We’ve all been there. Everything was going smoothly, sleep was finally clicking, and then your little one wakes up with a stuffy little nose and a cough that breaks your heart a bit every time you hear it. Sleep goes out the window fast when a cold moves in, for your baby and for you. In today’s blog, we’re covering three things that actually help when congestion and coughing are wrecking naps and nights.
Run a Cool Mist Humidifier in the Nursery
Dry air makes congestion thicker and harder to clear, which keeps your baby more uncomfortable and more likely to wake up coughing. A cool mist humidifier running in the nursery overnight adds moisture back into the air and can genuinely ease that stuffy, congested feeling. Keep it clean between uses, since a humidifier that isn’t maintained can do more harm than good. Taking your LO into the bathroom for a steam bath can also help when they are especially congested.
Do a Gentle Saline and Suction Routine Before Sleep
A few minutes before bedtime, a couple of saline drops followed by gentle suction with a bulb syringe or nasal aspirator can clear enough congestion to help your baby settle more easily. It is not always a magic fix, but doing this right before the bedtime routine rather than mid-cry at 2am tends to go over much better for everyone involved. Along with keeping the nasal passage as clear as possible, make sure your baby is well hydrated. We lose a lot of hydration with a runny nose and coughing so keeping up on hydration can help as well.
A Quick Note on When to Call the Pediatrician
Colds are exhausting but usually run their course on their own. It can be tough to know when it’s time to call the pediatrician. When in doubt, give them a call, always. Also, reach out to your pediatrician if your baby has a fever in a newborn under 3 months, is having trouble breathing, is refusing to eat or drink, or the congestion and cough are sticking around well past a week or two without improvement.
Before You Go
Cold season with a baby is rough, and a few disrupted nights while everyone recovers is completely normal, not a sign your baby’s sleep habits are falling apart. While a cold can and will definitely disrupt a sleep routine, it’s important to maintain a safe sleep environment. This will help keep your baby as comfortable as possible while dealing with a cold. If you’re navigating a tough newborn stretch, whether it’s a cold or just the general exhaustion of the early weeks, our Newborn Support & Consulting services are here to help. And if you need an extra set of experienced hands overnight while your little one is under the weather, our Overnight Newborn Care team can step in so you can actually rest too.
How does your family handle cold season sleep? Share your go-to tricks in the comments, we always love hearing what’s working for other parents.
Katie B.
Expertise You Need:
- Certified Master Pediatric Sleep Consultant
- Certified Advanced Newborn Care Specialist (2016-2022)
- Board Certified Holistic Healthcare Practitioner
- 16 years professional childcare experience
- Certified Postpartum Doula (2015-2022)
- Travel & ROTA Nanny
Katie has over 16 years experience working with children of all ages. As a Pediatric Sleep Consultant and Newborn Care Specialist, she has professionally supported families and babies worldwide over the last 10 years. Her mission is to help the entire family unit get better sleep, utilizing a holistic approach that supports the baby or child’s natural biologic drive to sleep. She has personally served hundreds of families, holds 20,000+ hours exclusively caring for infants & babies and has 69+ 5-⭐️ Google reviews.
