Saturday, June 20, 2009

what to do for a raisin up the nose.

Condensed instructions for parents in a hurry:
-Use a finger to plug up the unobstructed nostril (the one without the raisin).
-Ask child to open mouth.  Place your mouth over child's.  Blow a quick, forceful puff of air into your child's mouth.
-The raisin should come flying out the nostril.
Thank you for visiting!  I hope this helps.  Read on for the original post if you wish.


Our day took an unexpected turn on Thursday when T shoved a raisin up his nose, too far up for me to reach. I quickly consulted the internet and found very little information, mostly moms telling their tales of woe on parenting forums, many of them ending up in the ER. Not letting myself yet believe that I would also end up there, I called my pediatrician's office. They told me they could not treat him there, it was best to take him to the ER. Darn it.

Everyone at the ER was incredibly nice to us, which made our experience pleasant enough. But it was still almost three hours with a toddler in a small room filled with medical equipment. Not exactly the way I wanted to spend my day.

After our long wait, a nurse came in and described the raisin-removal procedure to me. I was amazed by its simplicity and by the fact that I would be involved. Here is what we did: the nurse used his finger to plug the opposite nostril (the one without the raisin in it) and I put my mouth on T's, forcing a quick puff of air into his mouth. The raisin flew right out! Sure I got a little snot on my face, but I was pretty thrilled by this method. It was kind of awesome to be in the ER, surrounded by the best in medical technology, and to solve my son's problem myself, with my own body, using such a simple, non-invasive technique. Additionally, I could easily have held the opposite nostril myself, eliminating the role of the helpful nurse. I could have done this all by myself, had I known what to do.

I am sort of shocked that I couldn't find this little trick on the internet. And that's exactly why I'm writing this post. Maybe some other poor mother out there can read this before making a trip to the emergency room. Of course, I'm not a doctor. I understand this method will not work for every object a child might shove up a nostril, or even for every raisin stuck in a nose. All I'm saying is that for us it worked like a charm. Perhaps someone in the same situation might try it and save themselves the expense and time of a trip to the ER.

32 comments:

Megan said...

I'm surprised that you couldn't find that on the internets, too! That was common practice at my house and I guess I thought, for all these years, that everyone did it. My little brother got stuff stuck up his nose all the time, and my dad would use that very method. I clearly remember marker tips and pencil erasers flying across the kitchen, then my brother immediately getting up and walking around like nothing happened. Boys.

Anna said...

Filing this away in my mental "toddler disaster" file!

Unknown said...

You may have saved me a future trip to the ER, thank you!

Anonymous said...

Laura- If it is an "M n M " up the nose, and the child is in the back seat, while you are driving, it will just melt out in a charming display. I'm just saying, one of the Taylor children may have done that. Barb from Urbana

Anonymous said...

dude.
a friend of mine got a peanut up her nose when we were younger, and they had to use a VACUUM in the hospital. glad theo is okay. : )

Wonderfully Made..... Psalm 139:14 said...

Seriously, I am laughing so hard right now. That is funny.

Unknown said...

File under: so happy to find this out before I need to use it.

Unknown said...

Guys, GET A STRAW QUICK, IT SWELLS UP FAST. our 2 yr. old daughter put raisins up her nose tonight and it will be a memorable Thanksgiving. She could not blow hard enough to get it out & it was up high in the nasal cavity quite quickly. We tried all methods on internet; sucking it out, blowing in the mouth while holding clear nostril closed & blowing in clear nostril. None worked until my uncle gave her a lolly pop & explained he was going to suck it out with a straw because he had not had his dessert yet. On his second attempt, he did extract WITH A STRAW! It worked perfectly and saved us a trip to the ER. The raisin does swell in about 20-30 minutes & looked quite large when we finally extracted it. She was not very cooperative until she got the lolly pop.

Anonymous said...

I had to do this tonight for my 2 year old. Thanks for posting this - it worked like a charm ;)

Apryl said...

Thank you so much for posting this - had to use this trick just now for a raisin - and I have to say this is honestly the grossest thing I have ever done as a parent...

Anonymous said...

Just worked for us. Thanks so much.

Anonymous said...

My little one just stuck a raison up her nose....I searched online and found this entry....Thank you soooo much it worked like a charm. No trips to the ER for me...I can relax now and know my child's nose is raison free!!!

Love2Blog said...

Thank you so much for posting your experience. Just had to do the same procedure and out it flew. Thank you.

Mama Niccicoco said...

AWESOME! I think charlie stuck one of those TINY cheese crackers up there once, but not far enough to get lodged. That is a great trick. That is sweet how many people have used your advice. Keep the good stuff coming Laura!

Anonymous said...

Hahahaha! The miracles of modern medicine!

Anonymous said...

Brilliant!! You saved me a trip to a and e just then.. thank you!

tiltmeister said...

So today it was my 3 yr old nieces turn to put the raisin up her nose....I remembered back to my own daughter who put a total of 7 raisins in her nose, 4 on one side--3 on the other, and how she was able to successfully blow each puffed up raisin out of there one by one. Unfortunately my niece just doesnt get the whole nose blowing idea and just kept sniffing in making the problem worse. I tried to suction it out with the bulb syringe, blocking the clear nostril and blowing into her mouth, I even tried black pepper under her nose in hopes that she would sneeze it out. Nothing was working and I knew the ER trip was unavoidable so I decided to give her a quick bath, put her in her jammies and go. My niece is extremely tickle-ish and washing her neck, tummy and underarms sends her into a slippery little giggling frenzy and tonight was no exception. All of a sudden I see this little object at the bottom of the tub and I fish out this pale, puffy raisin. We both stared at it in disbelief and then she got all excited 'Oh my nose is fixed'. She was so busy laughing and sqirming and I was occupied just trying to get her clean without drowning her that neither of us saw it fly out. I guess this is what they mean by 'laughter is the best medicine'

Erica said...

Ahh! Thank you so much! We tried everything and after jumping around a little with him it got blocked enough I could blow it right out. It came flying. YAY! Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you soooooooo much for this post! It worked like a charm and saved us a $100 copay at the ER!!!

Anonymous said...

I want to Thank You so much for this post!!! My daughter put a rasin up here nose and the doctors office suggested the nose bulb to suck it out. That did not work and my daughter was at the point she would not let me even look at it. I asked her if I could give her a special kiss. Two blows and it was out!! Thank you a thousand times.

Julie said...

Thank you for this! Just had a panic tonight and thanks to your post the raisin issue was quickly solved and didn't have to go to the hospital. Thank you again!

Anonymous said...

Brilliant - just used this trick and it worked a treat - thanks so much - panic over!

Anonymous said...

Thanks a million! My wife just called from the waiting room at the ER, and I found this thread and told her what to do. She said it popped right out! She is currently canceling her appointment! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH! My son had a raisin in his nose and my husband and I was headed to the ER when he looked this up this post. He read one that said something about sucking it out and then he found yours. Thank YOU. I would have done both but it sure is better getting snot on my face than in my mouth. I am seriously thinking about banning my son from raisins.

Anonymous said...

What a God send!!! I got it out all by myself. No ER trip!

Anonymous said...

Just worked for us! We tried a "vacuum" method which the dr used the 1st time we went through this. My son screamed and it was unsuccessful. After several minutes of trying to get him to blow out, we gave up and I searched the internet. It took us about 12 to 15 tries of blowing through his mouth but it worked! So glad, thanks for the tip!

Anonymous said...

Comment enlever un raisin sec dans le nez d'un enfant de 2 ans ?

Merci beaucoup pour le truc !
ca a fonctionné du premier coup !

Je lui ai dit :
"On va se donner un gros bec"
Je l'ai couché sur le dos, placé mon petit doigt sur la narine non bouché par le raisin et j'ai soufflé un bon coup

Lynnette said...

Just found this. My son may or may not have shoved a raisin up his nose. It's nice to know what to do now! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Thanks! My wife just called me -- she had pulled over on the side of the road after my 3.5 year old complained about a raisin in her nose. Read from your site to my wife who skeptically said she'd give it a try. Called back five minutes later -- she said on the first blow just a bunch of snot came out -- on the second out came the raisin. You saved us a trip to the doc!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this - just been searching for help on the internet. Tried it first time and the raisin came flying out. Brilliant. Thought we might be on the way to A & E :>(

Anonymous said...

You just saved us a trip to the ER! Worked like a charm - though my 18-month-old is a still a little angry with us for holding her down and blowing in her mouth!

Tewesa said...

It worked great! Thanks so much. The raisin was huge, and it was barely visible with a flashlight. I'm glad I didn't use tweezers, because it probably would have come apart, and some would still be in there. The raisin came out whole, much to the immediate relief of my toddler. I did have to blow about 5 times to get it out. It was inching it's way out with each blow.