aspirators & humidifers

This winter had been really bad when it comes to babies with colds, and Samma is no exception. She's just been so congested for as long as I can remember, which leads to a productive cough that keeps her up at night. No fever and she's acting as she normally would, which leads me to believe this is just a cold that will never end. We've tried the bulbous nasal aspirators, but they just weren't effective, not to mentioned just hard to use when you have a squirming infant... so after a couple of recommendations, we finally decided to suck it up (haha - get it?) and purchase this:

Graco Nasal Clear Nasal Aspirator

It was $20 at CVS -- I could have spent $2 less on Amazon and gotten free shipping with Prime through AmazonMom, but we needed it, and we needed it fast. The suction is effective thanks to two AA batteries, but it's loud. It offers 10 short melodies to try to distract baby, but they really don't do much to drown out the intimidating BUZZZZZZ... it's effective though, once you get beyond the battle to get the tip near the nose. And it's not invasive like the bulb aspirators can be. And, if you're sick like me, you can see all the crap you get out of baby's nose in the clear collection container. Ahh, the joys of being a mom...

But an aspirator alone just isn't enough.

And I dragged my feet for the longest time because I didn't believe it, but I was wrong, and now I don't put Samma to bed without turning on her humidifier.

Vicks Germ Free Cool Mist Humidifier

We really lucked out with this one. When Sam first started getting congested, and she was sleeping in her own room, we knew we had to do something for her to help clear up her nose. This was around Christmastime, and wouldn't you know, for one of our many swaps a brand-new humidifier was put into the mix! And it's been great too, and I can tell the difference between the nights she has it on and when it's off.

And that's MB's little spiel on infant congestion and what you can do to help resolve it. =)