Beware the Bulb Syringe

Dear Parent,

If you have been using a bulb syringe to clean your child's nose, strongly consider throwing it out.  This photo has been circulating around Facebook today and if it doesn't make you cringe, nothing will.

source: Mitzi Johnson's Facebook page

Yeah, that's some pretty nasty mold.  I'm not a big fan of the bulb syringe because it has to go UP your child's nose to suck stuff out and then also because of the cleanliness issue.  But now the cleanliness seems like a bigger issue to me...

After about a week at home with our little one, we switched to a NoseFrida The Snotsucker Nasal Aspirator (current retail on Amazon for ~$14.50) and have had no issues with it.

source: Amazon

Like you see in the picture, it's basically a clear tube you put against your child's nose and then a long tube with a mouthpiece that you suck on.  It sounds a little gross, but there is a filter that makes sure no boogers or other nasties get sucked into your mouth.  A scientist friend and I were talking about this a while back and she said "I hope it has a micron filter in it so that you don't get any microbes!"  My response was that my kid sticks her fingers in my mouth and eyes and sneezes/coughs/spits on my face and body so often that a micron filter wouldn't make a bit of difference.  But the packaging does say that the filters are disposable to prevent any bacterial transfer.  I like this because you can see that it's clean, you can control the suction, and it doesn't go up inside the baby's nose.

The Baby NasaKleen (current retail on Amazon for ~$9) also seems very similar.  The main difference seems to be that this one has a silicone tip that goes against the nose and also comes with a case.

source: Amazon

Given the decent price difference and good reviews for both (plus the silicone tip and case for the NasaKleen), given the option now, I would have probably bought the NasaKleen.  But I didn't know about it when I made my purchase months back and I am quite happy with the NoseFrida.  I think either would do the job just fine.

Electric aspirators give you some more options, but I don't know anything about those and they are more expensive.  But they're out there if you want to check them out.

Thanks for reading,

Me