STOP picking your nose!!

[Rosehip]

Please - has anyone successfully gotten their kids not to dig for gold? My almost 4 yo gets frequent nosebleeds. They are largely brought on by a combo of dry air (it's getting cold & the heated air is so dry) and her nosepicking (not constant by any means, but she does do it).

It goes through cycles, but there are times when she has a bleed nearly every night, and they can be fairly impressive, though she's not upset by them. But today, she had one at school, and they called me to ask that I pick her up as it had gone on for 5+ minutes. I'd REALLY like to get a handle on this. I'm working on making the air in her room more humid. The doc suggested 3 days of sudafed 3x/day to shrink the blood vessels and then to get her to stop picking.

But how?? I've told her not to pick, asked her to use tissues, explained the connection to the bloody noses...to no avail. I really don't want to have to take her to get it cauterized.

Thanks!

[AllisonR]

First, can you get a humidifier, or some plants, or put out some bowls of water? Any of the above should help the humidity, which may make her less dry.

We have a nose picking in the toilet policy. DS is 4 and he is a picker. Not huge, not bleeding, but definitely a good picker. I don't tell him he can not pick, because I don't think I can win that battle. But I tell him to go to the bathroom if he wants to pick his nose. I even tell him to feel free to pick his nose, and to go ahead.... but to do it in the bathroom. 90% of the time he doesn't want to bother getting up to go into a boring bathroom, or he would rather continue doing what ever he is doing, so he stops. It takes several repeats, but he does stop. And it is totally his choice and he knows it, which I think helps.

[skreader]

My DD used to get nosebleeds in winter from dry air. Our GP recommended that we try putting some vaseline in her nose on the section where it was very dry (esp. after the nosebleeds) and that seemed to help.

Is the nose-picking a comfort thing? It was for our DS. Like AllisonR, we enforced a (mostly) sucessful "pick in the toilet only" policy. We also tried to give him another tension outlet - giving him one of DH's hankies to keep in his pocket and stroke seemed to help.

[Rosehip]

I'm going to try the potty picking policy! Great tip. I will also try the vaseline.

I did put a bowl & pan of water in her room, so hopefully that will help. I may try a plant too. I'm hesitant to try a humidifier b/c of the changing filters/mold problem, though it may come to that.

I don't think the picking is a emotionally comforting thing, but rather that she has, well, boogers, and when it's very dry, they're dry & humid, so she goes after them. I really don't notice her doing it all that much, but the combo of that & winter air is enough to tip her into frequent nosebleed territory. Her father also had very frequent nosebleeds & ultimately had to have surgery. I'm hoping she won't have to go down that road.

[lolar2]

Originally Posted by AllisonR

We have a nose picking in the toilet policy. DS is 4 and he is a picker. Not huge, not bleeding, but definitely a good picker. I don't tell him he can not pick, because I don't think I can win that battle. But I tell him to go to the bathroom if he wants to pick his nose. I even tell him to feel free to pick his nose, and to go ahead.... but to do it in the bathroom. 90% of the time he doesn't want to bother getting up to go into a boring bathroom, or he would rather continue doing what ever he is doing, so he stops. It takes several repeats, but he does stop. And it is totally his choice and he knows it, which I think helps.

Good idea.

[Jenelle]

Picking in the bathroom. Huh. I will be trying this tomorrow! We've got a frequent picker here! Thanks.

[StephandOwen]

DS has been picking and picking for months. It's gotten really annoying and we couldn't get him to stop (he also has autism so that didn't help). A couple days ago we asked him, again, why he was picking his nose. Out from the backseat of the car he pipes out "I'm looking for the map". Uhhh.... in your nose? I asked him if we made him a map would he stop picking. He said yes. So dp found a spare piece of paper and a pen and drew him a quick map. I haven't noticed the picking since we gave him that map :

[sunflowers]

My dd picks her nose. It has gotten to the point where I say "Don't pick your nose" and she laughs and laughs

I started telling her not to pick her ears when i see her finger up her nose. It usually works for her. She does it more for attention than because she has boogies, though. It's really funny when we're out and she sticks her finger into her ear, looks me, and says "Don't pick your ears" The looks we get from strangers

[cowboyjunki]

I have a home daycare with two 2yo nose picking girls!! It drives me batty, but today took the cake.....

Isa comes to me and says "A picked her nose" as she holds out her fingers with A's boogers on them! I almost puked! So now they are not only picking their nose, they are also sharing the fruits of their labor!

2 year olds - gotta love 'em!

[eccomama]

i love the going to the bathroom idea to pick the nose. hehe. also vaseline. i forgot about that one.