Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months

LO doesn't let me suction his nose - advice please

LO and I both have a nasty cold. Today is the second day... He is 20 months and also teething with a molar coming in! 
His nose is dripping and I have been trying to suction his nose with a bulb, with a battery operated nasal device and nothing works. He used to let me use nose Frida a while ago, but not now. I can't get anything close to his face, he cries, moves his face away, pushes with his arms. Any tips to get him to let me do it? Any other suggestions to make him feel better and avoid this cold to get worse?. I'm using a warm vaporizer in his room at night and insured a small wedge between his sheet and mattress. 
He is not eating much either :(  I just want to press a fast forward button to get over this.
Thanks!
DS was born in April 2012 at 31 weeks - 45 days in NICU

Re: LO doesn't let me suction his nose - advice please

  • I pin DD to the floor and "hover" over her so she can't kick and hold her wrists with one hand. DH holds her face and I suction her nose with the Nose Frida.
    Yep. pretty traumatic, but it is the only way.
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  • I agree with PPs. Pinning him down and getting it done fast is the only way. Either that or continue to wipe his nose constantly, which will cause skin irritation.

    On another note, please throw away the  lye suction bulb that they give you at the hospital. I saw something going around FB about how they fill with mold and it showed a picture of one cut open. So gross. So I cut ours open. Ugh. I will post a picture of it.
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    Needless to say, we won't be using one of these again.
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  • I thought those suckers were done after hospital days.  I hold him down, get a wipe, tissue, or finger, and pick those buggers
  • I can't bring myself to do the old pin-and-suction anymore, so I just take my son in the warm//hot shower with me or give him a nice steamy bath a couple times a day to get everything loosened up. Letting water run over his head for awhile usually helps everything pour out, and then I can just do a quick wipe with a soft washcloth at the end. The rest of the day I'm just not too anal about the crustiness. I'll pick it or wipe it when it gets too bad or if we have to be seen.
  • DS2 can actually blow his nose quite well so we ask him to do that a few times.  If he doesn't, we get the snot sucker out and I will pin him down if he fights it.  
  • We went through this this morning.

    We do it in the a.m. right after diaper change. My husband holds her hands, I use the nose frida and usually have to hold her face with one hand. She screams bloody murder but it lasts for about 2o seconds...not the prettiest scenario but the amt of snot we get out of her from the frida is unbelievable!

  • The last time DS had a cold I showed him to blow out of his nose ( he is big on mimicking what I do). He always did it at the worst times (during mealtime, in the car) , but he did it and actually got a lot of the drainage out. If your LO will mimic you try that!
  • jfresh said:
    @Meery82 I'm not suggesting that you didn't clean it, but did you and how did you do it? I boil ours once a day (when we're actually using it) but now I'm nervous and want to cut it open just to see. We have about 3-4 so it's not the actual one I brought home from the hospital. I used the nose frida for a while but I ran out of the replacement sponges.

    I tried cleaning it out several times by sucking up hot soapy water and swirling it around in there. I don't think I ever boiled it.
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  • Thanks for the tips ladies! I pinned him down and did the nose frida, it was hard, I held with one hand, his body and arms, and with the other the nose frida, but he move his face from left right and screaming so upset. I was able to suction partially one nostril (yay). 

    Today he no longer has a runny nose, the mucus is thicker and harder, which is worse bc it is all stuffed up inside. Last night he woke up every 2 hrs or so and I know he is teething too.I will use as much steam therapy during the day as well as night. I'll try the saline too. I wish I was an octopus. 

    DS was born in April 2012 at 31 weeks - 45 days in NICU
  • My 16M dd is the same way!! What worked for us was making a little game out of it: I would blow air at Daddy and her doll and myself, and we would all act like like it was so funny. She then would start saying, "Me! Me!" And low and behold, we got some snot out. Lol!!
  • I use saline first, let it sit in there a minute or two, and then I kneel over him and hold his head with my other hand.  I wish it wasn't so hard!  If only you could reason with a 1 year old.
  • We taught our little guy to "blow his nose" aka....he crumples up a tissue puts it infront of his nose and blows...he doesn't get much in the tissue but the snot comes out enough for me to just wipe it away. Sometimes he'll even ask for a tissue :)
  • I hold C like I used to when I was nursing, one of her arms behind my back and her head resting in my elbow.  I can then use that arm of mine to hold her other arm and wedge her head still with my elbow.  I have a free arm to suction.  It sucks, but it's how we do it when daddy straight jacket isn't here to help hold her down.  She does scream and it's not fun, but she always comes in for a hug afterward so she's not holding it against me, either.

    I still use the blue bulb, though I did buy a new one off amazon a while ago.  I cut open our old one and while it had mold in it, it wasn't as bad as a lot of the pictures going around.  I swirl it out using white vinegar and hot water after each use, and then make sure it's sitting opening down to dry out, so everything drains.  I also figure that there is very little chance that I'm going to ever squirt any of that back into her nose, so I'm ok with using it anyway.  These days (21 months), we use it so seldom that I'm not all that worried. 

    Married DH 7/30/11

    CSC arrived 5/7/12 

    CHC arrived 6/2/14

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