Baby screams when suctioning nose

I’m writing to you from a plague pit. Our baby has just caught his first cold, which means that everyone else has caught a cold, and right now it feels like the only way out of this is to get our house exorcised or just straight-up burn it down.

Índice Show

How do I use a rubber bulb syringe?
How do I clean the syringe?
How do I use the newer nasal aspirators?

I shouldn’t have let this happen. I spent a couple of years as a nursery school teacher in my 20s, and this sort of thing took place all the time. A kid would come in with a slightly crusty nose, and suddenly the infection would spread like a nuclear blast. First the kid’s friends would get sick. Then their friends. Then the weird kids who spent their days whispering at Stickle Bricks. After that it’d cross over to the teachers, and we’d somehow mutate the virus and send it back to the kids, and they’d send it back to us, and our entire lives would become a nightmarish Isner-Mahut marathon of Lemsip and phlegm.

In retrospect, I should have acted when I first overheard a friend describe her baby as “a bit snuffly”. Experience should have taught me to immediately grab my son, run home, fill a plastic incubation bubble with vaporising chest rub, plunge him into it by his ankles and then pace backwards and forwards in a hazmat suit for 48 hours until a panel of medical examiners had given us the all-clear.

But I did not, and now we’re all suffering for it. Our son, to be fair, is coping better than any of us. He’s perpetually bunged up, to the point that he gasps and chokes on his milk, but he’s determined not to let it dent his unstoppable good cheer. He’s been grinning at doctors and waving at his own reflection like mad, which only makes it more heartbreaking when he’s hit by a wave of illness that he can’t quite surmount.

On the other hand, I’ve been forced to cross a dreadful Rubicon in my relationship with him. Like all dads, I’ve always said that I’d do anything for my son. But, like all dads, I didn’t actually mean it. Because one day, relatively early on, I saw my wife suck snot out of my son’s nose through a tube, and I decided on the spot that I’d never be caught doing that. Never. I vowed to spend my dying breath congratulating myself for not using any of my previous breaths to suck snot out of my son’s nose through a tube. That seemed sensible enough.

But, reader, I did it. I sucked some snot out of his nose.

Some qualifiers are probably needed here. First, I used a nasal aspirator, which has a handy little valve that stops the baby bogies from slamming against the back of your throat when you suck on it. And second, he really needed to have his nose cleared out. But still, it happened. Neither of us enjoyed it and I’m not in a rush for it to happen again. It feels like a line has been crossed, just like the time he stood up, grabbed my fingers, looked me in the eye and deliberately crapped himself.

But this is apparently what you do when your kid is ill. Until now, we’ve been able to directly solve all his problems by feeding him or changing him or putting him to sleep. But we can’t cure a cold, so we’re forced to use gruesome little stopgaps like the aspirator to help him. Let’s all just promise to forget this ever happened, and pray that I haven’t still got a column when he gets his first bout of constipation.

@stuheritage

Photo credit: iStock.com / FtLaudGirl

Clearing that stuffed-up nose will probably make it easier for your little one to breathe, eat, and sleep.

Most new parents get a rubber bulb syringe in their newborn kit from the hospital for this purpose, and it generally works pretty well. There are also a few new products on the market (do an online search for "nasal aspirator") that may be even more efficient at removing mucus from a stuffy little nose.

Start by squirting a little nasal saline into your child's nose to moisten and loosen up the mucus before you try to suction it out. You can buy saline at pharmacies or make it easily at home by dissolving 1/4 teaspoon of salt in 8 ounces of warm water. Make a fresh batch each day and store it in a clean, covered glass jar. (If you get your water from a well, it's a good idea to boil the water first to sterilize it.)

Lay your child down with her chin tilted up slightly. Place one or two drops of saline in each nostril with an eyedropper (or squirt once or twice if you're using a saline spray) and try to keep your baby's head still for about ten seconds. Wipe the dropper clean after each use.

The saline itself may ease your child's congestion. But if her nose is still stuffy after a few minutes, you can break out the suction device.

How do I use a rubber bulb syringe?

Squeeze the air out of the bulb of the syringe to create a vacuum. Then gently insert the rubber tip into one nostril. Slowly release the bulb to suction out mucus. Remove the syringe and squeeze the bulb forcefully to expel the mucus into a tissue. Wipe the syringe and repeat the process for the other nostril.

If your baby is still congested after five to ten minutes, apply saline drops again and resuction. Don't suction your baby's nose more than two or three times a day, though, or you'll irritate its lining. And don't use the saline drops for more than four days in a row because over time, they can dry out the inside of the nose and make matters worse.

Bear in mind that this should be a gentle process. If you end up suctioning too aggressively, the nasal tissues can become inflamed (or even bleed), which can make the congestion worse. If your baby resists vigorously, let it go for a while and try again later.

How do I clean the syringe?

Clean it well with warm, soapy water after each use. Squeeze the bulb with the tip in the soapy water to clean the inside, too. (Shake the soapy water inside the bulb before squeezing it out.)

Rinse well by repeating the process several times with clear warm water. Suspend the syringe, tip side down, in a glass to dry.

How do I use the newer nasal aspirators?

The other nasal aspirators consist of a nozzle that you position at the opening of the nostril, a long piece of soft tubing in the middle, and a mouthpiece on the other end. You use your mouth to gently suction mucus out of your child's nose and into the nozzle. A filter in the tube blocks bacteria and keeps you from inhaling any germs. The device can be taken apart and washed with soap and warm water.

These products come with complete directions on how to use and care for them. They may cost a bit more (around $15), but some parents find them more effective, less invasive, and easier to use than a bulb syringe.

Dana Dubinsky is a health and science editor.

Many parents say devices like the NoseFrida are lifesavers when their baby is sick. Makes sense since these nasal aspirators help their little ones breathe easier when they get all stuffy.

But during the pandemic, concerned parents have written in forums and private Facebook groups, stating that they became sick after using the NoseFrida on their babies, which requires the adult to put one end of the device in their mouth while the other attaches to their baby's nose. With a deadly virus going around, it's easy for any parent to become nervous.

Is it really possible to get sick from using a NoseFrida? Good news parents, experts say you probably shouldn't worry too much—especially if you are using the product correctly.

Many parents have indeed called the NoseFrida—aka snotsucker—a "lifesaver," says Rashmi Jain, M.D., pediatrician and founder of BabiesMD. "In the first few months of life, babies are 'obligate nasal breathers' so they are not able to breathe through their mouths. If their nose is congested, they can't breathe; If they can't breathe, they can't eat or sleep comfortably either," says Dr. Jain.

"Now, one has a fussy baby on their hands," says Dr. Jain. That's where the NoseFrida comes in. "The NoseFrida is more effective at removing mucus from their nostrils than a manual bulb aspirator," she adds.

Matthew Harris, M.D., a pediatrician in pediatric emergency medicine at Northwell Health, says, "Like other products, it is used with some nasal saline to help loosen up the mucus and then remove it by sucking on the back end of the Frida."

The process of using one can seem unsanitary and risky at first when it comes to disease transmission. Clinical studies during the NoseFrida's inception in the late '90s, Dr. Jain points out, showed that with proper use of the hygienic filter there was no bacteria growth at the part of the device that goes into the parent's mouth. "Unfortunately, the clinical studies did not evaluate for the presence of viral particles at either end of the device," she adds. Viruses are much smaller in size than bacteria.

"That being said, the risk of becoming infected by the virus causing your baby's illness (even COVID-19) might not necessarily be increased by using the NoseFrida. As a parent, you're still exposed to your baby's sneezes, coughs, tears, and saliva while caring for your child. This in itself is usually enough to create viral transmission to a parent regardless of how they remove mucus from their baby's nose," says Dr. Jain.

Parents can do their best to protect themselves by washing their hands with soap and water when they have a sick baby at home, says Dr. Harris.

Follow these steps if you decide to use the NoseFrida when you notice your little one is dealing with nasal discharge that's making them uncomfortable or disrupting their daily activities like drinking and sleeping.

Dr. Jain recommends laying your baby down on their back and keeping them in a secure position. If you have a partner at home or someone helping out, have them hold your baby's arms, torso, and forehead still. Alternatively, the other person can hold the baby upright in their lap facing toward the suctioning parent and wrap their hand around the baby's arms and torso while holding the forehead steady. "Having the baby secure in one position will prevent accidentally hurting the child or parent," explains Dr. Jain.

"Place a few drops of nasal saline in the nose of the child," says Dr. Harris. The nasal saline helps to loosen thick, dry mucus and can shrink those inflamed nasal passages. Wait a few seconds for the saline to pass into the baby's nasal passages.

Put the nasal tip of the aspirator device at the entry of the nose. "It does not need to go into the nostril; it merely needs to make a seal with the opening of the baby's nostril so that when you apply suction, the vacuum created pulls the mucus outwards," says Dr. Jain.

Place the red aspirator suction tip in your mouth and begin to suck. "You might gently move the angle of the nasal aspirator tip in a circular motion to see if it helps extract more mucus," adds Dr. Jain.

Once you finish sucking the snot out, it's time to sanitize. Make sure to throw out the hygienic filter and wash the large nasal tube with hot water. Also, clean the thin suctioning tube by adding a few drops of rubbing alcohol into one end so it passes through it to sterilize the device, says Dr. Jain.

After all the parts are either hand or air dried, reassemble the aspirator with a new hygienic filter so that it is ready to go for next time. "Listen for all the clicks to know everything is connected appropriately," says Dr. Jain.

Try not to overuse these devices since they can cause some swelling in the nose, adds Dr. Harris. NoseFrida says you can use it up to four times a day. Nationwide Children's Hospital also suggests limiting suctioning mucus out of your baby's nose in general to four times a day.

And always keep monitoring your baby's symptoms, too. "If you are concerned that the child is having difficulty breathing or feeding and this does not improve after nasal suctioning, please speak with your provider or seek medical care," says Dr. Harris.

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