When my baby sister is sick, she has so much snot. It's gross!
What can my parents do to help her breathe better?
Great question, and it is one that is very important
for cold and flu season.
Bronchiolitis is a viral chest infection
that causes swelling in the small airways of the lungs.
It makes breathing, sleeping, and feeding very difficult.
for infants. RSV is the most common cause.
In fact, bronchiolitis is the leading cause
of infant hospitalization.
Thankfully, there is a variety of nasal suctioning tools,
or snot suckers, that can be used
to help clear those passages.
But with several devices on the market,
it can be a bit overwhelming for parents
to know which one is best for their child.
With the SNOT study, we wanted to find out whether the type
of suctioning tool parents used would impact the speed
of their child's recovery from bronchiolitis,
and whether it would affect the likelihood of them having
to revisit the emergency department. To find out,
we conducted a randomized trial with 370 infants from one
to 11 months old who had a diagnosis of bronchiolitis
and had recently been discharged from the emergency department.
Of these infants, half were treated
with a basic bulb suctioning tool,
and half were treated
with an enhanced battery-operated tool. The SNOT Study
showed no major differences between the tool
and how well the children fed, slept,
or if they had to visit the doctor again.
Yet there was one major difference between the two groups-
most parents who use an enhanced suctioning tool were happy
with the results, compared to only one third
of parent using basic suctioning tool.
So what does this mean?
Even though parents like the enhanced operated devices,
these devices did not alter the progression
of bronchiolitis any better than their low-tech cousin,
the bulb. Another consideration,
the battery operated devices is much more
expensive than the bulb.
So as cold
and flu season approaches, the use
of suctioning devices is important
to clear your baby's airways,
but your choice of snot sucker isn't going
to change the recovery time.