Not sleeping well - help!

[nat12]

Ds is 5 weeks old and the past week he's been sleeping pretty badly. His nose is so stuffed up (it's very hot and dry where we live) and I guess it's even more difficult for him to breath when he's lying on his back in his crib, and the sounds he makes keep us all up. We try to clean out his nose (saline drops, bulb syringe, tissue) and we put the vaporizer on for a few hours when I can stand it (it's warm mist and we live in AZ!). He sleeps more peacefully on my chest or in his bouncer seat, - should I just put him in his bouncer seat at night? Or should I raise one end of his mattress? Or just go out and buy a cool mist humidifier and keep it on all day? What's the best thing to do?!

Natalie
Ethan 6/14/03

[KimberleyDawn]

Natalie,
I would start with tilting the mattress in his crib along with the vaporizer. How long has this been going on? Have you asked your ped. for some suggestions?
Kim

[lisams]

Hi Natalie!! Since we live in AZ also, we have found using a cool mist humidifier to be a life saver! I highly recommend one. We got one that has a control setting, and keep it on high for most of the day. Not only is AZ super dry, but the AC makes it even worse for those little ones. An extra bonus to having the humidier on high is that it creates white noise which helps my DD sleep better. I hope your little one is sleeping better soon. And I also hope we get some rain soon (maybe in the next couple of days??!!!! Monsoons, where ARE you?!)

Lisa

[lizajane]

if he sleeps well in his bouncey seat, he may sleep better in his carseat (if you have an infant "bucket") and it would be safer than the bouncer for unsupervised nighttime sleep. i have a ton of friends who used the car seat as the "bed" for a while just because our babies slept so well in it!

[justlearning]

I had a similar question awhile back and got great answers, so here's the link to that thread: http://www.windsorpeak.com/dcforum/DCForumID30/1880.html

I did find that allowing him to sleep a few nights upright in his swing or bouncy seat seemed to help him get better sleep. Another tip--I found that the best time to use the nasal aspirator (bulb) was right after breastfeeding. I think that's because he had to breathe through the nose alone during that time, which seemed to loosen the congestion and push the gross stuff within reach of the bulb.