Chavonne Davis knew something was wrong with her baby girl, Elle, a week after she was born last winter.

"She was having a really stuffy nose and a hard time eating, and she started to spit up a little bit more -- and the spit was really mucousy," said Davis, 26, of Provo. "The doctor didn't seem too concerned, just told me to keep an eye on it."

But Davis persisted, alarmed by the fact that both she and her husband had severe colds when Elle was born. On her third visit, when Elle was just two weeks old, the family doctor told her the girl wasn't getting any better and it was time to take her to an emergency room. They went to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, where Elle was diagnosed with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, an infection of the lungs and breathing passages. Most adults can shake it off in a couple weeks, but for infants, who are unable to clear their own clogged airways, it can be fatal.

"She was in the hospital for three days, which was really hard because I was a new mom," she said. "I was recovering myself."

Tests showed that Elle's blood oxygen level was about 80 percent, far below the healthy level around 95 percent. She needed frequent medical attention to ensure she could breathe properly. But rather than leave her baby there for two weeks, Davis was able to bring her home thanks to an experimental outpatient clinic the hospital was running. Twice a day for the next two weeks, Davis took her daughter back to the hospital for a procedure where technicians slid a tube through her nose and down into her airways to suction out the excess mucus.

Using the outpatient procedure, Davis helped her baby get better without having to leave her alone in the hospital for much of the first month of her life.

"The nurses and the respiratory specialists in the respiratory clinic -- they were amazing," she said. "Any fears I had, they really helped calm them."

Almost 250 patients had similar experiences during the clinic's trial run last year. The results were so successful the hospital is making it a permanent part of its services, said spokeswoman Janet Frank. The clinic will be open 24 hours a day from the end of December through the end of March, she said. A similar clinic has opened at American Fork Hospital, another Intermountain Healthcare property.

Ryan Draney, the respiratory therapist over pediatrics at UVRMC, said establishing the clinic was a priority because it gives mothers back their babies at a critical time when they would otherwise be stuck in the hospital for treatment.

"The biggest thing with it is it keeps kids out of the hospital," he said.

Draney said developing children are at such a high risk because they aren't used to breathing through their mouths yet. Instead, they work extra-hard to get oxygen through the clogged nostrils, often fatiguing them, he said.

"They just haven't learned," he said. "Up until that -- a year and a half, two years -- they're obligate nose breathers."

So to correct the problem, clinic technicians insert small catheters through the nostrils to the back of the throat to remove the mucus. An average suction session can last between five and 20 minutes, Draney said. How often the suction is needed depends on the cases: Most of the time the virus clears up in a week or so, but some babies may need to come in more often than others until that happens, he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that almost all babies will contract RSV before their second birthday, and as much as 2 percent of those will need to be hospitalized. The virus is most commonly encountered during the cold months of the year, according to the CDC.

Doctors around the valley have been notified to refer patients with RSV to the clinics, Frank said. Patients with a doctor's referral can call 357-4020 to reach UVRMC's Respiratory Outpatient Clinic, or 855-4314 to reach the new sister clinic at American Fork Hospital.

• Ace Stryker can be reached at 344-2556 or astryker@heraldextra.com.