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.