Aspirator

This unit puts you in the dri­ver’s seat, as your mouth is the mucus-suck­ing machine rather than a bulb syringe. Some par­ents find this method eas­i­er to use because of that and say that it works more efficiently. The res­pi­ra­tor comes with tub­ing and a mouth­piece. The tube is slim, with an open­ing at one end. These units often come with fil­ters you toss away after each use. A fil­ter pre­vents you from suck­ing so hard you get a mouth­ful of mucus – some­thing no par­ent wants, right? You don’t want your adorable baby’s snot end­ing up in your mouth, that’s for sure. That’s why some new par­ents are reluc­tant to try this method, but after a few tries, most relax and become suck­ing pros! You can use this device with or with­out nasal spray.

- Nasal Spray

You should use the spray if your baby’s mucus from a cold or res­pi­ra­to­ry infec­tion is thick or if the boogers are hard and crusty. How­ev­er, nev­er choose a nasal spray with med­ica­tion in it – those are for old­er chil­dren and adults and must not be used on babies. You can make your own drops, if you pre­fer, by sim­ply com­bin­ing salt and warm water. (There are numer­ous recipes online for this DIY solution.) Lay your baby on their back, and put three or four drops into each nos­tril. Wait a few min­utes before suc­tion­ing, and don’t let the baby sit upright – the drops need to stay in their nose to work most effi­cient­ly. Then use a bulb syringe or a nasal aspi­ra­tor to suc­tion out mucus and boogers.

- Other Methods For Treating Stuffy Noses

You can’t avoid clean­ing your baby’s nose, but you can make the whole process eas­i­er on them (and you!) by try­ing these methods:

• Give Them a Warm Bath So The Steam Loosens The Stuff In Their Nose

There is noth­ing like warm steam to ease a baby’s breath­ing by less­en­ing congestion.

• Check Your Home’s Air Quality

Con­sid­er pur­chas­ing a humid­i­fi­er so the air does­n’t con­tribute to your baby’s con­ges­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly in winter.

• Plug In a Steamer In The Nursery

Or you can plug a portable steam­er into the baby’s room. The moist air will go a long way toward eas­ing dry nasal pas­sages and help pre­vent mucus buildup and dry, crusty boogers.

• Keep Your Baby Upright As Much As You Can

Of course, at bed­time and nap time, your baby lays down. How­ev­er, it would help if you tried to keep their head ele­vat­ed at least a lit­tle dur­ing oth­er times of the day. This helps mucus drain, pre­vent­ing it from build­ing up in the baby’s nasal pas­sages. And keep­ing the baby well-hydrat­ed helps with this, too.

When Should You Clean The Baby’s Nose?

Choos­ing the right time to use a nasal syringe (or oth­er tech­nique) to clean the baby’s nose makes all the dif­fer­ence to the out­come. This is not the most com­fort­able pro­ce­dure for them, so doing it when they’re well-rest­ed and hap­py is your best bet. If your baby is over­tired already or hun­gry and cranky, try­ing to clean their nose won’t work. They’ll make an even big­ger fuss about it! And remem­ber, your baby picks up on your sub­tle, non­ver­bal cues. If you’re anx­ious about doing this, you can bet your baby will sense it. Try to relax, and don’t act like this is an ordeal that you’re dread­ing. If you treat clean­ing their nose like it’s sim­ply part of the dai­ly rou­tine, they will calm down and get used to it. If you have to do it sev­er­al times a day because your baby has a cold, resign your­self and get it done as effi­cient­ly as pos­si­ble. Smile! Act like it’s a bit of play. Be easy­go­ing. And remem­ber: prac­tice makes per­fect. Once you become a pro at clean­ing your baby’s nose, they’ll adjust and stay rel­a­tive­ly calm dur­ing the procedure.

In Summary

Being a par­ent is incred­i­bly reward­ing, but it isn’t always fun, easy or pleas­ant. There are tasks you must cope with for the sake of the baby’s health and well-being, like get­ting up in the mid­dle of the night for feed­ings for the first year or two. Clean­ing out their nose, rid­ding it of mucus and crusty, hard boogers, is one of the less pleas­ant duties you have to get used to. The soon­er you become adept at this, with what­ev­er imple­ment you decide is best suit­ed to your baby’s nose, the soon­er both of you will relax, so you can get on with it and get the job done. Keep in mind that you are clean­ing the baby’s nose because they need to breathe eas­i­ly. Hold­ing on to that pos­i­tive out­come – that your baby will be hap­pi­er and health­i­er once their nose is clean and their res­pi­ra­to­ry pas­sages are clear – is an excel­lent way to get through the process. And once you become an expert nose clean­er, the two of you will sail through this, and you will start to real­ize it’s not such a big deal. It’s sim­ply a nec­es­sary part of good par­ent­ing, and we know that you, as some­one with a tiny baby, are ded­i­cat­ed to accom­plish­ing every­thing that con­tributes to that. Good luck!

Baby Nose Suctioning Tips Video