How do you teach a 4yo to blow his nose?

[irish]

DS is battling yet another cold. We have been trying forever to teach him how to blow his nose, and have had zero success. Instead, he'll just suck down his buggers (so nasty!) which results in excessive coughing, followed by vomitting, turning a regular cold into a far bigger headache!!

Any success stories or tips??

[nevaehsmom327]

i would just sit down with DD and grab a box of kleenex and literally show her how I did it...and tell her it's better if you get the boogies out than keep them in. after i showed her a few times how to do it she caught on pretty quick. One thing that helped to was that i told her to like push one nostril shut so it allowed more pressure to go through the other and get all the gunk out...for some reason she thought that was funny and does it just fine now.

[irish]

Thanks, Amy, I'll try that!

[healerarina]

We showed DD1, then if she refused, threatened to use the booger sucker, like you do with a baby. The choice between blowing and forcible booger removal results in blowing her nose. Also, lots of reminders, just saying "if you don't blow, you are gonna get even sicker, then you will have to go to the Dr, and take medicine" also, you can do activity x once you are better.

[megan1201]

When I was teaching DS he always tried to blow out of his mouth instead of his nose, so just the reminder to keep his mouth shut and blow was enough to get it to work.

[slufoot]

One of my friends taught her DS to blow a tissue across the table with his nose when he wasn't sick, that way he understood what he needed to do when his nose was stuffed.

[irish]

Megan, I tell him to close his mouth and then he forces air through his tightly closed lips lol!
Slufoot, that sounds like a good trick, I'll definitely try that!

[bumblebee23]

I explained it by telling them it was like blowing out candles on a bday cake or blowing bubbles but instead of blowing with your mouth you blow through your nose. They seemed to pick it up pretty easy.

[angel22]

EEEWWWW!!!!! Um sorry, NO help here- my girls are OBSESSED with blowing their noses! =P Dude, we go through more Kleenex... Ugh. Oh, and Mo, I can TOTALLY seeing a kid blowing out their birthday cake candles through their nose now. Thanks. Thanks a WHOLE lot! LOL!

[irish]

Lol Ang! It is pretty nasty...drives me nuts! We go through a ton of Kleenex too, he just twists it and sticks it up his nose lol!

[bumblebee23]

haha Angel sorry for the visual but I had to put it in terms they would understand and it worked! LOL