How to cure a runny nose in a two-month-old baby?

The main causes of runny nose in two-month-old children

The first thing a parent needs to do is contact a pediatrician, who will make an accurate diagnosis and determine the cause of the sniffles . Based on this, the optimal decision on prescribing therapy will be made. There are a number of reasons why rhinitis may occur in a baby.

Cold

Almost always, the appearance of rhinitis in infants in the second month of life is associated with a viral or bacterial infection. The developing infectious process is often accompanied by swelling of the mucous membrane of the olfactory organ, secretory activity of the glands, and impaired nasal breathing.

Allergy

An allergic reaction can trigger rhinitis in an infant. It often manifests itself due to exposure to adverse environmental factors or constant contact with allergens. Allergies are characterized by the appearance of watery nasal discharge, increased lacrimation, swelling of the mucous membrane of the nasal passages, and paroxysmal sneezing.

Physiological runny nose

There is a type of rhinitis that is unique to infants. This type is related to physiological runny nose. This is a natural process of adaptation of the mucous membrane of the nasal passages. After birth there is a very sharp change in the environment. The nasal mucosa, which is not yet fully formed and does not fully perform its functions, adapts to the new conditions of extrauterine stay. The mucous glands begin to function in active mode. For this reason, babies experience clear discharge from the olfactory organ. It is not necessary to treat this type of snot.

Entry of a foreign body into the nasal cavity

Sometimes a foreign body can provoke a runny nose in a baby. You cannot do without medical help here, since the item must be obtained as soon as possible. Newborns should not be left unattended.

Important! Whatever the reason for the discharge, the baby needs urgent help.

A runny nose in a 2-month-old baby: how to treat it, the most effective methods, reviews

A runny nose is one of the most common pathologies. An adult copes with the disease easily and without problems.

And in an infant, nasal congestion and discharge cause many problems not only for the baby, but also for the parents.

This condition disrupts sleep and does not allow him to eat normally, and not all medications are suitable for the baby. How to treat a runny nose in a 2 month old baby?

What should parents do?

If a 2-month-old child develops a runny nose, it should be shown to a doctor. He will examine the baby and prescribe the correct treatment.

How to treat a runny nose in a 2 month old baby? A severe runny nose can disturb a baby, and only a doctor can determine the nature of rhinitis in a newborn.

Symptoms of rhinitis

When a 2-month-old baby has a runny nose, treatment should begin by identifying the signs of the disease:

• the child is capricious and crying;
• his mouth is constantly open;
• the wings of the nose are tense;
• clear or purulent discharge occurs;
• breathing becomes noisy, and sometimes the child snores;
• the baby refuses food and breastfeeding because it is difficult for him to suck due to swelling;
• the child sleeps restlessly and wakes up frequently;
• if a bacterial infection occurs, the temperature rises and general symptoms of intoxication occur.

If the mother cannot independently determine the symptoms of the disease and the cause of its occurrence, then it is best to consult a doctor who will accurately select the correct treatment regimen. How to cure a runny nose in a 2 month old baby?

If a 2-month-old baby has a runny nose, what to treat should be determined by a specialist. Treatment of rhinitis at this age has particular difficulties. They consist in the impossibility of using many drugs that are prescribed to older children. However, babies at this age do not know how to blow their nose.

First of all, the baby's nose is freed from secretions. What can be used to treat a 2-month-old child:

• Various aspirators.
• Douches or small enemas. It is best to choose them with a wide tip. Before the procedure, the syringe is disinfected and the tip is lubricated with petroleum jelly so as not to injure the baby’s mucous membranes. It is injected shallowly, thereby avoiding injury.
• Electronic devices. They are battery operated and have an attractive shape.

To treat rhinitis, solutions for rinsing and moistening the nose can be used. The opinions of pediatricians in this case are quite contradictory. One group of doctors is sure that rinsing is absolutely necessary.

Others warn that if done incorrectly, there is a risk of infection in the middle ear. If there is a fever and purulent nasal discharge, parents should not rinse the baby's nose.

If light mucus and crusts occur, it is allowed to carry out the procedure with the following solutions: “Humer”, “Aqualor”, “Salin” and others.

For a 1-2 month old baby, parents should not prepare the saline solution themselves, since there is a high probability of going too far with its concentration. This can lead to irritation of the delicate mucous membranes.

Inhalation with a nebulizer is one of the possible procedures at this age. Steam inhalations are prohibited for use in infants.

If snot appears in a baby at 2 months, the pediatrician should determine how to treat it at home. It is best to carry out inhalations with a nebulizer with a decoction of herbs. However, such a procedure should only be done as prescribed by a pediatrician.

What drops can be used for a runny nose in a 2 month old baby? These include “Protargol”. They are based on colloidal silver. The product is approved for use by children if they are not allergic to the main active ingredient.

Other drugs (vasodilators, antiallergic) are prohibited for use at this age.

Features of the course of the disease

How to treat cough and runny nose in a 2 month old baby? In this situation, the pediatrician usually prescribes the following:

1. Inhalations with a nebulizer. If the baby does not have a fever, the procedure can be carried out twice a day. In this case, use a decoction of chamomile, calendula, and saline solution.
2. For viscous and difficult to separate sputum, use “Rinofluimucil”. Drops have anti-edematous and mucolytic effects. The instructions for use indicate that they are prescribed with caution to children under 3 years of age. Therefore, drops should be used only as prescribed by a doctor.
3. Chamomile tea. The decoction from the bottle has a disinfectant and soothing effect, so if it gets on the back wall of the throat, it will improve the baby’s condition. After all, a child at that age will not be able to gargle.
4. Drugs with a vasodilating effect. If swelling prevents the baby from falling asleep, use baby drops - “Nazivin” for children. They are used once, for 3-4 days, exclusively at night.
5. Balms and ointments. There are many products that can be used to lubricate the patient’s nose to alleviate the symptoms of the disease. However, they are allowed to be used by children over 2-3 years old. There are no data on the use of the product by children of the younger group.

Among the alternative methods for treating a runny nose in a 2-month-old baby, drops of carrot, beet juice and breast milk are suitable. It is not recommended to use the products during purulent processes, so that they do not become a breeding ground for the proliferation of bacteria.

What is the correct treatment and what does it depend on? There is no clear answer to this question. A common runny nose occurs in several stages:

• Elementary. It lasts from several hours to several days. The baby is bothered by pain and burning.
• Serous discharge. Continue for 2-3 days. This causes swelling and clear mucus.
• Purulent discharge. Lasts 2-3 days. The discharge becomes purulent, the color ranges from light yellow to green.
• Restorative. At this stage, the functionality of the nose is restored. After that, he begins to do his job normally. This happens within 3-4 days.

Thus, the disease lasts 7-10 days. If it lasts longer, then perhaps:

• therapy is carried out incorrectly;
• low immunity;
• allergies to medications;
• foreign body;
• inconsistency of therapy with the cause of the disease, for example, when allergic rhinitis is treated with antiviral drugs.

Parents need to reconsider all the means used and seek help from a specialist. In this case, the doctor will be able to prescribe the correct treatment tactics.

Treatment of rhinitis in the absence of fever

In this case, therapy has certain features. A runny nose can be the result of narrow nasal passages, the onset of a viral infection, or a manifestation of an allergy.

If a baby has snot for 2 months without fever, how should parents treat it? The mother’s task is to cleanse the nasal passages using cotton wool. If your baby has dried crusts in his nose, you can soften them with warm vegetable oil. The most effective methods include instilling a decoction of chamomile or other medicinal herbs into the nose.

Snot without fever in a 2-month-old child must be treated correctly, having first established the cause of the runny nose. Rhinitis can be caused by the physiology of the child's body. In this situation, you should not over-treat. It is enough to clean the nose with an aspirator or a cotton tourniquet.

Is it allowed to walk with a child with a runny nose?

If it is hot and the baby is in serious condition, walking is prohibited. In this situation, it is enough to ventilate the room several times a day. And it’s best to visit the street after recovery.

If the baby feels fine, you should not stay at home. Time spent walking will improve blood circulation and breathing, have a positive effect on the immune system, and the patient will recover faster.

The famous pediatrician Komarovsky is also confident in the benefits of fresh air for a runny nose and minor colds.

Signs of allergic rhinitis

If the discharge is due to an allergy, then neither drops, nor rubbing, nor other procedures may work. The disease has a different nature, so approaches to therapy also differ.

How to understand that a child has allergic rhinitis:

• the discharge is mostly clear;
• there are no symptoms of ARVI or colds (cough, fever);
• a rash, itching and swelling appeared;
• symptoms occur when exposed to certain substances or when specific foods are included in food.

If the cause of the disease is an allergy, then parents should closely monitor the baby’s health.

Such rhinitis requires the following treatment:

1. Initially, contact with the allergen is eliminated. It can be calculated independently or using laboratory tests.
2. Washing and irrigation. This allows you to reduce the negative impact on the mucous membrane.
3. Antiallergic drops – “Vibrocil”. They are allowed to be used for children up to one year old.
4. Antihistamines in the form of drops. “Fenistil”, according to the instructions, is approved for use by children after 1 month. Use drops as prescribed by a specialist.

Rhinitis brings suffering not only to the baby himself, but also to the parents. Therefore, it is important to help him survive this disease.

What not to do when treating a runny nose

Parents should follow all the pediatrician’s recommendations and also not do the following:

• put antibiotics in the nose;
• rinse your nose with an enema.

Use vasodilator drops without a doctor's prescription.

Why is a runny nose dangerous for babies?

The olfactory organ allows people to breathe, smell different smells, and also perform resonator functions. When rhinitis appears, all functions of the nose are disrupted. For this reason, very serious changes can occur in the baby’s body. If the baby's sniffles persist for a long period, this can cause changes in the chest and bones of the facial skeleton.

The olfactory organ, blocked during rhinitis, becomes the cause of oxygen exchange in the body. This leads to disruption of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. As a result of the resulting violations, the physical development of the baby can be severely inhibited. The baby will sleep poorly and move little.

The cilia that cover the inside of the nasal passages cease to function fully as a result of rhinitis. For this reason, the ability to remove all harmful particles from the nose is lost. This already leads to allergies.

Due to the resulting rhinitis and nasal congestion, acute inflammatory processes may worsen, which will result in asthma or other dangerous diseases. The nose is the most important part of the respiratory system, because it is through its passages that air enters and exits; its area is equipped with nerve endings and has connections with many body systems. The child reacts strongly to the slightest changes associated with the nose.

How to properly treat a runny nose in a newborn

Infants diagnosed with ARVI require careful care. If you notice that your child has begun to cough and sneeze, then a runny nose may develop. When the first snot appears, you should consult your pediatrician. The doctor will examine the baby and prescribe a treatment regimen. Treating yourself for a long time is very risky, as complications may arise.

Treatment must begin with an accurate determination of the diagnosis and the causes of the report. Snot may occur due to the development of a viral disease, or may be a consequence of the development of allergies.

If your 2-month-old baby has snot, then you need to monitor the air temperature in the room. The temperature should be between twenty and twenty-three degrees. If the room is too hot, this will cause the mucus to dry out and spread the disease to the lower respiratory tract. It would also be a good idea to carry out regular wet cleaning and air humidification. It is important to ensure the baby is in the correct position. The head of the crib or stroller should be raised slightly and an additional pillow should be placed under the baby's back. This elevated position will help clear mucus from the nasal passages and make it much easier for him to breathe.

How to distinguish a physiological runny nose

It is extremely simple to distinguish a physiological runny nose in a 2-month-old child from any other disease. Typically, a physiological runny nose has the following series of symptoms:

1. The baby sleeps well, is not capricious for no reason, and has a good appetite. The general state of health does not change, and the parents do not note anything unusual in the behavior of the baby.
2. There is no increase in the baby's body temperature. There are no manifestations of any symptoms of colds, for example, cough, chills.
3. The mucus secreted from the nasal passages has a fairly viscous consistency, a light shade and a transparent structure. At the same time, a small amount of mucus is released from the nose. The entire bulk remains inside the passages.
4. The mucous membrane does not swell, does not redden or become inflamed. For this reason, nasal breathing occurs without difficulty.

Every parent should know how to distinguish this type of rhinitis in order not to miss the development of colds and other diseases. Typically, a physiological runny nose lasts no more than 10 days. Most often, all the symptoms of such rhinitis disappear after a week.

What do yellow and green nasal discharge mean?

Almost every parent worries that they will not be able to timely identify a cold in their infant and begin treatment.

The main sign of a runny nose is copious discharge, which over time begins to thicken and change color. At first it may be a clear liquid, after a while it becomes thicker, turns white or acquires a yellow or greenish color, which indicates a stagnant process. The green color of mucus appears when a bacterial infection is attached: dead leukocytes and bacteria give this exact color to children's snot.

The yellow color of the discharge also indicates a bacterial runny nose; this color may also be due to pollen from various plants entering the respiratory tract of a newborn. Parents need to remember that yellow and green mucous discharge from the nasal passage, lasting more than 14 days, is a serious reason for concern for dad or mom.

If a child begins to develop sinusitis or sinusitis, the snot becomes bright yellow. If the discharge is yellow, but the consistency is similar to water, then this indicates an allergic rhinitis. Often, after contact with any allergen, children begin to leak yellow water.

In addition to color, the main signs of the development of a runny nose in a baby are:

• increased body temperature in a newborn;
• severe nasal congestion, the child is forced to breathe only through the mouth;
• shortness of breath may occur due to insufficient oxygen supply;
• with a runny nose caused by contact with an allergen, there is itching, sneezing, and redness of the nose.

Treatment

There are several methods for treating rhinitis in infants. Below are the safest and most effective ways to help your baby.

Nasal rinsing

Every parent's first aid kit should have a pipette, a bulb with a small tip for sucking out snot, and a syringe. For solutions you should have Aqua-Maris, Humer or saline solution. Place a replaceable soft nozzle suction nozzle on the syringe. Place the baby on its side and secure it with one hand. The solution is injected into the upper passage, and through the lower passage it exits along with the mucus. After the nose is thoroughly rinsed, take a pear and suck out the remaining snot. It is recommended to use the medications prescribed by the pediatrician.

Sneezing

If it is not possible to carry out the washing procedure, then an excellent remedy will come to the rescue - Kalanchoe. The older the plant, the greater the effect you can expect. Tear off one leaf from the plant and put it in the refrigerator. Squeeze the juice out of one half and place the other in the refrigerator again. Dilute the resulting juice with breast milk in a 1:1 ratio. It can be replaced with distilled water. Apply the product into each nostril. After a certain period, the baby will begin to sneeze. You should hold the lower jaw so that the baby sneezes into the nose.

Burying

After washing or sneezing, it is important to bury the passages. For this purpose, special drops are used, which are prescribed only by a doctor individually in each case.

Dr. Komarovsky's advice on treating a runny nose in a newborn

According to Oleg Evgenievich, it is possible to treat a runny nose in 2-month-old infants using ectericide, which is an oily solution with excellent bactericidal properties. This oil prevents the baby’s mucous membrane from drying out. Also, to treat childhood rhinitis, you can use olive and petroleum jelly oils, the drug tocopherol, which contains vitamins A and E, and retinol.

The above remedies are used with a two-hour break, three drops are instilled into each nasal passage. No side effects were identified from the drugs. But, according to Komarovsky, vasoconstrictor drops should be completely abandoned, since they are addictive in infants.

The doctor believes that mucous secretions in a newborn’s nose are a natural barrier to infections; they also contain substances that neutralize viruses.

The main task of parents when their child suffers from a runny nose is to prevent the baby’s mucous membrane from drying out. To do this, it is necessary to maintain the required temperature in the room - no more than 22 degrees. Provide the baby with plenty of fluids. Humidify the air in the room where the baby is.

Also, the famous doctor is of the opinion that a runny nose in infants goes away on its own if you provide the baby’s body with the right help, and not interfere with recovery with illiterate treatment.