The Dummy's Guide to Getting Objects Out Of Your Child's Nose

"My toddler stuck a piece of eraser in his nose" is not a sentence I thought I would ever be saying to my pediatrician. Yet that is exactly what brought me to the doctor's office one rainy Friday morning.

K is 2y 3m and is going through, what I lovingly call, a 'wreak-havoc-everywhere phase'. The great thing is that he's a little chatterbox and therefore able to verbalize most of what is happening around him. Including getting afore mentioned object stuck in his nose. Of course, there was some interpretation needed ("Mom, K phone nose, this one"; the eraser was a cell phone shaped one) but when he came running to me, I immediately took my flashlight and tried to look up his right, very small might I add, nostril. No dice. Couldn't see anything. Starting to panic just a tad, I tried my trusty NoseFrida to see if I could suck it out. No dice. I tried to make him sneeze, blow hard so that the darn thing would come out. No dice. Urgh!

So maneuvering my way through the rain (on a side note, why do people drive crazy when the weather is bad?!!), I made my way to the ped's office. Of course they've seen it all before so weren't in the slightest surprised or judgmental about the situation. I really am not a bad, negligent mom, honest!!! While waiting for the doctor on call to come in, the nurse brought in a very awful looking object that caused my very vivid imagination to scream in horror. I started to panic some more.

The doctor walked in and had a look and said he couldn't see anything, which meant that it was likely stuck all the way up his nostril. He added that it would be very painful and likely bloody, for him to use the (torture) instrument to retrieve the eraser. What he said next though is what made me love him forever and led me to write this post:

"There's one thing we can try before that and it works 85% of the time but some parents are reluctant to do it because they don't believe it will work"

To cut a long story short (yes please get on with it, I hear you say!), he had me do a form of CPR on K while pressing down on the other unaffected nostril. I had to make a tight seal on K's mouth and basically blow forcefully. You will not believe it but that mingy piece  of eraser came flying out (with a whole lot of yucky mucous). What relief! That simple trick prevented K from going through the trauma of being pried by a cold, metal, sharp instrument and aside from a little cry when it came out, he was totally unaffected by "Mommy's kiss". I think I cried more than he did.

So next time your little monster is eerily quiet and you discover that he has a penchant for sniffing tiny objects, just give him a big forceful kiss and out it will come! No doctor visit necessary!

"Silence is golden...unless you have a toddler. In that case, silence is very, very suspicious"

 Anonymous

~S~