Wednesday 27 February 2013

Review: Fess little noses

Earlier this week, Ellie woke up snuffly, sneezing, and with a slight temperature.  The poor little thing, every time she went to feed, she ended up distressed because her nose was clogged, so then she'd sneeze and I'd end up with a charming array of boogers over whatever I was wearing.  She didn't actually realise she was sick to be honest, and was her usual energetic and smiley self, but she sounded just awful and I could hear her chest getting a bit rattly.  She sounded as though she was about to get a cold, and not feeling too crash hot myself, we took a trip to the chemist in the hope of lessening symptoms before it developed into something worse for both of us.

Enter one of the pitfalls of breastfeeding: you can't take any of the good stuff when you get sick because it just passes straight through the milk. So all I got was a bottle of vitamin C tablets and advised to use FESS to try and clear out my sinus.

Ellie got pretty much the same deal. We already had children's panadol to help bring down her temperature, so we were sorted there. (Just as an aside, why is baby panadol so horribly flavoured? Disgusting artificial cherry flavour doesn't do anyone any favours). We also had a tube of Euky Bearub which is seriously awesome - this was rubbed on her chest, back, and bottom of her feet, and really did help her breathe better (and also smelled nice but I like those sort of smells...).  

Finally, the chemist recommended baby FESS to help clear out her nose.  It came in a choice of spray or drops (same price), and I chose the spray because I could use it while she was upright, and didn't require 1-2 minutes of waiting for it to work like the drops apparently did.  Both the spray and drops also came with a nasal aspirator (henceforth known as the 'snot sucker').
FESS little noses box
Here's a comparison of the baby FESS and the adult version.

Basically, what you do is spray the FESS up into each little nostril.  You then squeeze the snot sucker bulb, hold it to the entrance of the nostril, block them both, and let the air back into the snot sucker. It then does what it does best (Mr Fork said that it wasn't necessary to show pictorial results so imagination will have to be used instead).

The snot sucker in all it's (clean) glory
I may be a little twisted but I got extraordinary amounts of satisfaction in extracting that snot. The beastlier they were, the more pride I got in 'getting' them. Mr Fork said I was disgusting and refused to admire the fruits of my labours after the first time I made him look.  At the advice from a nurse friend of mine, I also sprayed more saline into her nose after I'd extracted the snot to help thin the mucus so Ellie could get rid of it herself.

After the first day, we didn't need to use panadol anymore as her temperature was normal. She's still a bit rattly, but the Euky bearub is helping that out. The snot sucker (and spray) verdict? LOVE IT.  Honestly, every house with a baby should have one.  There is nothing more miserable than when your baby is sick, especially when there isn't anything you can really do to help them.  When they're so little they can't even blow their nose, it's heart breaking. This snot sucker device made it so Ellie could breathe and eat, and for that I'm grateful. The fact that it's so satisfying to use is just a bonus.  It's also washable, and pulls apart to make that job easier too. 

How do you cope when your child is sick? Any tips?

2 comments:

  1. Snot Suckers are AWESOME. We have a Baby Comfy Nose http://www.babycomfynose.com.au/ (Sound warning, the page has video on the opening) but it works similar except you have to suck out the snot through a tube. So satisfying.

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  2. We also recently had to use this. Highly recommend it!

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