I've always had summer babies, until December 2010 when I gave birth to my son. The difference in how you need to care for a winter baby is amazing, right down to fact that a baby born in the colder months will automatically suffer more colds and sniffles than a baby born in August. With all of my children I've always prided myself on knowing how to treat their various ailments, using the GP only when I feel something more serious is afoot. But when three week old David came down with a cold (thanks to his three year old sister sneezing all over him) I was quite unprepared when it came to dealing with it as at that very young age there are very few (read: none) over the counter preparations available.

Snuffle Babe was recommended by a pharmacist in Tesco, it is labelled as being unsuitable for babies under three months but providing your little one has no underlying health issues then it can safely be used from birth. However, I would still recommend you get advice from a health care professional before applying it to a very young baby just to be on the safe side.

This is basically a Vicks-type product designed to be gentle enough for use on babies and young children. The idea of Snuffle Babe is to rub the slightly greasy ointment onto your baby's chest and throat, which will help their nose to clear and will make both sleeping and feeding a much easier process for them (and by default, you!). It has a very similar smell to Vicks, this has obviously been toned down but there is still enough of a Eucalyptus and Menthol aroma to help unblock even the stuffiest little nose. If you don't feel confident enough to rub the ointment directly onto your baby's skin, another option is to place a small amount of ointment into a tissue and lay that on the cot mattress near to where baby is lying. Personally this method wouldn't work for David as already he is a very active and wriggly baby, rarely waking up in the same place where I put him in the cot at bedtime - and I'd hate him to get an accidental mouthful of Snuffle Babe!

My son has had absolutely no reaction to Snuffle Babe so I'd suggest it's as kind to baby as it claims to be, it definitely feels and smells like a gentle preparation but at the same time something immediately told me that it was going to be effective. And it has been. To begin with I was using it in conjunction with some Sodium Chloride nasal drops which the doctor had prescribed, but within a couple of doses I realised that the Snuffle Babe alone was doing the same thing but without having to distress David by shoving drops up his little nose. His breathing is visibly calmer when using Snuffle Babe and he no longer pushes his bottle away while feeding due to his nose being so bunged up that he can't breathe and suck at the same time. He has also been sleeping better at naptime and also in the night (as far as a month-old baby can sleep at night!) as his airways in general seem to have opened since beginning to use this product.

I absolutely recommend Snuffle Babe to any new parent. Vicks and even Karvol are far too intense to be used on a very small baby, so a pot of this in your medicine cabinet could actually be a sanity saver if you have a baby who cries at the drop of a hat (as I do) as a blocked up nose is an experience certain to bring on the tears of a newborn. There is a warning on the Snuffle Babe box which is that it's dangerous to apply anything containing Menthol directly to your baby's nostrils, personally I wouldn't have even attempted this as I recall the pain of my own mother rubbing decongestant ointments around my red raw nostrils as a child and I would never subject any of my children to the sting of that!

The active ingredients in Snuffle Babe are Eucalyptus Oil (2.0%ww), Menthol (1.5%ww) and Thyme Oil (0.5%ww). These all combine to create a soothing and effective way of clearing your baby's nose and chest, in fact after using Snuffle Babe three times a day for around three days I noticed the snot was actually coming out of David's nose - and when snot is concerned, it definitely is better out than in!

£1.82 from Tesco. And worth every penny!