Why Do Kiddos Stick Things in Their Nose???? Good Advice

Updated on May 11, 2012
H.M. asks from Boulder, CO
13 answers

So - yesterday I took the boy to the bus (literally a 2 minute walk from door to bus stop) and when I came back little girl looked at me and said "My nose hurts - I put a Cheerio in my nose!"

OMG - I couldn't see or feel it! Then I remembered some advice I got from a friend YEARS ago when his son stuck a bean up his nose. They spent quite a bit of time trying to get it out at the ER with tweezers, etc - the kid was screaming - blood was everywhere - not a fun scene. My friend said the ER doc finally walked in - held closed the nostril that DID NOT have the bean in it - and told him to BLOW.
The bean came right out.

So - I tried it - and it worked perfectly!!! She blew - the Cheerio came out completely (how the heck did she fit it up there her nostrils are soo small) and other than wanting to eat it AFTER it came out of her nose - all was well.

THe advice - try closing your kiddo's non blocked nostril and having them blow to remove any foreign object PRIOR to freaking out and heading to the ER. :-)

The question - what is the worst thing your kid has stuck in their nose - and were you able to get it out without a dr visit?

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Featured Answers

N.G.

answers from Dallas on

When I was 5, I got a small plastic bead stuck in my nose. My Mom couldn't get it out, and I didn't know how to blow out of my nose. I was freaking out, convinced that the bead would pass to my brain. So to the ER we went, where they just plucked it right out with tweezers.

I still get teased about that!

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More Answers

J.H.

answers from San Antonio on

I apologize now, I'm sure this is going to be long.

I was three years old and I had chicken pox. I had been laying on the couch for heaven only knows how long. Well, I found a rock in the couch. I sat and played with that thing for what seemed like forever. Well, I was watching Benson (sorry, my age is showing...) and I could have sworn someone told me to put the rock up my nose. (I still maintain to this day someone said "Jenni, put the rock in your nose!")

So I did. It took Mom three hours to get it out, according to her. She tried her fingers. She tried tweezers. Finally she pushed on the one nostril and had me blow out the other and BAM! it popped out!

Fast forward many many moons. My sister had been having issues breathing through her nose for over a month. We shared a bedroom (me and my two little sisters, 11 & 13 years younger than me). Well, that night all the girls were in my bed and I was telling stories. I decided to tell the girls the story above. Once I finished the story, I ask the girls what they want me to tell them about next.

My littlest sister says she has a story.

She proceeds to tell me about how this one time she wanted to see what this one paint thing smelled like, so she put it in her nose, but it didn't smell like anything. (I'm at this point thinking...sure kid.) She then says "And when I put it up, I lost the cap!" I said "Oh yeah?"

She says "Yeah, I think it's still in my nose!"

I freaked out!! Doctors had given mom so many nose sprays for her, done tests and couldn't find anything up there! I hollered at mom and told what L, my sister had said. They took her to the ER. The ER did x-rays and found it at the top of her nose. Because of everything her pediatrician had done, the top of the cap had a hole in it. In addition, since it had been in there so long, her nostril had started to grow around it!!

The doctors knocked her out, went up there with all these gadgets and cut it out. When she and Mom got home, Mom asked me what possessed me to tell that story. I told her I had no clue! She was so glad I did though! The doctor's were worried about her getting infected because it had been there so long and there was green puss around it, so they put her on antibiotics...and they said they were so glad she finally told someone what happened!

So those are my two stories about putting things in your nose...and how me putting something in my nose helped get the cap out of my sister's nose!

3 moms found this helpful

E.S.

answers from Asheville on

I never get an answer when I ask B why she does it. When she was 2 she tried with a pea, we caught her and stopped it. When she was barely 3, it was a popcorn kernel (unpopped), she said it came out, we couldn't find it, so to the ER we went (they didn't find it either).
Just yesterday (turning 4 on June 3rd), she says "look Mom!" I look. She has a gourmet jelly bean sticking out of her nostril. She took it out and laughed.
I just don't get the 'why'.

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A.G.

answers from Houston on

Because if they stick it in their ear they won't be able to hear!

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S.B.

answers from Dallas on

Not my kids...but me. I got an earring backing stuck up my nose when I was 8 or 9. I was allowed to wear a pair of dangling earrings, it was the first time. I was checking out the backing. It was plastic and round and looked weird to me. While I was looking at it, whoever was on the couch with me moved and readjusted. I was scratching under my nose while holding it at the same time. With the shift on the couch, I jabbed it up my nose. Then wound up sucking in and it was jammed. My parents tried every trick in the book. And nothing working, even blowing it out. It probably didn't help that my parents were laughing so hysterically they were in tears. Trudged out to the ER...they couldn't get it. But to make matters worse there was a class full of nurses visiting the ER. I had to sit there while 15 different nurses looked up my nose and giggled.Thanks mom for giving them permission to do that! The biggest concern was that I could inhale it in my lungs. So the next day we had to go see an EENT specialist. He used a tiny vacuum and got it out in about 30 seconds. He washed it off and handed it to me...didn't take mom too long to take it away.

2 moms found this helpful

R.B.

answers from La Crosse on

My daughter went through that phase... she was the only one of my kids thankfully!

She would pull the stuffing out of blankets, pillow and couch cushion ( there was a small hole on side of the couch that we didn't even know was there until she started pulling at it).

She would have her nose so full of the stuffing I have no clue how that much stuffing could even fit in her nose! With a tweezers I was always able to get it out thankfully with out a dr visit.

Then she found a bead with the hole in it and put that up her nose. With the hole in it we weren't able to grab it and pull it out and she was too young for the plug and blow trick ( she was 1 1/2). That time we had to go to the dr. They even had a hard time getting it out, they tried a vacuum suction and long tweezers and they pushed it up farther trying to get it out. Finally a different Dr came in took a tweezers and some other long tool with a slight hook on it and had it out in a couple of seconds.
He looked at me and said I had a child and grandchilren who did this also, smiled and walked out.

Thankfully that was the last time she did it!

I have no clue why they would do it! It has to hurt so bad things stuffed in there!

1 mom found this helpful

J.S.

answers from Hartford on

Why do kids stick things up their nose? To see if it fits, duh.

NEVER ask the kid to blow. They could end up inhaling instead and lodging it further. I learned that in the ER. Instead, lay the child down flat on their back. Close the unblocked nostril firmly with one hand and then quickly, gently yet forcefully, blow into the child's open MOUTH and the object should come shooting out of the nostril. If it doesn't then you go to the ER.

I've had my kids stick fruit, craft gems, fuzzy craft balls, Spongebob's arm, spitballs, rolled up leaves, flower petals, and other objects up their nostrils. It was on "craft gems" and after "Spongebob's arm" that we learned this trick.

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K.L.

answers from Savannah on

Thanks you!!! I have yet to experience anything up the nose . . .except fingers! I know the day is coming though because he is getting increasingly curious about it.

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S.W.

answers from Amarillo on

It's a phase and as long as it is not a raisin your are fine. I had to take my kid to the ER to get it taken out because it swelled up from the moisture in the nose.

I'm glad you were able to get the cherrio out.

The other S.

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K.W.

answers from Seattle on

That worked well for our second one when she'd lodged a pea way up her nose. The first pea had come out fairly easily.

That did not work with our first one, however, with the rolled up bandaid. Luckily, tweezers worked well for that (twice).

sigh.

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A.R.

answers from Boston on

My daughter recently stuck a tiny shoe from a miniature Disney princess up her nose! First time ever. Her doctor couldn't get it out. We had to go to the ENT! Luckily, the ENT doc worked her magic and had it out in two seconds. Wish I knew your tip. If we didn't have insurance, the shoe in the nose would have cost us $350.00. KIDS!

D.M.

answers from Savannah on

I've had to take my nostril piercing out, because I keep catching my son trying to put beads, corn, even a tire from one of his cars up his nose. He says he's trying to decorate his nose like mine. >.< It's not even that big of a piercing! And silver to boot.

Weirdly, none of my girls did this, and I had the piercing when they were little too. I dunno, boys are strange.

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S.W.

answers from Shreveport on

It is stories like these and the others posted that make me thankful my boy snever stuck anything in their noses or swallowed none food items. LOL Yep I got extremely lucky on that.

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