Suctioning (Cleaning) the Nose
To help your baby breathe better, suck mucous out of your baby's nose with a bulb syringe.
What You Will Need
– 1 cup of warm water
– Kitchen Measuring Spoons
– Table Salt
– Nose Dropper
– Bulb Syringe
– Soft Tissues
– A Soft Rolled Up Blanket or Towel
How to Make Salt Water Drops
To make the mucous more watery, add saline (salt) water in the nose. To make the salt water drops:
- Fill the cup with 8 ounces of warm water.
- Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
- Stir and mix the salt and water together.
- Make new drops each time. Throw away the salt water you do not use.
How to Administer the Nose Drops
- Lay your baby on their back and put rolled up blanket under the baby’s shoulders. (Picture 3, above)
- Use the nose dropper to put 1-2 drops in each nostril unless the doctor specified more. This might make the baby sneeze.
- Pick up your baby. Hold your baby in your arms with his head back for about 1 minute. This will thin the mucous.
How to Suction
1. Suction your baby before you feed her. If you suction after, the salt water might cause vomiting.
2. To use the bulb syringe, squeeze the air out of the bulb as shown in Picture 4 (above).
3. While squeezing, gently put the tip of the bulb into on nostril as demonstrated in picture 5 (below).
How to Suction
4. Stop squeezing to let the air come back into the bulb. This will pull the mucous out as shown in Picture 6 (above).
5. Squeeze the mucous out of the bulb onto a tissue as shown in Picture 7 (below).
6. Suction the other nostril the same way.
After Suctioning
1. Gently wipe off the mucous around the baby’s nose with tissues.
2. Wash the cup, the dropper, and the bulb syringe in warm soapy water.
3. Squeeze the bulb syringe several times to clean out the mucous. Rinse with clean water.