How do you teach a toddler to blow his nose?

[JessieBird]

DS is one of those kids whose nose is always runny. He'd be so much happier if he could blow it! He is 16.5 months old and increasingly annoyed by his bothersome nose (wipes at it with the back of his hand, has started to pick at it, etc) but can't do much about it. For a few weeks now, I've been endlessly demonstrating and trying to find tricks to get him to realize he can blow but nothing seems to work. He just laughs at me and doesn't seem to even understand that he could try.

Is he still too young to "get" nose blowing? Or are there tricks to teaching toddlers how?

Thanks for any advice you have!

[HappyFox05]

Our oldest could do it when she was smaller, maybe around 18 months. I'd put a kleenex to her nose & ask her to blow & she would just do it. Now that she's almost 29 months, she can't do it anymore, lol.

[LCBMAX]

This is what I do, but my 26 month old son hasn't really learned yet!

I demonstrate blowing without a tissue, I'm a dragon breathing fire from my nose, or a snorting horse, and I make sure he can feel the breath on his skin. When I have a chance for some real nose blowing, I make a big production out of it, finding the perfect hanky, trying to blow my ear first, then my knee -- you know the thing.

I also talk alot about how getting the mucus out is like peeing - nobody wants to stop playing to do it, but we all feel better afterward, and can have more fun. He totally equates mucus with pee and poop and lately throw-up, all of which I have explained as things the body no longer needs and has to get rid of.

Lately, he's showing me the snorting routine, so I know he can sort of do it. He hates having anything put to his face, so I just hope we can graduate to snorting into a hanky soon - I change my shirt 10 times a day when he has a cold (or I don't, and I don't leave the house.)

Would love to know some more tricks.

[Bea]

Teaching a toddler to blow their nose is easy. Show them! Pantomime the act and get them to copy. Hold a tissue to their nose and say "BLOW" while blocking alternate nostrils. Make up a nose blowing song.





Unfortunately they NEVER want to actually blow their nose and will throw a wobbly any time you try, preferring to wander around with two snot streams, a slimy sleeve and wipe their nose on your shirt when your not looking.

On the upside, I hear snot is in this year.

[mamadelbosque]

I honestly don't remember how I 'taught' ds1 to blow his nose... I think I just started putting a kleenex infront of it and telling him to blow and he figured it out not sure when that was... 18 months or so is my guess...

[velochic]

No, he's not too young. Sometime after a year old, I don't remember exactly when but before or around 18 months, dd just started imitating me when I blew my nose.

Unlike Bea, though, dd never minded blowing her nose... in fact prefers to do so because she doesn't like being congested. She even went through a stage of wanting to carry dainty women's embroidered handkerchiefs when we went out.

[Biscuits & Gravy]

It took forever for my older DS to figure it out, but what finally worked was to tell him to close his mouth and act like he was blowing candles out with his nose.

[greenbeanmama]

I've always told kiddos to pretend to blow their birthday candles out through their nose. Once they know what to do, I'll say, "Well, that was a wimpy blow - try again!" - that way, they don't get so frustrated with, "Blow again. Again. And again." My son learned shortly after he was a year old (granted, he prefers to "twisty" it, picking his nose with the tissue. I suppose it's better than a finger though!).

[pantrygirl]

We still use our nose frida but TG knows how to blow her nose when we hold the tissue to her nose.

It took alot of trial and error. It took a very bad sinus cold of mine for her to realize what she needed to do. I kept blowing my nose so much and showing her what I was doing. I took advantage of the cold and explained to her that I was blowing my nose like an elephant.

To this day she calls me an elephant when I blow my nose.

One day, it finally clicked.

Now when we put the tissue up to her nose, she blows like an elephant.

She sometimes even tells us know when she needs her nose blown.

Give it time. TG didn't really get it at 16 months but by 18 months, I think she understood the concept.

Now, if I can teach her how to blow bubbles. She keeps blowing air out through her teeth.

[LoveLife]

I was wondering this very thing last week! I tried and tried to show DS (18 months) who was sooo congested, how to blow his nose. But all he does is blow through his mouth and make raspberry noises!! LOL. No matter how many times we did it, I couldn't for the life of me get him to blow through his nose.

[MamaPhD]

Originally Posted by HappyFox05

Our oldest could do it when she was smaller, maybe around 18 months. I'd put a kleenex to her nose & ask her to blow & she would just do it. Now that she's almost 29 months, she can't do it anymore, lol.

Yeah my 17 mo just does it!