A baby has a stuffy nose: what to do?

With the birth of a baby, young parents have a lot of worries and troubles. Every pimple on a baby’s body can cause suspicion and a desire to urgently consult a doctor. But it is worth knowing that there are physiological characteristics of the body to respond to the world around it. Thus, white spots on the nose of a newborn can greatly frighten the family. But in vain. They occur in 80% of babies in the first weeks of life. Where do they come from? Is it possible to avoid their appearance so that the toddler’s skin remains perfect? We'll look at all this in the article.

Should we sound the alarm?

The exciting period of childbirth and the first days in the hospital have passed, and finally the young family finds themselves at home, without the supervision of doctors and experienced nurses. Monitoring the health of the baby is perhaps the most important responsibility of mom and dad, not counting feeding, hygiene and other mandatory processes and procedures.

It is worth noting that rashes on a baby’s skin can often indicate the onset of serious illnesses or allergic reactions. But there are also those that should not bother you. One of them is white spots on the newborn's nose or near the eyes. They are physiological, natural in nature. The skin of the baby, who has been in amniotic fluid for all nine months, simply adapts to the world around him.

Features of treatment of wen

Experts are convinced that it is advisable to remove a lipoma only if it has not disappeared within six years of the child’s life. The operation is performed using anesthesia, which can negatively affect the development of the child’s body. Most often, the decision is made to observe education. In the absence of negative dynamics, fighting it is considered unnecessary.

A threat to hearing or vision is observed only in case of active growth. Additionally, a change in skin color is observed in this area. In this case, you cannot hesitate.

If the baby is already old enough, then you can discuss ways to remove the lipoma with your therapist. Today, several techniques are used in this area:

• Most often, doctors resort to laser therapy. A special device is used to cauterize the blood vessels. Additionally, the skin is dissected. The beam is highly accurate, so healthy tissue is not affected. It also additionally has disinfecting properties. Thanks to this, it is possible to minimize the penetration of infection into the tissue. The cut is as neat as possible. There is no scar left, and the procedure itself takes no more than 30 minutes.
• If the size of the wen is fixed at 5 to 6 centimeters, then radio wave excision can be used to remove it. Surgery is performed using a special knife. Additionally, the baby will need to be given anesthesia. There are guaranteed to be no marks left on the skin, because the entire process takes place without loss of blood. Today, the method is very popular because it does not cause injury to the skin. However, it is used only in relation to benign formations. The procedure cannot be performed on patients with implants. There is also a contraindication for young patients with diabetes.
• Traditional surgery is used only if the lipoma reaches an impressive size. The operation will require a certain dose of anesthesia. In some cases, it is used only locally, but also as a general option. In this case, the doctor evaluates the age and size of the tumor.

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White dots on the nose of a newborn: when do they go away, the reasons for their appearance

White dots on the baby’s face can be noticed both immediately after birth and a week later. Doctors explain this by saying that in the first case, the cause is an excess of tiny bits of mother’s hormones in the body.

The next reason is blockage of the sebaceous glands. And then milia appear on the baby’s skin. They are several pimples that resemble small pearls. They pass within a month.

There is no need to worry about the appearance of white pimples on your baby's skin. They disappear on their own without leaving any scars or scars. The only thing is, try to make sure not to injure the pimples and cut your child’s nails on time. It is very easy to get an infection when the skin is damaged, which can lead to serious illnesses.

Komarovsky baby has a red nose

Caring mothers always carefully examine their newborn baby.
No less attention than weight loss, colic and diaper rash is attracted by the phenomenon of blue discoloration of the nasolabial triangle. Blueness over the upper lip, especially when the child is at rest, can provoke real panic in the mother. It never hurts to see a doctor, because when you have a baby in the house, it’s better to be safe.

Blue discoloration of the nasolabial triangle is not always a pathological phenomenon; it also occurs in absolutely healthy children in the first months of life.

Blueness of the nasolabial triangle in a baby causes many mothers to fear for the health of their baby

The medical name for blueness of the nasolabial triangle is cyanosis. Its direct physiological source is insufficient oxygen concentration in the blood, which can occur in different situations, both non-hazardous and pathological.

Let's figure out why cyanosis occurs and what its possible negative consequences are.

The main thing that needs to be noted right away is that it can periodically happen in completely healthy babies, so you shouldn’t fall into a state of panic if you see a blue triangle above the upper lip of a baby.

What you need to know about the nasolabial triangle?

People call the place on a person’s face between the nasolabial folds, upper lip and nose the “triangle of death.”

Despite such a dramatic name, the usual damage to the skin of the nasolabial triangle, blue discoloration, and the appearance of inflammatory elements in this place do not bring anything extremely tragic.

It’s just that there are many arterial and venous vessels located here, and these veins do not have valves, as a result of which infections and damage can penetrate into the brain. Serious injuries to the nasolabial triangle are fraught with significant consequences.

Is there not enough oxygen in the blood? It is the skin of the nasolabial triangle that will begin to turn blue. Try to touch this area with your hands less often, avoid cuts and abrasions, and the occurrence of boils.

If skin damage does occur, immediately treat the wound with an antiseptic. Do not squeeze out a pimple or boil, but treat it quickly and effectively, otherwise the infection from the source of inflammation can penetrate through numerous vessels further down the face and into the brain. Does the boil take a long time to go away? Seek medical help, the surgeon will clean the canals and make drainage.

Causes of cyanosis

Blue discoloration of the nasolabial triangle can occur even in healthy children due to the fact that their skin is very thin

Blue discoloration of the nasolabial triangle occurs when the oxygen concentration in the blood drops below 95%. This happens in two cases:

• physiological reason;
• pathological reason.

The main physiological sources are the thinness of the skin on the face of a newborn and the incompetence of the infant’s respiratory system. Pathological causes include hypothermia, respiratory diseases, foreign body entry, and cardiac dysfunction. Let's take a closer look at each of the cases.

Blueness of the nasolabial triangle in healthy children

Cyanosis is normal for babies in the first weeks of life. It is of pulmonary origin, occurs if a child bursts into tears, and is caused by imperfections in the respiratory system, which should go away over time.

If your baby continues to have cyanosis while crying after the second month of life, consult your doctor. It also happens that the cyanosis of the nasolabial triangle is associated with the structural features of the skin.

Skin that is too thin and light seems to glow from within; of course, all the venous and arterial plexuses will be visible, resulting in a blue tint. It is not uncommon for blue discoloration to appear during hypothermia, especially when swimming in too cool water.

This should be a signal for parents to change the temperature of the bathing water to a warmer one that is more comfortable for the baby’s body.

Perhaps the bathing water is cool, so the body responded with a slight blueness on the face

Blue discoloration of the nasolabial triangle in pathological conditions

If cyanosis occurs due to illness, then the most common option is diseases of the cardiovascular system, according to Dr. Komarovsky, or the respiratory tract:

• heart disease;
• heart failure;
• a sharp decrease in blood pressure;
• pulmonary artery malformation;
• diseases of the nervous system;
• pneumonia;
• bronchitis;
• a prolonged viral disease, manifested by a runny nose, fever, and high body temperature.

When is urgent medical advice needed?

What parents should be wary of:

1. The child has been suffering from a cold for a long time. He often experiences shortness of breath, wheezing, heavy breathing at night, and pronounced cyanosis has appeared. This may be a harbinger of pneumonia; urgent consultation with a pediatrician is needed.
2. Blueness of the perioral zone appears spontaneously, before this the baby’s chin begins to shake, arms and legs tremble, the child becomes anxious and cries. This may be a harbinger of heart disease; you need to consult a doctor.
3. There were small objects near the child, from buttons to toys. The baby's skin suddenly began to turn pale, breathing was interrupted, or wheezing, suffocation occurred, and cyanosis was pronounced. A foreign body has entered the respiratory tract; it is necessary to call an ambulance. You can try to help the baby yourself - place the child on your knee upside down and gently pat him on the back. Compression of the chest can help push the foreign body out of the airway.

Respiratory failure in a child

The cause of blueness may be respiratory failure in the infant, which resolves after using an oxygen mask.

There are three degrees of respiratory failure:

• 1st degree - cyanosis is periodically observed in the area around the mouth, goes away after the patient breathes in an oxygen-air mixture, which includes 50 percent oxygen;
• 2nd degree - cyanosis is observed not only in the perioral zone, but also on the hands and on the entire face, eliminated only after exposure to an oxygen tent;
• Grade 3 – diffuse or generalized cyanosis (maximum degree of cyanosis), which cannot be eliminated by inhalation.

Diagnosis and treatment

If cyanosis does not occur for natural non-pathological reasons, then the baby will need not only a doctor’s consultation, but also a diagnosis:

1. MRI of the brain. It is done for older children to exclude severe pathologies of the central nervous system.
2. Ultrasound examination of the brain of newborns. It is done to babies before the fontanelle closes, it allows to identify pathologies.
3. Cardiogram and ultrasound of the heart.
4. Chest X-ray. Allows you to eliminate the possibility of pneumonia, bronchitis, and foreign body entry.
5. Bronchoscopy. This thorough examination is done when a foreign body is suspected and the x-ray shows nothing.

Blueness of the perioral zone in a baby, an example of which you can see in the photo on our website, is only a symptom; the disease itself needs to be treated. Treatment depends on the diagnosis. If cyanosis occurs just like that, then the child does not have enough oxygen.

Walk and ventilate the room more often, buy an air humidifier to make it easier to breathe in the room.

Proper nutrition will also help saturate the blood with oxygen, thanks to which the baby will saturate the blood with essential vitamins and microelements.

Eliminate stress and establish a proper, healthy daily routine. Breastfeed your baby as long as possible; mother's milk is the key to healthy development.

Pediatrician of the 2nd category, allergist-immunologist, graduated from the Belarusian State Medical University of the Federal Agency for Health and Social Development.

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Source: https://detki.shukshin-net.ru/krasnyj-nos-u-grudnichka-komarovskij/

Getting to know the outside world

Even in the maternity hospital, you can hear the question from parents: “What are those white dots on the nose of a newborn?” The answer to it is quite simple, these are ordinary milia, which are found in almost all babies that have just been born.

As a rule, they appear 1-4 days after birth. They are a collection of small white dots the size of the eye of a needle. Milia is an accumulation of secretions. Simply put, blockage of the sebaceous glands and, as a result, ducts. Remember, all the baby’s systems improve and actively adapt to new living conditions during the first month. Pimples should not be squeezed out, smeared with alcohol solutions, brilliant green, iodine, or applied with Vishnevsky ointment and other means that remove suppuration.

All that is required of parents is to ignore the white spots on the nose of the newborn. No matter how funny it may sound, only this method will help them pass faster.

There are situations that should alert the visiting nurse:

• the dots increase in size and spread throughout the body;
• do not go away after a month.

This may be an individual feature of the baby, but it is still better to consult a dermatologist.

What can be done to make the points pass faster?

“Why does a newborn have white spots on his nose?” - This is perhaps the most popular question from young parents. The main reason is a physiological process that occurs in every second child. By the age of two months, the baby’s skin will adapt to external environmental conditions and will be ideal, smooth, and without blemishes. The main thing during this period is not to squeeze pimples under any circumstances.

If, nevertheless, the white dots on the baby’s nose really bother you, you can suggest the following methods, which are unlikely to help, but certainly will not harm the child:

1. Wipe the baby's nose after bathing with a weak solution of string or chamomile. The herb should be brewed according to the instructions on the package. Water should only be boiled. It is better to use a sterile bandage or sponge.
2. Some doctors recommend bathing the baby in water with the addition of potassium permanganate. But remember, the color of the water should have a slightly pink tint. Excess of this solution can cause severe burns and allergic reactions on the baby’s delicate skin.
3. Do not forget about basic hygiene rules; wash your child several times a day with boiled water.

Remember, white dots on a newborn’s nose, the photo of which is presented below, do not require any action at all.

There is no need to treat them. Usually milia go away by the time the baby is two months old.

What does a newborn see and does he see at all?

Despite the fact that the eyes of babies are identical to the organ of vision of adults, the vision of newborns is not yet able to fully function. In newly born babies, visual acuity is extremely reduced; they simply sense light and shadows, nothing more. However, over time, as the baby develops, the baby’s visual acuity gradually increases, and by the age of one it reaches 50% of the adult norm.

During the first week of a baby's life, doctors check the vision of newborns by the reaction of their pupils to light.

By the second week of life, babies can focus their gaze on a specific object for literally a few seconds.

By the age of two months, the baby's gaze fixation becomes stable. Already at six months the baby is able to distinguish simple shapes, and closer to the age of one year - drawings and pictures.

Strictly prohibited

Having discovered white dots on the face of a newborn, parents need to know what is strictly forbidden to do:

1. Wipe with tinctures containing alcohol. Such methods will lead to burns to the child's skin.
2. Avoid treatment with brilliant green, iodine, or fucorcin.
3. Fat cream, oil, lotions are also not helpful in this case. They will only “clog” the pores, and pimples will go away more slowly.
4. Drying your skin with powders is also not a good idea.
5. Take medications (antibiotics, antihistamines, sorbents). All medications can only be prescribed by a doctor.
6. Squeeze pimples, try in every possible way to remove them from the baby’s face (use peeling, laser intervention, etc.).

There are cases where treatment of common milia caused serious skin damage in children. Remember, before using any of the above methods, you must consult your pediatrician and dermatologist.

Preventive measures, will they help?

Many parents are interested in whether there are any preventive measures to prevent the appearance of pimples in a newborn? In 90% of cases they simply do not exist, since these are processes that do not depend on humans. In a similar way, the baby’s skin adapts to new conditions. But to prevent miles from developing into something more, you need to follow the following rules:

• If the child is breastfed, the mother must follow a strict diet. There is no need to eat chocolate, tomatoes and other prohibited foods from the first days of your baby’s birth.
• Is the child an artificial person? Then carefully and correctly select the mixture.
• Ask your doctor or health visitor how best to care for your baby's skin.
• When washing children's clothes, use only special powders or soap.

All this will help you avoid allergic rashes.

What color are the eyes of newborns?

Traditionally, eye color in children is of particular interest. What color are the eyes of newborns? In most cases, all babies are born blue-eyed, or rather the eye color of newborns is dull blue or dull gray. However, then mothers are surprised to see how the color of their children’s eyes changes depending on the time of day and even their mood. A hungry baby's eye color is like a thundercloud - gray; when he wants to sleep - "his eyes are cloudy", if he is upset and crying - the eye color of newborns becomes green or even emerald, and when everything is calm and good - sky blue. Why does this happen, and what generally happens to the vision of newborns?

When should you see a doctor?

White dots on a baby's nose are a fairly popular phenomenon. But there are cases when, if they are detected, you must immediately consult a doctor:

1. In addition to the dots that appeared on his face, the baby’s temperature rose sharply above 38.0 °C. Remember, in this case, no antipyretics should be given until consultation and the doctor’s arrival.
2. Areas of skin appear red and inflamed.
3. When touching pimples, the child reacts by crying, clearly making it clear that they are painful.
4. Pimples contain pus or ichor inside.
5. White dots are large in size.
6. When acne appears, the child’s general condition changes (eats poorly, sleeps poorly, cries often, gets nervous).

In these cases, the appearance of white dots may indicate the onset of serious illnesses, so you cannot do without consulting a doctor.

Types of wen and their characteristics

When working with lipomas, doctors classify them into one of the classes depending on their location.

In this case, localization is key:

• The white wen on the nose is known as milia. They appear quite often in infants. Pimples not only occupy the nose, but can also form on its wings. Such manifestations are completely safe and cannot harm the baby’s health. As a rule, they go away on their own within three months. If there is inflammation around this formation, it is recommended to immediately consult a doctor. He will select a remedy that will help relieve inflammation in a short time.
• There is also an increased risk of wen formation on the baby’s neck. If such a manifestation is located deep, it can interfere with the normal functioning of the blood vessels. That is why lipoma should be taken under the supervision of a specialist. If the wen begins to become actively inflamed, it will need to be surgically removed.
• The tumor may appear on the head. Most often it is located on the hairline. Externally, a lipoma resembles a lump. When palpated, you can notice its soft structure. Wen does not negatively affect the condition of the little patient. That is why there is no extreme need to remove it. It is advisable to perform the operation only if the child is already two years old.
• What to do if a wen appears on your cheek or chin. Education causes aesthetic discomfort and can negatively affect the psychological state of the child. Self-medication can only aggravate the clinical picture and lead to inflammation. It is recommended to be patient as the lipoma will go away within a few months.
• Only in rare cases do children develop wen on their legs. When they form multiple times, lipomatosis is diagnosed. If such lipomas do not increase in size, then there is no need to remove them. With a negative clinical picture, even a change in color is observed. If there are no other contraindications, the lipoma can be removed when the child reaches two years of age.
• Wen on the gum appears against the background of age-related changes in the body. As a rule, there will be no trace left of them when the baby has all his teeth.
• Lipomas that constantly come into contact with clothing cause a lot of discomfort. The formations may appear on the abdomen, shoulders or chest. In this case, parents are advised not to wear tight clothing for their children.
• If a tumor begins to actively develop in the ear, it is important to detect it in time. Otherwise, its excessive growth can lead to complete or partial hearing loss. The problem can only be resolved promptly.
• Fatty deposits also form on the eyelids. It is important to contact an ophthalmologist in time and make sure that such a lipoma does not threaten vision loss.

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It's worth remembering

As a conclusion, I would like to remind you once again that milia are typical for 80% of newborns. They occur due to blockage of the sebaceous glands. White papules are small in size, most often localized on the nose, but can also be on the baby’s cheeks, forehead, and chin. It may appear on one or more sides of the face. The pimples do not contain pus inside, so they do not pose a danger to the baby's body. As a rule, they go away on their own, without requiring any medical intervention.

White spots in a newborn, if they are caused by physiological characteristics of the body, do not need to be treated. In special cases, when the skin cannot cope on its own, the doctor may prescribe the use of ointments containing panthenol. But this happens quite rarely.