The birth of a child is a long-awaited event. For nine months, future parents are looking forward to the birth of their baby. Of course, even from the moment of conception, worries about the health of the crumbs begin. Is everything okay with him? Is he comfortable?
And finally, when a long-awaited miracle happened and the baby was born, parents with even more trepidation begin to relate to the slightest change in his behavior, and even small deviations from the norm scare loving mom and dad.
Maternal instincts are so strong that mother is always on guard and even at night continues to listen to how the baby breathes, moves. Breathing is perhaps the main indicator of the health of the crumbs, except for crying, of course.
At the moment when the parents notice that the child is sleeping with his mouth open, a real panic begins. Immediately there are a bunch of bad thoughts: caught a cold, something hit the nose, allergies and much more.
When a newborn baby sleeps with his mouth open, do not immediately panic. Such behavior of the crumbs in a dream does not always mean that he became ill.
Check your fears
As a rule, in most cases, if the child sleeps with his mouth open, but breathes his nose, this is not a problem. In newborn babies, the muscles are not yet used to being in constant tension. During deep sleep, they completely relax, and the mouth can remain open. Especially if the baby fell asleep right while sucking her mother’s breast. So, by the way, most often it happens. Like everything else with regard to the newborn, the excitement about this should not be ignored. Of course, maybe there’s nothing wrong with that, but it's better to find out the reason and not worry.
Step one
First you need to check: breathing occurs through the mouth or nose. This is pretty easy to do. You just need to carefully bring the back of your hand to the face of the baby. On this part of the hand, the skin is very sensitive, so it’s not difficult to feel the slightest movement of air, and it will immediately become clear what the baby, mouth or nose breathes.
If breathing goes through the nose, you should not worry - the baby just sleeps soundly and forgot to close his mouth. But if he breathes through his mouth, you need to look at his health more closely.
In general, it is believed that newborn babies simply cannot breathe through their mouths. Their body is so tuned that during sucking they inhale and exhale with their spouts, and only swallow milk with their mouths.
Second step
To find out the reason why the child is sleeping with his mouth open, you need to measure his body temperature. Most experienced mothers are used to hoping for the accuracy of their tactile sensations. That is, having felt a crumb forehead with her hand, mom renders her verdict whether he has a fever. Unfortunately, sometimes when the temperature is not so high, for example 37 degrees, my mother’s hand may simply not feel it. Therefore, it is better to use a thermometer.
About thermometers
In recent years, inventions have stepped far enough, and measuring body temperature has become a matter of just a couple of seconds. So, for a long time there are dummy thermometers designed specifically for measuring temperature in infants. Measuring such a dummy takes only 10-20 seconds.
For older children, starting with six months, you can use conventional electronic thermometers. Most of them are multifunctional, that is, they can be put in the usual way - under the arm, this measurement takes 20 seconds.
For faster measurement, you can put the tip of a thermometer crumb under the tongue. Such thermometers have a soft case and are protected from moisture. This measurement takes only 10 seconds.
Many newly minted mothers in the hospital already encountered contactless thermometers. To measure body temperature with such an instrument, it is enough for a couple of seconds to direct a beam on the baby's forehead, and the data will already be received. Such a thermometer costs many times more than conventional electronic counterparts, but with frequent use it pays for itself more than.
If the temperature is above normal, then the baby has a cold, you need to call a doctor at home. If the temperature is above 38 degrees, you need to call an ambulance or take responsibility and give the baby an antipyretic. It can be paracetamol syrup or Nurofen.
If the temperature is normal, but in the following nights the child sleeps with his mouth open again, you should think about the reason.
Allergy
With an allergic reaction, the child breathes through the mouth constantly, and not just during sleep. In addition, besides such breathing, there are usually other symptoms. So, for example, eyes can redden or watery, separate parts of the body can itch. To exclude allergies, you need to carefully observe the behavior of the baby in the daytime.
Indoor air
Another reason that a child sleeps with his mouth open may be dry air in the house. This is especially common during the heating season. If the room is stuffy, the natural reaction of the body in a dream will be a condition where the child has a stuffy nose and has to breathe through his mouth.
If the house does not have special instruments for measuring temperature and humidity in the room, you can simply watch how the baby breathes during a walk, through his nose or mouth.
Another reason when the nose is stuffed up can be a sharp change in the temperature of the air in the room while the baby is sleeping. So, for example, in the summer, when the windows remain open at night, in the morning hours the air temperature in the street can significantly decrease. And when the baby in a dream begins to inhale cold air, the vessels in the nose narrow, there is a feeling of shortness of breath through the nose, the baby reflexively begins to do this through the mouth. There is nothing to worry about. When the air in the room becomes evenly cool, breathing will return to normal.
Home climate control
In order for the baby, and his parents, to breathe easily at home, you need to monitor the temperature and humidity in the room. Ideal in a children's room is an air temperature of 20 to 25 degrees. As for humidity, it should be in the range of 40 to 60%.
To measure the temperature in the room, special home thermometers are used, and humidity - hygrometers. You can use both individual devices, or combined in one device.
To improve the climate in the house, you need to ventilate all rooms at least 3 times a day. And to increase humidity use special devices - humidifiers or air purifiers.