Treatment of rhinitis in infants requires a special approach, when priority is given to a saline solution based on seawater salts and natural oils, which help to maintain optimal moisture content of the mucous membrane. It is highly undesirable to use vasoconstrictor drops.
Before starting the treatment of a runny nose in an infant, you should make sure that it is not an allergy and determine if sniffing in a nose is a physiological norm, which is typical for babies up to six months. As a rule, a newborn baby takes 3-4 months, and sometimes more, to adapt to external conditions. If the baby has a normal body temperature, he eats and sleeps in a timely manner, then excess moisture in the nose is just evidence that the mucous membrane of the nasopharynx and nose has not yet worked in full force.
With a physiological rhinitis, it is enough to increase the humidity in the apartment, reduce the air temperature and drip breast milk or sea salt solution (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water) into the baby's nose.
Signs of an infectious rhinitis are green or yellow snot and fever, but this does not mean that a mild rhinitis with or without a subfebrile temperature does not need to be treated at all. Indeed, rhinitis in infants is a common case, but one cannot ignore it. The fact is that up to six months, babies do not have the ability to breathe through their mouths and nasal congestion causes them many inconveniences. It is difficult to breastfeed, such children have a superficial and short sleep.
If you start treating the common cold on time, then it will be quite enough methods such as thinning sputum with an oil solution of vitamin A, saline or infusion of calendula and yarrow. Oil is instilled in 1 drop in each nostril, and saline and herbal infusions - ½ pipette. After this, cleansing is carried out and mucus is removed from the sinuses with a rubber bulb or pipette, but only from the outside. Deep and intense sputum suction can only exacerbate the problem.
It is necessary to monitor not only the decrease in mucus production, but also its absence. Drying out of the nasopharynx is fraught with thickening of mucus, which will significantly complicate the removal of sputum.
Today, pediatrics has a wide range of remedies for the treatment of rhinitis in infants based on sea water, which contributes to the simultaneous moisturizing of the nose and liquefaction of mucus: Aquamaris, Marimer, Physiomer. However, in no case should these and other preparations be used in the form of a spray. Intense nasal irrigation can cause reflex spasm of the vocal cords. Until the age of two, only drops are permissible. Therefore, it is highly undesirable to use "Euphorbium", "Salina", although they are no less effective in the process of moisturizing the baby's nose.
Warming oils of calendula, St. John's wort or sea buckthorn, which are used not for instillation, but for lubrication, have a good moisturizing effect. Thuja or tea tree oil can be dripped 1 drop on a pillow before bed or in a glass of water near the baby's bed. Aromatherapy is also quite effective. However, this method of treating the common cold is possible only after reaching the age of 6 months.
Vasoconstrictor drugs should not be used without a doctor's prescription, since after a week of use they are addictive and become ineffective.
The danger of vasoconstrictor drugs, the action of which is based on the narrowing of the blood vessels of the mucous membrane, lies in the possibility of their penetration into the bloodstream through the delicate mucous membrane of the baby. Affecting the entire body, this type of drug can cause changes in pressure, heart palpitations. Sometimes parents diligently bury their child in the nose "Nazivin" or "Tizin" for a long time, considering them absolutely safe for the reason that they are intended for infants. Although 5 days are quite enough.
