# 6 week old really congested at night



## 4Marmalade (May 4, 2004)

I posted this in Life with a Babe but thought it might be a breastfeeding issue as well.

I have 6 week old twins and for the last few weeks, ds2 has been really congested at night. We cosleep and he nurses lying down. He nurses a lot and I'm sure he stays latched after I'm asleep and continues to nurse small amounts. Around 3-4am he starts getting really congested and it's more difficult for him to breathe while nursing and I can hear a lot of "stuff" in the back of his nose/throat. He has trouble falling back asleep. Sometimes he sneezes and stuff comes out of his nose, including "milk-ish" stuff. Once he is awake in the morning the congestion disappears. I am nursing him now and his breathing is totally clear. He has no cold symptoms and dd2 is not affected the same way at all.

Is it just because he is nursing lying down and maybe milk collects there? Allergies? My other two dc's didn't have this issue.


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## metted (May 29, 2005)

my DS had the exact same thing and i eventually found out that it was most likely a symptom of reflux. reflux can be related to allergies so you may be right that allergies play a role. does your LO have any other symptoms of reflux at all? DS didn't early on.


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## genx77 (Mar 13, 2007)

DD would get congested in the middle of the night as a newborn. I finally figured out she was getting to hot in her sleeper laying on top of me (we could nurse side lying yet). I started putting her in her in just a diaper and a tshirt and putting her down next to me instead of on top and the congestion stopped. It doesn't happen anymore but I'm not sure when it stopped.


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## clutterbug (Apr 6, 2007)

I was thinking maybe reflux as well. I didn't know this before but an LC was telling me just last week that babies don't have the ability to close off the passage to their nose when they spit up/vomit...like you know sometimes if you barf, it comes out your nose? Well for babies a little always gets up there, and it can cause congestion, runny nose (and in the case of my DS, boogers...I wondered where all those boogers were coming from, LOL!). So possibly he is refluxing at night?

Or like the PP to this one, maybe it's actually stuffy nose from a warm room, I get that myself....


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## merry-mary (Aug 9, 2007)

My DD had a bad cold at 3 weeks old (she got it from her older brother who got it from one of the kids at school). Anyway, she was very congested, so I ran a cool mist humidifier in our room at night. It really seemed to help.

Also, it's really normal for infants to be congested for quite awhile after birth. It will probably resolve itself in another few weeks.


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## 4Marmalade (May 4, 2004)

Thanks everyone. Regarding the reflux...I'm not sure that's it. From my search it looks like the symptoms can be kind of vague. He does wake frequently at night (but he is 6 weeks old so in my mind that's normal) and sometimes displays pain signs which we thought were gas but they don't happen very often. Spit up happens very rarely and is only a tiny amount. He is generally a pretty happy baby.

He could be getting warm as he sleeps right next to me and dd2 sleeps on me so I get pretty warm.

I will probably just watch things and be more aware. Maybe it will go away as quickly as it started







.


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## 2swangirls (Feb 13, 2006)

I don't think my DS has reflux and he wakes up stuffy too. He only nurses once in the middle of the night and the gos right back to sleep in his crib in our room. (I don't sleep well if co sleeping, I don't even feel like I sleep really







)

You could try a cool mist humidifier.


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## abc123xyz (Aug 28, 2007)

Our son has that congestion quite frequently and I asked our ped about it and she said it is likely milk/phlegm(sp) that gets stuck in the back of his throat and to just pat him on the back to help him get it out or go with it because they can't clear their throats themselves. So, if he has it and I can pat his back pretty good, I do it and it clears up. It could also be some kind of allergy...Although I am sure you looked into that and it sounds like your situation is only at night. Hope this might give you another avenue to explore!


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