[Geofizz]

In the last few months, my daughter (22 mo) has been getting more and more interested in the contents of her nose. Everything I've read indicates that the best way to deal with nose picking is to try to ignore it and it will stop eventually.

This morning I found her sheets smeared with blood, and one nostril is caked with blood, so I suspect she had a nose bleed over night. There wasn't enough blood for me to worry about the bleed specifically. It looked pretty minor.

How much can nose picking cause nose bleeds? If the picking is causing the bleeding, then I feel as though I need to encourage her to stop more quickly than the ingore and wait approach. What's a good way to encourage her to stop? Today we've just been removing her hand from her nose without comment, but her finger goes immediately back up her nose. Any other approaches? Has anyone dealt with this? If so, how long did it take for the nose picking to end?

Complicating matters, my husband has pretty bad hay fever and he says that at times when he's least congested, his nostrils are uncomfortable and itchy. If our daughter is experiencing similar problems (though I haven't seen an increase in sneezing or watery eyes which are my husband's symptoms) then is there a way to treat the itchiness?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kerc]

hmmm. Just addressing the hayfever issue -- I can totally relate to the itchy nose thing. I've had it all my life until I moved north to nothern minnesota (? for some reason no allergies here). On this one I guess I'd call my ped. to ask is there something you can give her for a day or two that would alleviate the itchiness and then you'd know if that helped with the picking.

Another thought would be to find some kind of saline spray for her nose -- when she's itchy she can tell you and maybe wetting things down would help?

On breaking the habit -- no ideas there. I've been trying to quit sucking my thumb probably pretty much since birth. I finally nip it in the bud and then have a stressful couple of days and without even knowing it I'm sucking my thumb to get to sleep.

 

[intensity_too]

My son went through a nose picking phase . . to the point of making it bleed. I would simpily remind him to take his finger out of his nose when I saw him going at it. I wouldn't yell or anything. Just walk over to him and tell him that he would get a "hurt" (his word for a bloody wound). He'd stop until I caught him again. I also found that getting some of the Little Noses saline gel and putting that up there also helped curb the picking.

 

[Geofizz]

Really dumb question: Doesn't saline dry things out?

I'll try talking to her about boo-boos (around here, boo-boos bleed, and owies bruise). I'm not sure she'll get it since I don't think she knows about the nose bleed. I at least managed to cut her finger nails yesterday.

Any other suggestions?

 

[kerc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geofizz Really dumb question: Doesn't saline dry things out?

hmm. dunno. scientifically it seems like it would, but I've had docs recommend it to me...I've never tried it but have had luck with going swimming and getting my nose wet.

 

[kerc]

ok i got curious. websearching...
saline does dry things out, thins mucous, etc.

itchy nose can be a symptom of food allergies. does she have any?

 

[Geofizz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerc itchy nose can be a symptom of food allergies. does she have any?

None that we've noticed. Karen is teething something fierce ~ no new foods recently. Karen sneezed about 10 times yesterday, so I now wonder if something is bothering her. DH is very allergic to maple and other pollen; our house is surrounded by 6 maple trees, and we live in a town with over a million maples. Everything is blooming right now and DH is up to 2 benedryl a day.