Boogerbust That Baby!

It was around this time last year that I was cleaning my infants' noses out almost daily. And I have a winning combination for booger-busting those young ones who are not yet ready to blow (or pick) their own noses: saline solution (DIY directions at the bottom) and the NoseFrida "the snotsucker" nasal aspirator.

Running with this Ghostbuster analogy, think of the saline solution as the Proton Stream that neutralizes the booger and the nasal aspirator as the Ghost Trap (don't look directly into the trap) that contains the booger until it can be properly disposed of. What's great about the nasal aspirator versus the trap, though, is that you can simply clean it and reuse it instead of disposing it every time you catch a "ghost."

Some of you may have heard about or seen the NoseFrida product before and simply shrugged it off because you think it's strange and icky. Well, I suggest that you grow a pair of reason-perceiving eyes and read on as to why you should suck it up and embrace this brilliant invention—no, I do not regret using a pun to get my point across.

I was like you once. A friend gave me the NoseFrida while I was pregnant and preparing myself for twins-to-come. I thanked her and said that I might give it a go, but deep down, I knew I didn't want to use a snot straw: Why use something scary and new when I have one of those booger bulb things that everyone uses, right? Boo—wrong!

I tried the bulb syringe first. It didn't work and only made my poor, stuffy-nosed baby cry more. Desperate to try anything that would give my babies an easier time breathing, I got over my case of the ickies and gave the NoseFrida a shot. It worked.

Don't give me that look, Bulb Syringe.
It's not my fault that you're useless and ineffective.

Unlike the bulb syringe, I could control the suction power and duration.

I vowed to never use the bulb again. And I asked Sweden to forgive me for questioning the awesomeness of one of its products.

The internet tells me that Tack is Swedish for Thank you.

I've been to an Ikea—I should have known better and trusted that the NoseFrida would be awesome too. Thank you, Sweden.


I Ain't Afraid of No Nose

Worried about the snot reaching your mouth? You shouldn't. Sure, it's a normal thought to have—I had it—so let me put your mind at ease. In my experience, the snot doesn't travel more than an inch at most up the tube, which is basically the conical tip of the tube (the end that touches the nostril). And even if you miraculously shot it up further, there's a blue filter. Nothing is getting past that blue filter.

He may as well be your blue filter.

Let me continue to put your mind at ease by saying that after the blue, Gandalf-like filter, there's a long bendy tube between it and the mouthpiece. You would basically have to remove the filter and intentionally be trying to make the booger pass through the whole device. And even if you had that intent for some crazy reason, I have serious doubts that it would be very possible to do it.

Want to see it in action? Here's me trying to get a particularly stubborn booger out of my baby girl's nose when she was about two months old. I don't think I used saline solution before this attempt, so I suggest checking out how to make your own at the end of this article. It can make the process take mere seconds.

I think it's worth noting how calm she is once her nose is cleared. I also advise having a tissue or square of toilet paper nearby so you can wipe the booger from the edge of the baby's nose or make a slight blunted point like I did if it is ever-so-slightly inside of the nostril. But please note: I would not advise using the tissue to be inserted up baby's nose. It is simply to swipe the booger away.

If you need any other extra convincing, then I recommend watching this product review that I found on YouTube. It lists both pros and cons, but the cons are accurately minimal.

DIY Saline Solution


Now, let's move on to the DIY saline solution. It's simple.


What you'll need:

• ½ cup water
• ⅛  teaspoon of salt

What you'll do:

Microwave the water in a microwave-safe mug for 20–30 seconds so it's nice and warm/hot. Mix in the salt until it dissolves. Let the water cool. Use. That's it.

I ended up using one of my cleaned breast milk storage containers (the kind with the twist on lid) to store the saline solution. I just labeled the top with an erasable marker. I also used a small 1mL eyedropper, which I believe I had gotten in a pack at an arts and crafts store.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not stick the eyedropper into baby's nose. Simply hover above and drop one or two drops in each nostril. It helps to use a small pillow or Boppy to slightly recline baby's head back. Also, it's important not to double dip your dropper into the saline mixture. You shouldn't need more than one eyedropper's full anyway. And if the dropper accidentally touched part of baby's face, you could be introducing germs back into the solution. Gross. With this in mind, be sure to clean the dropper between uses.

I would maybe consider dumping the solution and making a new one every so often to ensure germs aren't hanging out in there before your next trip to Baby Nose Town.



One Last Thought...

One other product that I think is worth mentioning is a humidifier for baby's room when he/she is sleeping. It definitely helps to combat the cold-weather dry air. There are a lot of adorable baby-targeted designs, but we just used the adult humidifier that we already owned—so boring. Look at what I'm missing out on.

Crane Adorables Humidifiers

UPDATE (8/16/2016): Our humidifier broke, and we're now the proud owners of that cute, red dragon pictured above!