First of all, this is not a request for medical advice. I already called his pediatrician and described his symptoms and she told me that this is typical for infants and nothing to worry about. Great.
So my question is, what’s causing this? He’s had clear discharge from his nose for two and a half months straight now. Sometimes it’s worse (the last couple of days, for example, he’s had a more or less continual stream of snot coming out of his nose) and sometimes it’s better, but it’s always there. I’m so tired of the damn suction bulb, I could scream.
I’ve called the doctor a couple of times just to make sure it really is OK, and she keeps telling me that infants really do get runny noses all the damn time, and as long as he doesn’t have a fever, which he doesn’t, and the snot isn’t yellow or green, which it isn’t, I really shouldn’t worry.
But I mean, what? Does he have the mother of all colds? What mechanism is it exactly that makes infants’ noses run continually?
(As slight background, he was hospitalized when he was a month old with RSV and bacterial pneumonia, but the doc assures me that has nothing to do with his current runny nose.)
And… is it ever going to STOP? I wish snot were a valuable commodity on like, eBay, because I think I’d have at least a gallon of the stuff by now.
My son is two and it’s the same deal. My father is a retired physician (nearly 40 years in practice), so all medical advice gets a second opinion. I asked the pediatrician, and my Pops, and got the same answer as you. Some kids just have runny noses.
I’ve been told that it takes time to develop allergies, and while breastfeeding in the first months, it’s almost nonexistant. Lactose intolerance is more a stomach-pukey deal. (that IS the technical term, isn’t it )
Another kid at daycare had this. She was always so rheumy-eyed and runny-nosed and stuff that they actually tested her for creepy things like cystic fibrosis, I think.
But she was fine. Just snotty, I guess. She’s now almost 3 and it doesn’t seem to be as bad as it used to be.
My 3 yo always had a runny nose her first year. Runny nose and she was also a major slobberer. She hasn’t had a cold for the better part of a year now! But I do think she is affected by allergies of the eyes, red and runny when it strikes. Not pinkeye we treated for that and the medicine didn’t do a damn thing. The next time she (and I) got the red itchy eyes I just swabbed em and let it go and it cleared up on its own in a week.
Change the laundry detergent you use to wash baby clothes and crib sheets. Rinse twice, maybe add a little vinegar to the rinse water. Do NOT use fabric softener or dryer sheets. Those things are LOADED with perfume!
Vacuum often. Change the filter in the furnace. Keep animals out of the baby’s room.
Find an unscented soap. (That Ivory crap is SMELLY with perfume!) Find an unscented lotion (awwww…the baby products SMELL so good, too!) Use cornstarch instead of baby powder. Check the disposible didies, too, they even put perfume in THOSE. Don’t keep a diaper pail in the baby’s room.
And you might try a dab of vaseline around her nostrils so they don’t get all raw from you wiping them all the time.
Sigh…thanks for the advice, VOW, but we already do all those things. I guess I could try switching detergents, but the one we use is already scent-free.
My kid was a little older than yours when he started with the constant runny nose and coughing. Our doctor said to suspect dairy products.
We cut way back on everything. We switched to soy milk, soy cheese, tofutti ice cream, etc. Very quickly he dried up. So that WAS the problem, for ours anyway.
We’ve slowly added back a little dairy over the months, just a little (a slice of pizza once in awhile), but he hasn’t had any problems since.
The perfumes in everything is very insidious. Do try the extra rinse in the wash, if you don’t do that already. An additional slosh can’t hurt.
If it ain’t the perfumes, then dairy is the next major culprit. I’ve heard of babies so allergic to dairy that if MOM has any, the breastfeeding kid gets sick.
And don’t believe everything you hear about babies not being allergic for “x” number of months. I knew of a baby who didn’t cry when she was born…she sneezed! (Mom’s “springtime fresh” Massingil maybe…eeeeeh, that was BAD!)
Once the teething starts, though, that end of the baby is gonna be leaking nonstop from drool. Buy stock in Bounty paper towels!
~VOW
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