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Premature Baby Started Snoring And Facing Difficulty In Swallowing Milk. How To Cure This?

Posted on Wed, 16 Jan 2013

Question: hi doctor,

my baby is a pre-term baby(he was born on november,8th,actual date dec-15).right now in home we are seeing he is having some flum type of thing in his throat,beacuse of which he is feeling some dificulty in swallowing milk .when he is sleeping ,sometime we observed some snoring sound also.we tried rhine drops.but it is giving temporary relief to him. so can u please let us know how to handle his flum problem,

thanks and regards,
XXXXXXX

Answered by Dr. Naveen Kumar Nanjasetty (3 hours later)

Hi XXXXXXX XXXXXXX

Thanks for posting the query

The symptoms mentioned by you are the common problems faced by the premature child.

The snoring is secondary to the accumulation of the phlegm in the posterior nasal space (the area behind the nose). This accumulated secretions cause partial blockage of the tiny nasal airways leading to snoring.

Secondly, the difficulty in feeding is due to the block in the nasal airway wherein the child cannot breathe and feed simultaneously.

Do not worry! This can be rectified by following simple measures.
1. Please continue using saline nasal drops. You can use the drops few minutes before feeding. This will ensure a patent airway. Do not use any other drops apart from this.
2. After feeding the child, put the child over your shoulder and XXXXXXX over the back. This will remove all the air trapped in the stomach and makes the child more comfortable.
3. While feeding the child, raise the head end of the child. By doing so, you will be preventing the milk from regurgitating into the nose and the milk passes directly into the digestive tract.

Hope I have answered the query; I will be available for the follow-up queries.

Regards
Dr. Naveen Kumar N.
ENT and Head & Neck Surgeon

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Naveen Kumar Nanjasetty (21 hours later)

hi doctor,

thanks for the response. one more small query ,is there any restriction on how many times we can use this saline nasal drops in a day? . is it ok if we use this drops 3 times a day ?

thanks and regards,
XXXXXXX

Answered by Dr. Naveen Kumar Nanjasetty (34 minutes later)

Hi

Thanks for writing back

Saline nasal drops contains salt water, it does not have any side effects, you can use it for 4-5 times a day for any number of days. There is no harm in using this drops.

Regards
Dr. Naveen Kumar N.
ENT and Head & Neck Surgeon

Note: For further queries related to your child health, Talk to a Pediatrician. Click here to Book a Consultation.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar