THE SNIFFLES, THE SNUFFLES: MISERABLE WINTER KERFUFFLES
I hate colds.
Baby colds are far worse than grown up ones. Since our little bundles only breathe through their nose, the strained sound of air being whistled through the tiniest of nostrils partially blocked by webs and walls of mucus somehow suffocates me and them. As a new momma, unpractised with babies, I would sit awake, watching Jensen’s chest rise and fall for the short times he’d sleep, praying he would make it through the night because it sounded that awful.
We’d been using the steamy shower room solution and it wasn’t working. Then, as I was bemoaning our situation to my mom one zombie-like morning on the phone, she came to the rescue. She told me to buy something we’ve now had in our medicine cabinet as a staple ever since. It was a little miracle in a pot, called Snufflebabe. It wasn’t something I’d ever seen on the shelves before and so I ordered it blindly (and trusting my mom, because moms know best) on my mom’s recommendation from the internet and when it arrived, we scrambled to open the tiny pot of very pleasant smelling baby vapour rub in desperate hope of easing our little one’s struggle.
It was fantastic. It worked so well, and smelled so good.
Yes, Snufflebabe is pretty fantastic. It’s worked its magic to soothe both of the older boys back to sleep since they were babies, but with one hitch…they’re ticklish. Whenever I rub a little of the balm on their chests, they laugh, and then I have two giggling, congested, snotty boys on my hands in the wee hours of the morning.
So this week I was delighted when Dentinox and Snufflebabe sent me a package of solutions to cure our miserable mucus maladies.
First there was more magic from Snufflebabe, but in a cute blue bottle instead of a tub. Vapour Oil. Luckily this arrived in time for our first sniffles of Autumn and after waking in the night sounding like Darth Vader, Baby Hero was very grateful for the drops of Snufflebabe Vapour Oil that I sprinkled around us on our bed and as he nursed back to sleep, we both were a lot clearer and slept easier. I now trust this oil to ease our snuffles so much that I keep it under my pillow for middle of the night emergencies.
In our package were three other items… One of which causes much hilarity in our family. We call it the booger-sucker. It’s a fantastic concept, which sadly is wasted on our family as we spend most of our time in fits of giggles trying to aim at the offending booger and it somehow turns into a game worthy of televising. However, it is an effective tool when you can stop laughing, but remember NOT to place the sucker inside your little one’s nostrils, but at the entrance to their nose. Washing after use with soap and water is easy.
The other two items were genius. If your little ones use dummies or pacifiers, they’re just amazing gizmos. They’re multifunctional dummies. The first, created by Dentinox, dispenses medicine craftily through the base of the dummy; as your little one sucks for comfort, the medicine is slowly released into their mouths and swallowed, which is perfect for ensuring they actually ingest the baby paracetamol or ibuprofen instead of syringing it into their mouths and blowing on their face (as we had to do with Jensen Indiana in the winter of 2010) and then crossing your fingers that they aren’t crafty enough to store it in their cheeks and spit it back at you.
The second dummy is the same idea, and sold by Snufflebabe, but instead of dispensing medicine, a little foam pad sits in the base which can be saturated with the vapour oil and inhaled by your little one constantly to clear their congestion. They’re brilliant ideas and if we weren’t breastfeeding we’d certainly use them.
So now we’re all set for the winter blues; how about you? What do you use to clear your little one’s congestion?
Disclosure: I’m working with Britmums on a project with Dentinox and Snufflebabe to test their products during cold season. All opinions are my own. To find out more about the products visit http://www.dentinox.co.uk and http://www.snufflebabe.co.uk
