How to clean the nose of a newborn baby from boogers and crusts: quickly, easily and without whims. How to properly clean the nose of a baby from snot

12.09.2019

In the process of raising children, every parent inevitably faces a baby with a cold. Of course, newborns are more difficult to treat than adults - many drugs are not available. An important process is the cleansing of the baby's nose with a runny nose. In this article, we will describe in detail all the possible ways.

How to clean the nose of a baby

In fact, a runny nose in babies is a serious problem. The airways in babies are much narrower than in adults, so even a slight swelling can provoke at least restless sleep and crying, and in more severe cases, shortness of breath, the treatment of which is more difficult than a simple runny nose.

The first signs of a runny nose can be:

Sleep disturbance, crying for no reason, not related to digestive disorders or other pain that you know about
If the baby begins to breathe through the mouth during feeding, comes off the breast, the bottle
Nasal discharge accompanied by shortness of breath

The most common ways to clean the nose in infants are flagella, cotton swabs, aspirators and special pears for sucking mucus.

Important! Use cotton swabs with caution, as the tip can damage the delicate skin of the baby's mucosa. Before cleaning, moisten a cotton swab with boiled water, and then very gently insert it into the nasal cavity. After a single use, change the wand. Less traumatic is the flagellum, which you can make yourself from cotton pads. Cut the disk into several pieces and twist. It should be borne in mind that flagella from ordinary cotton wool can leave hairs in the nasal cavity, which will cause even more irritation of the mucous membrane. It is enough to moisten the tip of the twisted flagellum in boiled water and scroll it in the baby's nose.

A good device for cleaning the nose in infants is a washing pear. Before use, it is advisable to boil it to protect against infections, and soften the frozen crusts in the baby's nose with a couple of drops of boiled water or breast milk. Then the pear is injected directly into the nasal passage and by pressing / unclenching, all the mucus is removed.

Another device is a medical aspirator. The principle of its work is just as simple. One tip is inserted into the baby's nose, and through the other end, the mother sucks out all the mucus, while it enters a special container located between the tubes. To make it easier for the baby to accept the procedure, the container can be made in the form of animals or any other bright figures to distract the child.

Interesting! The structure of the nasal cavity of an infant is extremely different from the structure of an adult organism. When a child is just born, he does not have a lower nasal passage, the turbinate sits tightly next to the bottom of the nose, the maxillary sinuses are formed only by the age of 3-4 years. All nasal passages are very small and not fully formed, so the baby experiences a runny nose more difficult than adults. All systems are fully developed only by the age of 15.

The baby still does not know how to blow his nose, he can only sneeze, freeing the airways from dust and mucus. Too "caring" parents are often very afraid of the baby's hypothermia, so they close all doors and windows, thus maintaining a constant temperature in the room. As a result, the air becomes warm and dry, the mucous membranes dry up, irritation occurs and, as a result, a runny nose and sleep disturbances, whims, and crying of the baby.

How to clean the nose of a newborn

Cleaning the nose of a baby often causes a real panic in young mothers. But you don't have to be afraid. The main thing is to do everything carefully, listen to the baby’s reactions so as not to hurt him, ensure the cleanliness of the devices used in order to prevent new infections from entering the baby’s body.

The very first rule should be to prevent the appearance of a runny nose as such. Humidify the air to avoid the formation of crusts in the nose. Keep it mildly cool - this way you will protect the baby from possible colds and infections.

It is very important to understand what caused the child to have a runny nose. Take a close look at the highlights. Liquid and transparent indicate that the baby has allergic rhinitis. Thicker and cloudier ones are a witness to colds and infections.

In the sinuses of all people, including the smallest, mucus is formed and accumulates, which protects the nasal mucosa from drying out. It occurs even in a perfectly healthy person, since it is also a protective film on which microbes inhaled from the external environment settle. By blowing your nose, an adult gets rid of mucus and bacteria accumulated on it. The baby cannot do this on his own, so one of the tasks of the mother is to clean the little nose every day.

For the first time, a mother learns about how to clean a newborn's nose in the maternity hospital, where the medical staff tells about it step by step. However, left alone with the baby, the whole theory is forgotten, and the resisting child only adds to the uncertainty. In fact, you should not be afraid. If you follow the basic rules, over time, the procedure will become familiar and will be carried out as quickly as a diaper change, which probably also caused difficulties.

You need to listen to how the newborn breathes, and see, as far as possible, his nasal passages. If the child breathes calmly, and no visible crusts are found, then the usual cleaning is carried out, for which the following devices will be needed:

cotton wool or special turundas;
sanitary napkins;
saline or warm boiled water.

You can buy ready-made turundas, but it is much more convenient to make them yourself. To do this, small pieces of cotton wool are taken, flagella 5-6 cm long roll down from them, with a diameter slightly less than the nasal passage of the crumbs. Flagella should be dense and elastic. Then they are moistened in saline or water, inserted into the nostril and, slightly scrolling, slowly pulled out. Thus, mucus will remain on the flagellum.

A separate flagellum is used for each nostril. Do not worry if the newborn starts to sneeze: this is how the nose is released naturally.

Video: We make comfortable flagella for cleaning the nose.

How to remove crusts

In the process of breathing and with very dry air in the apartment, the mucus dries up, forming crusts in the nose of babies (the so-called goats). They interfere with the free passage of air and cause discomfort. Remove such crusts immediately, as they clog the newborn's nose. How to clean it in this case?

To begin with, the goats need to be soaked by dropping a drop of vaseline or other non-allergenic cosmetic oil into each nostril. After a minute, you can clean using flagella. Softened goats easily wrap around them.

The mucous membranes of children in the first month of life are very delicate, easily injured, so the crusts cannot be torn off without soaking first: this will cause bleeding.

How to prevent crusts

To prevent the appearance of dried crusts, it is enough to observe the temperature regime (no more than 20-220C) and ensure proper air humidity (not lower than 60%). In the newborn's room, daily wet cleaning is necessary so that the dust accumulating on objects does not clog the spout.

To achieve the desired humidity, it is better to purchase a humidifier. If this is not possible, they use a proven method: they hang a damp towel on the heating radiator in winter, which is moistened as it dries. Or put a small container of water near it.

How to clean the nose of a newborn with a pear

In the cold season, at the time of teething or a period of illness, a large amount of mucus is formed, which the flagella cannot cope with. A special bulb or aspirator will help. The principles of action when cleaning the nose with a pear are as follows:

When buying, you need to choose a rubber or silicone tip: the nasal passages are very narrow, and the baby is constantly trying to dodge the unpleasant procedure, so the mucous membrane is easy to damage.
Before inserting the tip into the spout, the pear is compressed so that as much air as possible comes out of it.
After that, the tip is inserted into one nasal passage, and the pear is slowly, but not too slowly, unclenched. As it expands, it sucks in the mucus.
When manipulating one nostril, the other is covered to create the necessary pressure.
If after the procedure the baby's nose did not breathe freely, it must be repeated.
After each use, the tool should be thoroughly rinsed, preferably with boiling water.

If there was no pear at hand, and the problem requires an urgent solution, you can use a small enema.

Aspirator Benefits

The aspirator, which is now available in every pharmacy, will cope with the task faster and more efficiently. The procedure will be more hygienic and less uncomfortable for the newborn. The tube is inserted at one end into the child's nostril, through the second, the mother sucks out the secretions with her mouth. All the contents of the spout are in a special container.

Instructions on how to clean a newborn's nose with an aspirator are included with each device.

Video: Children's doctor about the structural features of the child's nasal passages. How to properly clean your baby's nose.

Nasal preparations for children under one year old are advised by otolaryngologists to use it in the form of drops, not a spray.
Solutions for washing the nose of a healthy child should not be poured with a jet. This is appropriate for respiratory disease, with daily care, a few drops are enough, otherwise the protective film that protects the mucous membrane from drying out is washed off.
You should not use breast milk. Lactose is an excellent breeding ground for bacteria.

Babies sniffle quite often in their sleep, because their nasal passages are much narrower than those of adults. Mucous secretions, designed to protect tiny noses from dust and germs, can accumulate and form crusts, making it difficult to breathe. An adult can easily cope with this problem - he can simply blow his nose or get rid of the contents of the nose in a well-known simple way with the help of his fingers (how grown-up children love this exciting activity!). Babies, on the other hand, need the help of their parents to breathe freely and not sniffle. How to clean the nose of a newborn so that this procedure is as comfortable and effective as possible?

Simple daily nasal hygiene measures

In a toddler, nasal hygiene is especially important. In the narrow nasal passages, mucus accumulates, detaining the smallest particles. In addition, when feeding, milk can enter the nasal cavity. Because of this, it becomes difficult for the spout to cope with a very important task - to clean and heat the air. You need to clean your nose every day, and to make it easier, it is advisable to prepare everything you need in advance.

In order for a child's nose to always breathe freely, you must have simple hygiene products on hand:

medical cotton wool or cotton pads,
special baby or vaseline oil,
saline solution and a pipette or saline solution for irrigating the nose,
aspirator or the smallest syringe.

It is recommended to clean the nose of a newborn with cotton turundas, and not with sticks. The fact is that the child turns his head during the procedure, and a hard stick can easily damage the delicate mucous membrane. Moreover, the nasal passage has a curved shape, so the Q-tip will not clear the nose, but will only push the crusts deeper. To properly make a turunda, it is necessary to roll a flagellum from a small piece of cotton wool moistened with saline or boiled water and dip its tip into oil. Doctors advise using vaseline oil, as it is hypoallergenic and does not serve as a breeding ground for microorganisms. A wet turunda is introduced into the baby's nose with twisting movements to a depth of two centimeters, and then they are taken out, removing the accumulated mucus. In this case, the baby lies on his back, and his free hand fixes his head. This treatment simultaneously cleanses the mucous surface and moisturizes it. Having got the hang of it, you can learn how to clean the nose of a newborn in a matter of seconds.

It is important to keep everything you need close at hand so that you never leave your child alone on the changing table. The baby, most likely, will not like the feeling of a foreign body in the nose, so it is important to distract his attention with active facial expressions and affectionate words. And it is best to finish hygiene procedures with a pleasant massage and gentle strokes.

Rinse your baby's cold nose

Every day, a baby has to deal with microbes that live next door to us. And this is absolutely normal, because the air he breathes is far from sterile, and a small organism needs to develop immunity. One of these immune reactions is snot - mucus is released in large quantities to wash away uninvited guests and prevent them from penetrating deeper into the respiratory tract. Cleaning the nose of a newborn with a cotton swab in this case is no longer enough.

Normal nasal breathing for a child can be restored in the following ways:

Remove snot with an aspirator with a silicone tip or a syringe, the tip of which is lubricated with petroleum jelly.
Rinse the nose with saline or boiled water using the same syringe.
Combine suction of secretions and nasal lavage or alternate these methods.

To properly clear the nose of mucus, you need to squeeze the respirator, insert its tip into the nostril and slowly release the pear. By the characteristic sound, it will be possible to understand that the mucus has been drawn into the aspirator. In this case, the child must be held vertically, clamping the second nostril.

After most of the secretions are removed from the spout, you can start rinsing. The baby should be held vertically above the bath or basin so that its head is slightly lowered forward. Using a syringe or aspirator, body temperature water is slowly poured into the spout. The nostrils do not need to heal, the water should flow freely. After the procedure, the aspirator and syringe must be thoroughly rinsed and dried so that they are ready for the next use.

It often happens that nasal breathing in a baby is difficult not because of the accumulation of snot, but because of the swelling of the mucous membrane. How to clean the nose of a newborn if you need to deal with congestion? This is helped by special solutions for irrigation of the nasal cavity based on sea salt. It is very important to choose the form of packaging according to age: it is better for infants to bury the nose with a pipette, and for older children such products are produced in the form of a spray. But you need to keep in mind that a strong jet of spray, designed for adults, can cause mechanical irritation of the mucous membrane, which will increase congestion.

As for vasoconstrictor and anti-inflammatory drugs, the pediatrician should prescribe them after examining the baby. They are used when it is necessary to restore nasal breathing as soon as possible so that the child does not breathe through the mouth, sleeps peacefully at night and eats normally.

We create a microclimate for healthy noses

If the child constantly sniffs with his nose, and after morning hygiene procedures you find dry crusts on the fleece, you should think about the microclimate in the house where the baby lives. In infants, it is breathing that is the main mechanism of thermoregulation. If the air in the room is dry and warm, moisture quickly evaporates from the surface of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. And when the baby is dressed too hot, this process is accelerated even more. In order for the baby to breathe well, it is necessary to try to maintain a comfortable temperature for him in the room: + 20 ... + 22 degrees during the day and + 16 ... + 18 degrees at night. It is more useful for a child to be warmly dressed and sleep under two blankets, but breathe cool and fresh air.

Both a special humidifier and wet towels hung on batteries, and daily wet cleaning will help to cope with dryness. Free the children's room from excess textiles, carpets, soft toys and other dust accumulators and let the baby splash in the bathroom and play with water more often. Very often, parents find that lowering the temperature in the room by 2-3 degrees and 50-60% helps the child breathe freely without any drops and improve his resistance to seasonal infections.

Cleaning the nose of a newborn living in a clean room with fresh air becomes much easier, and the need for rinsing may disappear altogether. Creating a real health resort for a baby at home is not difficult at all: cool and humid air, combined with water procedures and hygiene habits from birth, help the child get sick less often, recover faster and form strong immunity.

When the baby cannot fully rest at night, and also eats poorly, whims begin, the reason may be that the baby simply has bugs in the nose or an unpleasant runny nose has appeared. These problems prevent your child from learning about the world around him and enjoying new discoveries.

Some new mothers are very concerned about the question: “How to clean the nose of a baby?” This can sometimes be difficult to do, and young parents often make mistakes. It should be noted that the most common mistake is to clean the nose with ordinary cotton swabs. This is completely unsafe, because babies have a too small nose and undeveloped airways. There is also the possibility of pushing the wand very deeply and delivering completely unpleasant sensations to the baby. Among other things, dry sticks are uncomfortable to use. However, there are other solutions, read about them below.

It is quite easy to make homemade flagella from cotton pads. High-quality discs never crawl, they are convenient to use. To help your little one, take one disc, then tear it directly in two, making two cotton-side discs. One disk can be used later, you can put it aside. Break the other into four pieces. Take one and gently twist the flagellum. Before use, moisten it with purified water or breast milk so as not to cause any discomfort to the baby. Try to clean the baby's nose with slow rotational movements.

How often to clean the nose of a baby?

The airways of newborns, as in adults, work without interruption. The nose produces mucus, on which various bacteria and dust particles adhere. The child, due to his early age, cannot free his nose from mucus and dust, so parents should help him in this. It is advisable to do this every day or at least once every two days. To moisturize the flagellum, it is advisable to use apricot oil, breast milk. Now you know how often to clean the nose of a baby.

How to clean the nose of a baby from snot?

Every young mother should know and understand how to clean the baby's nose from snot. You can use a special pear for this, which can be purchased at a pharmacy if necessary. This is a must in every first aid kit. In the spout, you must first drip a little breast milk, saline. You can use moisturizing drops for newborns.

This must be done to soften the crusts and make the snot more liquid. Before use, the pear must be thoroughly and well washed so that there are no problems with the ingress of harmful microorganisms. Then just squeeze the bulb to pump the air out of it. Next, insert the tip into the nostril and gently open it. Everything must be done very slowly and carefully so as not to cause pain or discomfort to the baby. After that, thoroughly rinse the pear from the contents.

How to clean the nose of a baby with an aspirator?

It is very easy to do this. Such a small device can also be purchased at a pharmacy, it is not very expensive. With it, there is no chance that bacteria will get into the nose of the baby. The effect is comparable to using a regular pear. Yes, and children often react to the aspirator with interest, perceiving it as a toy. First, put a small tube to the baby's nose, then take another tube directly into your mouth and take a few suction breaths. That's all! Snot, as well as softened boogers, will be in a special container, which is easy to rinse afterwards. However, before using it, it is advisable to lubricate the nostrils with baby oil or drip a little breast milk.

How to clean the nose of a baby from boogers?

It is necessary to clean the nose from boogers very carefully so as not to damage the mucous membrane. It's very simple: first, lubricate the inside of the nose with a small amount of breast milk. You can simply drip it directly into each nostril. Then proceed as in the first method. Use flagella from purchased cotton pads. Now you know how to clean the nose of a baby from boogers.

Conclusion

Being pregnant, you must have heard the instructions of your mother or grandmother on how to properly clean the baby's nose. And thanks to this article, you can do it without problems. Of course, at the very beginning it can be scary, since the baby's nose is very small. However, some dexterity is needed. If you are afraid to do it yourself, you can ask a relative or friend who already has children to help you. And then you can carry out this procedure yourself.

And so that the baby does not constantly suffer from crusts and snot, keep it clean, as well as air humidity in the room where the baby is located. Do not install a large number of heaters that dry out the air too much. Always do wet cleaning and use high-quality humidifiers. Even adults suffer from poor quality air, let alone small children.

A runny nose or crusts in the nose can cause poor sleep, appetite, whims, and crying of a newborn. The baby still cannot cope with this problem on its own. Therefore, it is so important for a mother to know when and how to properly clean her child's nose.

How often should a child's nose be cleaned?

Doctors do not recommend once again invading the respiratory system of a newborn. Despite the fact that the nasal passages of babies are very narrow, they have a well-established self-cleaning system. Microvilli, which cover the nasal mucosa, effectively move mucus and foreign particles to the exit. In addition, the mucous membranes of the nasal passages produce a protective protein interferon. It is involved in the formation of local immunity and the protection of the child's body from pathogenic viruses and bacteria. If you clean the baby's nose too often, the interferon is washed off, and the body's immune defenses are weakened.

During a runny nose, too much mucus is formed, it dries up, forming dense crusts. They block the narrow nasal passages of the baby, and the baby still does not know how to breathe through the mouth, like adults. Therefore, crying, whims, anxiety, poor sleep, snoring in a dream, lack of appetite may be an indicator that a child needs to clear his nose.

What to use?

To clean the nose of a newborn, you can use flagella from cotton pads, a pear or an aspirator.

Flagella from cotton pads softer and do not spread as much as ready-made cotton wool bundles. For the manufacture of flagella, you need to use the fourth part of a cotton pad, divided in half. Before the procedure, the tourniquet must be moistened with warm boiled water, saline or breast milk.

pear rinse thoroughly before use. After that, squeeze tightly in your hand so that all the air comes out. Then slowly and carefully insert into the baby's nostril and slowly unclench your hand. After removing the pear, wash it immediately.

Aspirator designed specifically for cleaning the nose, and it allows you to carry out the procedure effectively and painlessly. To do this, you need a small plastic tube, which is connected to the container, to attach to the child's nostril. And through the second tube, make a suction movement. So all the contents of the nose fall into the container.

When cleaning the nose of a newborn, it is not recommended to use dry cotton wool, as small villi settle on the walls of the passages and irritate the mucous membrane, stimulating it to secrete. And with inhalation, they can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract, and cause the development of infectious or inflammatory processes.

A hard crust must be softened before removal. The best solution for this is saline or sea water. Only the visible part of the nasal passages needs to be cleaned.

The formation of dry crusts in the nose can prevent the maintenance of optimal microclimatic conditions in the room in which the child is located. The temperature should not exceed 20 °C. The room must be regularly ventilated. You should also, if necessary, additionally humidify the air (especially during the heating season). Don't forget the benefits of being outdoors.