The infant grunts. Why does a child grunt his nose and how to get rid of this symptom? Physiological Causes of Difficulty Breathing in Babies

Provide proper care for the newborn - the main task parents. Many mothers are frightened when they hear that the baby grunts with his nose. How can you help the baby and what is the reason for this condition?

Nose crusts

The main reason is the formation of crusts in the nasal passages of the crumbs, which appear due to the drying of the mucous membrane inside. Drying out can occur if the room is often dominated by dry air. This can often be observed at the beginning of the heating season. Why else does the baby constantly grunts with his nose? Such a problem may arise due to rare wet cleaning in the apartment or due to infrequent ventilation.

It is necessary to monitor the hygiene of the nasal cavity and nasopharynx every day. At the pharmacy, you can buy saline solution or a special spray that will make washing easier. The price of these funds is low, so everyone can afford to buy them.

How to do washing?

First you need to make sure that the product you use is at room temperature. Then put the baby on his back, not allowing his head to tilt back. Drip 3-5 drops of the product into each nostril and press the wings of the nose with massaging movements. After 5-8 minutes, it is necessary to clean the nasal passages with a cotton turunda. Do not use cotton buds or cotton wrapped around anything. With such tools, you will help damage the mucous membrane.

This procedure will help soften and easily remove crusts from the nose. Before using the spray, read the instructions in detail, as some drugs are recommended to be administered with different dosages and in a certain position of the body. Hygiene should be carried out in the morning and in the evening every day, regardless of situations. If necessary, washing can be done before feeding the baby.

Causes

If there is a nose, but there is no snot, then the problem may be a congenital disorder in the structure of the nasal passages. In order to exclude this option, you need to contact an otolaryngologist. With acute infectious inflammation in the baby's nose, excess mucus accumulates, which can also lead to grunting.

Often there are cases when foreign bodies enter the nasal cavity - parts from toys or rattles, insects. Daily examination of the child by parents in this situation will help keep the baby's nose in order and avoid grunting. If it is impossible to remove the object on your own, then you should immediately contact a specialist who will not allow further slippage of the foreign body into the nasopharynx.

So, the main reasons that the baby grunts his nose:

• congenital disorder of the structure of the nasal cavity;
• foreign body caught in the nose;
• infection (bacterial or viral).

What does Komarovsky say?

Children's doctor Evgeny Olegovich, who is a candidate of medical sciences, devoted several articles and programs to this problem. So, the baby grunts with his nose, but there is no snot. Komarovsky says the following about this:

1. First of all, you need to provide the baby optimal temperature in room. It's about 21°C. Relative humidity should be no more than 70%. If the room is constantly very dry, it is recommended to purchase a humidifier and turn it on for a couple of hours every day.
2. Daily rinsing of the nose with saline or sea salt water to moisten the passages.
3. You should also increase the time of walking in the fresh air if the baby has no diseases in acute form. Walking will help to naturally cleanse and moisturize the mucous membranes of the nose.
4. Drinking enough liquid throughout the day will help the body maintain a water-salt balance. After an illness, it is recommended to introduce drinks containing vitamin C into the diet - fruit drinks or specialized juices that can be purchased at a pharmacy.
5. Inhalation with saline or decoction medicinal herbs can be carried out even if the baby grunts with his nose, but there is no snot. It is not recommended to use vasoconstrictor drugs, as they interfere with the natural outflow of mucus, their action is aimed only at eliminating the common cold.
6. Cleansing of the nasal sinuses can be done using oil formulations applied to the turunda. It should be remembered that many of them can cause an allergic reaction in the baby. Therefore, they must be used with caution.

Physiological causes

If the baby grunts his nose at night, then know that this may be due to physiological causes that will pass when the child gets older. Indeed, at birth, the body does not have time to adapt to new conditions, and the passage of air through the narrow nasal passages is still difficult.

Grunting sounds for this reason are considered the norm. They will pass by themselves. Do not self-medicate or resort to radical measures, it is enough to perform a daily flush, and over time the sound will disappear.

Nasal septum. curvature

Why can a child grunt? There can be many reasons. But if, after consultation with a doctor, it was diagnosed, which is the need surgical intervention, do not panic. Such an anomaly in the structure is observed quite often.

The doctor will prescribe means to facilitate the breathing of the baby and recommend the age at which the operation is most favorable. It should be noted that even with this problem, the following measures are necessary: ​​regular wet cleaning, ventilation and compliance with a certain air temperature must be constantly monitored.

Allergy in a small child

If the baby grunts with his nose, what should I do? Contact your pediatrician or otolaryngologist, he will tell you the reason or point out the problem that you will need to fix. There are cases when grunting can be caused by an allergy to pet, then the doctor will conduct allergy tests and identify it. The wool of the animal, crumpled into balls, clogs the narrow nasal passages of the baby and interferes with breathing.

When you arrive at the house small child it is recommended to temporarily limit the presence of the animal nearby. An allergic reaction can also be washing powder or fabric softener. It is necessary to purchase these funds marked "hypoallergenic". Special series of products household chemicals and soap accessories will help you to use them calmly, without worrying about possible consequences.

A small conclusion

Mom's excitement when she hears that the baby grunts with her nose is quite understandable. After all, every parent wants their child to grow up healthy. Watching proper development it is necessary not only during the period when the baby is very small, but also later, when he becomes more independent. It is recommended to give preference in the purchase of toys or other means of developing motor skills to specialized brands. They will help eliminate the possibility of small parts getting into the sinuses and nasopharynx, as the quality of these toys has been tested and tested by many scientists. If the baby grunts with his nose, then even home-made sintepon dolls can be the reason for this. These toys collect dust, so they should be washed regularly, no matter how often the child uses them.

From the first days of a baby’s life, supervision by a pediatrician is necessary, who will monitor the health of the baby and, if treatment is needed or surgical intervention, immediately provide it or send it to the hospital. Traditional medicine should be used only under the supervision of a specialist, since in many cases it can cause a negative reaction in a child.

The body of a newborn is characterized by instability, during the first months of life, adapting to new conditions. This also applies to the respiratory system. Many children make grunting sounds when they breathe in air. Why is this happening? To answer this question, you need to understand the physiological characteristics of a child who has recently been born.

What should ideally be the breathing of an infant?

Correct work respiratory organs of the child is one of the critical factors on which the health of the baby depends. The respiratory process begins in the upper respiratory tract, from where air enters the lungs. They enrich arterial blood oxygen, after which it saturates the tissues with it.

The respiratory organs of babies have certain features that often lead to minor complications. Due to the underdevelopment of the respiratory system, breathing in infants can be intermittent with a constantly changing pace. So lengthy deep breath replaced by several short ones. It usually occurs in children within the first 30 days after birth. Then the pace begins to level off, and by 12 months it is normalized.

To determine if the baby is breathing correctly, it is necessary to measure the frequency of his breathing. To do this, take a stopwatch and measure how many times the child inhales within 1 minute. The norm for newborns is considered to be 50, and for infants older than 1 month - 25-40 breaths. At healthy babies Maybe slight deviation from the norm. If the value turned out to be much lower, this means that the infant is breathing shallowly and the ventilation of the lungs is insufficient.

Physiological causes of noisy nasal breathing

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If an infant makes grunting noises when breathing through its nose, this may be due to the fact that the nasopharynx and nose of a newborn are much narrower and shorter than those of older children. Also in the first days of life, the mucous membranes adapt to new conditions. To purify the inhaled air, the baby has mucus in the nose, due to which there are noises when breathing.

Imperfection of the infant's respiratory system

The nasal septum in newborns, unlike adults, has mobility. This physiological feature often causes the appearance of extraneous sounds when inhaling. As a rule, after a few months, the nasal septum becomes stronger, and the noise when breathing gradually disappears.

When teething, the baby holds subfebrile temperature, and also salivation increases, snot appears. A large number of mucus in the nasopharynx creates an obstacle to inhaled air, which leads to the appearance of grunting sounds. After the tooth cuts through the gum, the child's well-being returns to normal, and breathing becomes silent.

Cluster thick mucus in the respiratory organs of infants is due to the fact that they spend a lot of time lying on their backs. This makes it difficult for the outflow of mucus, and it accumulates in the baby in the nasopharynx. When the mucus is thin, it flows more easily down the nasal passages. The viscous muconasal secretion lingers in the nasal cavity and causes discomfort in the child.

The mucus in the baby's nasopharynx thickens under the influence of the following factors:

Drying of the nasal mucosa

When the baby grunts with his nose, but there is no snot, possible cause extraneous sounds may be drying of the mucous membranes in the nasal cavity. The crusts that appear at the same time make it difficult for the baby to breathe, especially in a dream. The reason for drying out can be dry or polluted air in the room where the child is for a long time.

In order not to face such a problem, parents should constantly monitor the cleanliness of the apartment, periodically ventilate the room, and walk in the fresh air every day. To humidify the air in the room, especially during the heating season, you can use special appliances or hang wet towels near the radiators.

When a baby makes a noise when inhaling, but he does not have snot, it is necessary to instill a few drops of saline in each nostril. This will prevent the mucous membranes from drying out, such a procedure will also remove dust and crusts from the nose.

The ingress of milk or mixture into the nasopharynx is the cause of grunting during feeding

Reason for grunting month old baby may consist in getting into his nasopharynx a mixture or breast milk. Babies also grunt when spitting up. In order for the baby to breathe well during feeding, you need to keep him in such a position that the head is higher than the torso.

If milk still gets into the respiratory tract during feeding, you need to transfer the baby to vertical position. To speed up the removal of a lump of food from the nasopharynx, you can drip a spout of saline into it.

When is it time to worry?

If the baby is already 2 months old, and grunting when inhaling does not stop for more than 7 days, parents should not leave this unattended, because. Noisy breathing can be caused by developing pathology. Associated symptoms of diseases are:

In order to cure the disease early stage, it is necessary to contact the pediatrician in a timely manner. Self-medication can lead to serious consequences.

The cause of stridor is an abnormal structure of the nasal cavity

Noises when inhaling air can be caused by congenital obstruction of the nasal passages (choanal atresia). It occurs in babies due to the fact that the nasopharynx is overgrown with connective or bone tissue. anomalous structure respiratory tract found in infants up to 6 months.

Pathology develops in a child during prenatal development. In most cases, the internal nostrils (choanae) are overgrown with bone tissue, while closing the airways through which oxygen enters the lungs.

As a rule, this pathology is combined with other defects of the respiratory organs:

• cleft palate (we recommend reading:);
• deformed septum;
• gothic sky.

To eliminate the pathologies of the nasal cavity, it is necessary surgery. Because babies breathe through their nose most of the time, cutting off oxygen through the nasal passages can lead to suffocation.

Mucosal edema as a symptom of an incipient respiratory infection

One of the very first symptoms of acute respiratory diseases is swelling and swelling of the nasal mucosa, which leads to the fact that the baby grunts when inhaled. This sign appears in infants with both viral and bacterial infections.

If the causative agent of the disease is a virus, then the baby's body temperature rises, headaches torment. With infections of bacterial etiology, a newborn develops thick snot of green or yellow color. With a runny nose, children experience difficulty in nasal breathing, in which little oxygen enters the body.

Mucosal swelling due to injury

Swelling of the nasal mucosa may appear in a baby as a result of an injury. Such injuries are often received by young children due to their carelessness or curiosity.

Swelling of the nose in a child persists for 2-3 days. In this case, the cause of edema can be recognized by the following signs:

Foreign body entering the nasal passage

Nasal congestion without snot appears when a foreign body enters the nasal passage. In this case, the mucosa swells and begins to intensively secrete the muconasal secret.

If the baby stuffed an object into one of the nostrils, you need to try to pull it out yourself. If it is deep, and there is no way to get it, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible.

How to help the baby?

Therapeutic measures for nasal congestion in infants should be to eliminate the causes that provoked a runny nose. Important role during treatment, the atmosphere in the room in which he spends most of his time plays. It is necessary to carry out wet cleaning daily, ventilate the room and, if necessary, humidify the air.

Proper hygiene

Nasal congestion in infants can lead to more serious consequences. If measures are not taken in a timely manner, when the child sniffles and grunts, parents may experience allergic reactions and infectious diseases. If the baby has a stuffy nose, but the snot does not flow, most likely, the causes of this condition are physiological.

To alleviate the condition of the baby, it is enough to observe the hygiene of the nasal cavity. To do this, you should alternately clean the nostrils with cotton swabs, and if this is not enough, rinse.

Creating optimal conditions in the nursery

Dr. Komarovsky believes that if a child has a constantly stuffy nose, and he grunts with it when inhaling air, the primary task of parents is to create in the children's room optimal conditions for the health of the baby. The air temperature in the room should be about 21 ° C, and the humidity should not exceed 70%. If the air in the room is too dry, a humidifier should be used.

To prevent infection, you need to constantly carry out wet cleaning in the room, but without disinfectants, which can be dangerous. Airing the room is necessary so that the baby can breathe freely.

Komarovsky also advises to increase the time spent with the child in the fresh air. Long walks contribute to the natural hydration of the mucous membranes of the nasal cavity.

ENT doctor's consultation

Many young parents have a question what to do when the baby makes grunting sounds with his nose or throat. First of all, the baby must be shown to the pediatrician, who, if necessary, will give a referral to an appointment with an ENT doctor.

If it turns out that the cause is not in the physiological characteristics of the baby, but in a bacteriological or viral infection, the doctor will prescribe the appropriate treatment. It is better not to treat the baby on your own, as this can lead to irreversible consequences.

Caring for newborn babies is a lot of work on the part of parents. Probably the greatest desire of each of them is to protect their beloved child from all kinds of diseases. But suddenly you notice that the child is grunting like a pig. Of course, such a phenomenon can cause fear and a lot of questions: what is the reason similar condition How can you help the little one? Let's talk about all this in more detail.

Where do "pigs" come from?

The reason why a newborn grunts is quite simple. The baby's nose is small, with narrow nasal passages. Moreover, often for one reason or another, the mucous membrane, which performs a protective function, dries up, resulting in the formation of crusts. They cause violations of nasal breathing with "musical" accompaniment.

What dries up the mucous membrane of small noses?

First of all, dry air. This becomes especially noticeable when central heating is turned on in homes. Also an unfavorable factor is the rare wet cleaning of the room and the inability to access fresh air (we are talking about the lack of ventilation). Another reason - parents forget to monitor the hygiene of the spout.

Keep your nose clean every day

How to help a baby

In order for the baby to breathe well through the nose, it is necessary to clean and rinse it every day. To do this, you will need a physiological saline solution, which can be bought at any pharmacy for little money. The next steps are like this:

• saline should be at room temperature;
• we put the baby on his back, make sure that his head is not thrown back;
• in turn, we instill 3 drops with a pipette into each nostril;
• lightly press the nose, massaging its wings, the baby can be lifted;
• after 5 minutes, we clean the nasal passages with pre-prepared cotton turundas (not sticks!). This time is enough for the crusts to become soft and come out unhindered.

For the procedure, you can use special sprays:

• saline (Salin);
• isotonic solutions of sea water (Humer, Aqua Maris).

This simplifies the whole process, as the spray is injected through a nozzle that dispenses the substance used. Read the manufacturer's instructions carefully. In some cases, the procedure is not performed in a horizontal position, but sitting, if the age of the crumbs allows. The bottle of isotonic solution should also be at room temperature.

A similar hygiene procedure is carried out daily in the morning and evening, if necessary, before feeding.

Other Problems and Solutions

If the air is dry. It is highly desirable to wash the floors in the child's room twice a day. During the heating season, you can cover the batteries with a damp towel. An aquarium and decorative fountains also give moisture to the room. However, the most reliable way maintain humidity at the proper level - purchase a household air humidifier. In the house where the baby lives, this purchase is 100% justified.

The room is stuffy. Systematic ventilation of the room gives an influx of fresh air, which is considered effective prevention in the fight against all kinds of infections. At the time of airing the baby, it is better to take it out of the room, if we are talking about the cold season.

Dust accumulators. These are carpets, upholstered furniture, old books. In the children's room, you should get rid of such things as much as possible or regularly vacuum the bookcases and sofas.

Lying position. month old baby spends a lot of time lying on his back, which also affects breathing not the most in the best way. At 2 months, the neck muscles of most peanuts have already grown stronger, and they can hold their heads (in some children this happens at 3 months). Help your child by turning him on his tummy. This will promote normal breathing processes.

This "oink" is not without reason

There are situations when grunting with a nose is not connected at all with physiology. In the absence of snot, congenital disorders in the structure of the nasal passages may occur. In the case of acute infectious inflammation, parents also notice how the baby grunts, but already because of excessively accumulated mucus.

A similar symptom is observed in the presence of a tumor, ingestion into the nose foreign bodies. All of these situations require an immediate visit to an otolaryngologist, or ENT, as we often call it.

What is stridor?

Sometimes such a diagnosis can be made to an infant on examination in the office of an ENT doctor. In Russian, "stridor" is translated as "breathing noise." Some children may experience congenital softness of the cartilage of the larynx or a narrow lumen of the nasal passages. In such cases, breathing will be accompanied by sniffling, grunting. With age this feature disappears in most cases.

However, if there are manifestations of stridor, it may be necessary to conduct additional tests to rule out dangerous diseases associated with heart disease, bronchial problems and an increase in the thymus gland. Therefore, a doctor's supervision is necessary, although by the 2nd - 3rd years, such features should disappear.

As we have seen, nasal grunting can be associated with both physiological features as well as pathology. In any case, this situation deserves the attention of parents in order to provide timely assistance to their baby.

Caring parents closely monitor all the changes in the body of their child, ask many questions about the care and regimen of the newborn. Therefore, young dads and moms have some anxiety and fear if their baby grunts with his nose, but there are no signs of snot and cough.

So what can cause grunting breathing in the first months of life and is it dangerous for the baby's health.

Physiological causes

The situation when the baby grunts his nose, but there is no snot, no inflammation, no cough, the baby is gaining weight very well, developing well, very frequent. The answer to the question: why this happens lies in the peculiarities of the structure of the nasal passages of newborns, which are distinguished by narrow gaps, so even a slight obstruction to the passage of air causes trouble.

Irritated by air or from regurgitation, mucous membranes, mucus and milk, block the nasal passage and begin to sound when the air flow passes, like a vocal cord. That is why parents hear that their child grunts.

Often in the first months of life, the child grunts with his nose, adapting to the conditions environment. Scientifically, this is called the physiological runny nose of newborns. If nothing else worries, you do not need to treat this condition, for 3-4 months of life everything will go away on its own.

But very often there is a more than banal reason: parents simply forget to clean their child's nose or do not clean it completely, because they are afraid to hurt the child. But the first month of a baby's life, this must be done every morning and evening.

Problems

If all the time the baby's nose was breathing quietly, but suddenly grunting sounds appeared, this does not mean that the child is sick and needs to be treated.

Some doctors say that a newborn baby grunts his nose without snot under adverse conditions:

• If there is a viral infection in the house (one of the other family members is sick);
• If the air in the room is very dry, or the temperature exceeds 23 degrees;
• Appeared allergic reaction dust, pet hair.

Regardless of whether the child grunts with his nose or not, the best room temperature for him - 18-22 degrees with a humidity of 50-70%. To make the child warm and comfortable, there is no need to turn on the heater, just put on a warm blouse and sliders, cover the child with a blanket. It is believed that best solution this problem is to create normal conditions for the life of the child, and not a visit to the pediatrician to prescribe treatment.

cold season

If the child grunts only at night, this indicates that the night is back wall pharynx accumulates viscous sputum. This situation is observed in early autumn, when heating is turned on, which dries the air. Also, these sounds can appear in winter after a walk in the cold or in autumn when it rains. All of these are variants of the norm.

The transparent or white snot that has appeared in the baby must be removed with a cotton flagellum or syringe. Snot and congestion prevent the child from sleeping and eating, because at this age the baby practically does not know how to breathe through his mouth. You can also rinse your nose with pharmaceutical isotonic solutions - Humer, Salin.
A grunting nose is not a reason to refuse walks.

At temperatures up to 15 degrees below zero, a newborn healthy child should be outside every day. You can even go outside with snot, as long as there is no temperature. In case of very unpleasant weather, walks can be shortened in duration, but increased in number. For example, two walks for half an hour.

Wrong indoor air

Very often, the nose grunts, but there is no discharge if the room is dry or too warm. To normalize the climate in the apartment, you can hang wet diapers, arrange pots with warm water Or use an electric humidifier.

It is necessary to do wet cleaning every day at least in the room where the child spends most of the time - wash the floors, wipe wet wipe surfaces. Use normal clean water. Modern disinfectants contain many flavoring and irritating substances, their use leads to the development of allergies, runny nose, pharyngitis.

Cold

The nose may grunt with a viral infection. A child has strong immunity from birth, so there is little chance of catching a cold in the first month of life, for this child you need to seriously supercool. mild cold may be manifested by wheezing of the nose. But if yellow snot appeared, they clogged the nose, it doesn’t come out well, a cough has joined - call a doctor, in this situation, you may need to prescribe an expectorant, nose drops.

However, it is safe to say that the baby is not threatened with sinusitis. This disease practically does not occur before the age of four, since the sinuses are not yet formed or they are very small.

Interference in the passage of air

You also need to be alert for foreign objects, anomalies in the development of the nose. To exclude these problems, it is enough to show the nose of the child to the ENT doctor, who, after rhinoscopy, will say for sure whether there are such problems or not.

Diseases

It should be noted that breathing can be grunting in some serious diseases:

1. Transient tachypnea of ​​the newborn. The incidence of the disease is 1%. There is rapid breathing (more than 60 times per minute), cyanosis of the skin, wheezing in the lungs. Passes without a trace.
2. Hyaline membrane disease. The disease manifests itself in the very first days of life, the main symptom is shortness of breath. With the help of medication, the child's condition improves in one week.
3. Polycythemia. At the same time, cyanosis of the extremities, shortness of breath, inhibition of reflexes and convulsions are observed.

But it is easy to exclude these diseases - grunting is far from the main and not the only symptom, a number of other more significant adverse signs are always observed.

How to care for a newborn's nose

For the first month, the child's nose should be cleaned every day in the morning and evening. The procedure can be carried out using cotton buds and turund. Before use, sticks and turundas are lubricated vegetable oil or Vaseline, so as not to injure the mucous membrane. Can be sucked white slime syringe or syringe without a needle. The resulting crusts need to be soaked with vegetable oil.

How to rinse the nose of a newborn

Lay the child on its side and irrigate the upper nostril with the solution. For newborns, it is recommended to use isotonic (0.6%) drops rather than sprays. It is undesirable to use saline solution (0.9%) in infants - its concentration is hundredths of a percent higher than the concentration of salts in the blood, and this amount is enough to dry out the delicate mucous membrane of a newborn. As a result, grunting can only intensify.

If the baby grunts with his nose, but there is no snot, try to pay more attention to daily hygiene procedures, cleaning the apartment. But even with a viral infection, cold, treatment is not mandatory - with proper care everything goes by itself. And yet it will not be superfluous to call a pediatrician at home and make sure that your baby is completely healthy.

Ekaterina Rakitina

Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Klinikum, Germany

Reading time: 5 minutes

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Article last updated: 02/07/2019

Any problems with the health of the child, especially the baby, cause anxiety in the mother. Runny nose is no exception. In young children, it can last especially long, 3-4 weeks. Nasal discharge is clear and runny at first, then thickens and becomes white, yellow, or green color. It is on this occasion that parents begin to sound the alarm - how and with what to treat it?

What do experts say about this? Dr. Komarovsky, famous pediatrician, candidate of medical sciences, doctor of the highest category, gives an explanation - why the mucous secretions are stained, and offers his recommendations. The treatment developed by him is based not only on the postulates of medical science, but in many respects involves an appeal to the natural resources of the body, which nature endows everyone.

How does the common cold develop?

Before treating, you need to find out the nature of the common cold. It happens:

• viral;
• bacterial;
• allergic

When a runny nose begins, the mucous membrane of the nasopharynx produces certain cells that perform their functions. Naturally, in all three cases, these cells are different.

When a child's runny nose lasts too long or its cause is not clear, the doctor may prescribe a special diagnosis. It consists in the fact that a swab from the nose is applied to glass and studied under a microscope. The diagnosis depends on which cells predominate:

• in bacterial infection, the vast majority are neutrophils,
• in viral - lymphocytes,
• with allergies - eosinophils.

This method is simple but very effective. He helps pick proper treatment. In addition to a smear from the nose, the content of neutrophils / lymphocytes / eosonophils in the body can be obtained from a blood test.

If the lymphocytes are more than normal or they are at the level of the upper limit, and there are few segmented neutrophils, then the cause of your baby’s long runny nose is an untreated viral infection. The doctor will prescribe antiviral drugs for you.

If there are more neutrophils, they are at the upper limit of the norm, and there are few lymphocytes, near the lower limit of the norm, then you are not fully cured. bacterial infection and you need to take a course of antibiotics.

With an increased content of eosinophils and allergies, as you understand, antibiotics will be useless.

Thus, treating any prolonged runny nose with antibiotics is not only wrong, but also harmful to the health of the child.

Green snot appears due to the fact that neutrophils, breaking down, produce a characteristic substance that stains the mucous secretions.

This means that the appearance of colored secretions indicates the presence in the nasopharynx of not only viruses, but also bacteria. A large number of bacteria means that the body ceases to resist them. Therefore, the snot begins to stand out thick and green.

Features of child physiology

Runny nose in children takes so long to treat because the body of a child is different from an adult.

In a newborn baby, the nasal passages are narrow, the cartilaginous part of the nasal septum is not yet formed, and the nasal mucosa secretes little secretion. The inhaled air is poorly warmed and cleaned, therefore, a favorable environment is created in the nasopharynx for the settlement and active reproduction of various viruses and bacteria. These factors make babies very susceptible to colds with a runny nose.

Dr. Komarovsky identifies several types of rhinitis in children:

• infectious - occurs when an infection enters the nasal cavity;
• allergic - manifests itself when the body reacts to a certain allergen;
• hypertrophic - when the nasal mucosa grows;
• vasomotor - most often of a short-term nature, as it is caused by temporary factors (hot food, psycho-emotional outburst);
• medication - becomes the result of prolonged use of vasoconstrictor drops that cause addiction;
• traumatic - appears after injuries of the nose or the ingress of a foreign body into it.

Rhinitis begins with swelling of the mucous membrane. Then the secretory activity of the epithelium increases (in other words, mucus begins to actively secrete). After that, inflammation develops.

The process is aggravated by the fact that when it becomes difficult for the baby to breathe, he cannot switch to breathing through his mouth. This leads to shortness of breath, difficulty in feeding, restless interrupted sleep of the baby. If all of these symptoms appear in a newborn, treatment will be even more difficult.

Dr. Evgeny Komarovsky claims that green snot can be treated without antibiotics. The first step is to create for the baby (and especially the newborn) suitable conditions. Then the body itself will successfully cope with the infection.

What needs to be done for the treatment to be effective?

First of all, you need to take care of the microclimate in the house, advises Dr. Komarovsky. Snot often appears in a child from too dry air. The mucous membrane of the nasopharynx dries up and excessive secretion of mucus becomes defensive reaction to external conditions.

The air in the house should be of medium humidity. If it is not enough, you need to use a humidifier or other methods. For example, in winter you can hang a wet towel on a hot battery, more often carry out wet cleaning. At the same time, you need to ensure that the air is not too damp. Everything should be in moderation.

Clean air is as important as sufficient humidity levels. Daily walks in the fresh, especially frosty, air for babies are required. It is desirable to do wet cleaning in the house and airing every day. It is better to ventilate the room with a draft - of course, when the baby is in another room or on a walk.

What should not be done when the child began to show the first symptoms of the disease?

Dr. Komarovsky strongly advises children of any age to be temporarily protected from crowded places. During the period of exacerbation colds infants especially need to be protected from infection.

How to treat, so as not to harm

Do not rush to treat the child with medicines, even if he has green snot. Consult with a qualified doctor.

After passing the tests and determining the etiology of the common cold, the ENT will make an accurate diagnosis and explain what needs to be done to alleviate the baby's condition. Most often, the use of medicines, and especially antibiotics, is unjustified.

To thin the mucus, as well as to remove bacteria from the body, the baby needs to drink plenty of fluids. It should be clean boiled water of medium temperature.

If the snot is already green and thick, it is necessary to clean the nose. This should be done with a syringe or an aspirator. Can be used cotton flagellum. A small piece of cotton wool is twisted into a flagellum, lubricated with oil and scrolled in the nose. This method cleans the nasopharynx well even from thick secretions.

Before cleaning, a saline solution or a self-prepared saline solution is instilled into the baby's nose. Better take it for him sea ​​salt, as it is enriched with iodine and other useful substances beneficial effect on the mucous membrane.

Children should not be washed, as adults, as it is possible to injure the delicate children's body. Instillations are enough to help little nose get rid of mucus.

Treat rhinitis in baby saline Komarovsky recommends at any stage of the development of the disease. Saline solutions with regular use, they restore the microflora in the nasopharynx, have a disinfecting effect and wash out bacteria.

Folk recipes

Thus, we see that Evgeny Komarovsky recommends treatment simple means, stimulating the body's defenses and simply helping him to treat the disease himself.

What else can be done to rid the baby of a cold and cure his snot? Of course apply folk medicine. It just needs to be done carefully, given the early age baby.

A popular remedy is a mixture of carrot and beet juice, taken in equal proportions and diluted with water. You can bury it in your nose several times a day, but each time this mixture should be fresh.

You can treat a runny nose with essential oils. But in no case do not bury the oil in the nose! A few drops essential oil(eucalyptus, fir, cedar) is sprinkled on a piece of cloth and placed near the sleeping baby, who will inhale the healing fumes. Or drip oil into an aroma lamp - then it will disinfect the air throughout the house, carrying out prevention for other family members. Such treatment will also be pleasant.

Treatment by any means should be started carefully and carefully observe the reaction. child's body. Sometimes there is individual intolerance to individual components.

When a baby, and especially a newborn baby, has green snot, treatment should begin immediately. A problem familiar to everyone can drag on and, most dangerously, lead to serious complications that will have an impact on the development of the child.