Snot is no fun to clean up on a toddler, especially if they’re not yet talking and they don’t know how to blow their nose yet. I recently invited my friend and her toddler to join us at an indoor play park. She let me know that her son, just a month older than Ariabella, was just getting over a cold.
The next thing I know, my daughter was congested with the dreaded snot-nose.
When I was first pregnant and was looking for stuff to add on our baby registry, we saw this little plastic box adorned with a bizarre-looking cartoon. It showed a mommy character sucking on a tube that attached to her baby’s nose. My husband and I weren’t sure what this thing was, so we picked up the box to look closer.
A Snot Sucker Sounds Gross
“NoseFrida…The Snot Sucker,” my husband and I read the box out loud. We then turned to each other with same disgusted looks on our faces. Our ignorance made us put the box back. It was an inexpensive looking contraption we would certainly never, ever use.
“I am not sucking out my baby’s boogers,” I recalled myself telling my husband, who emphatically agreed with me. We both thought the product was the stupidest looking thing, something to rob novice parents of money from their wallets. Yes, it was cheap. It was the Ikea of baby products. But the whole point was that it was, well, gross!
And then, we had our daughter. Luckily, she didn’t contract the snot-nose right away, which surprised us because she is always outside at the park and around other children. So, we skated by without the first-hand knowledge of how impossible it is to get a baby to blow her nose. First of all, she doesn’t know how to because, well she’s a baby, of course. And even when she became a toddler, try as she might, she still hasn’t mastered the feat. Having snot-nose takes more force to extract than I ever thought.
The NoseFrida Works Wonders!
My husband came home from work one day with a gift from a co-worker and his stories about the NoseFrida. “They say that snot sucker thingy works really, really well,” he told me. I didn’t believe it would work wonders, but it does. It includes a disposable foam filter at the base of the tube to prevent snot from being sucked into your mouth. Thank God!
We’re not sure where we would be without it. Ariabella usually hates it when we have to suck her snot out of her nose. But sometimes, when she’s really congested, she smiles, knowing that open airways are in her immediate future. We don’t find it particularly enjoyable, either, especially the mess involved. But someone has to do the dirty work or our babies can’t breathe, and that’s worse.
As a fairly new parent, still, and learning I highly recommend the NoseFrida if snot-nose pays a visit to your baby or toddler. I also recommend Little Noses Saline Mist, which our daughter also hates. But, it works especially well to drain the snot from their sinuses. This is also a messy venture, but then use the NoseFrida to clear out the remaining mucus. Your little one might cry or squirm, but a little sacrifice goes a long way to a restful night sleep for all of you.
Nice. Many parents will appreciate this video. What a great device!
It’s kinda yucky, but it works so well. 🙂