Everyone knows that babies are messy and that upon becoming a parent there will be drool, vomit, pee, and poop with which to contend, but I don’t think anyone considers the snot. Maybe it’s because babies come from the hospital complete with a nasal aspirator and one assumes that with that no one has to touch a single snotty thing. One would be wrong.
Sometimes babies sneeze and snot flies forth like projectile vomit. Sometimes while they sleep, snot gets rubbed all over their face and sometimes their sinuses get so backed up it coats their eyelashes. Sometimes toddlers like to multi task. At around fifteen months, Sophia discovered that when she sucks her thumb her index finger only need to be extended and it fits perfectly in the nostril. She would pull out little boogies and not even know it sometimes.
A few months ago at dinner Sophia had a boogie just above her top lip. Kurt was eating when he noticed and called it to my attention. I hadn’t sat down yet so I went over and without hesitation picked it off her face with my fingers. “Eeeww, mom’s are gross!” Kurt said. I went to the trash and flicked it off then washed my hands before sitting down to eat. What’s the big deal? After being shit on a little boogie is nothing.
I guess Sophia noticed that I picked a boogie off her face because a few days later she came up to hand me something small from between her fingers. Usually I get bits of paper so I took it without any thought. It was a little baby boogie. I’ll treasure it always honey…Where’s the trash can? Don’t worry the trash doesn’t go out for few days.
Sophia is getting over a cold she had last week. The first night as always, we didn’t think to turn on her humidifier and the next morning we had the snot face to contend with. Unlike her colds last year, this year Sophia has REALLY long hair. She had the ends of a thin lock inhaled into her nose and over the night her mucus membranes worked overtime to seal the lock in place. When she was younger, I would simply use a washcloth and warm water to loosen up all the dried snotty goodness. This time I gave the hair a tug and out came the snot cork. Getting the snot out of the hair and keeping it out is a completely different story.
Hair in the nostril… snot-cork… I get the feeling we’re on the verge of inventing something, here. *ponder*
smarmoofus – if we market snot corks as maintenance free pets….
That’s funny…and totally gross (and I can say that b/c I’ve done it before!)
Christy – Ok sure it’s gross but still not as disgusting as being pooped on. I’m sure you had that at least once as well.
Isn’t motherhood wonderful. My eldest son who now has two of his own and he says he doesn’t know how I did it. I was a single mom for some of the time.
Berni – Oh I don’t envy the single mom at all! Single moms should get extra credit or something.
Snot and other slimy stuff aside, motherhood is wonderful. 
Mmmmm, snot. I’ve had it come out of my own eyes too, so I know about that sinus thing.
I think the nasal aspirators are fine, but breastfeeding is even better. When Justin was little and had a stuffed up nose, he would still need to breastfeed. He’d be trying to nurse and get really upset because he couldn’t breathe. The more upset he got, the harder he would try to breathe. Eventually, he would just blow his nose on my boob. It was way better than the aspirator, and I tell some of my callers that too. (To those who read this… I’m a nurse, not some freaky phone gal who talks about snotty boobs for a living!)
Sarah – That used to happen to me as a kid.
I think I only used the nasal aspirator two or three times on Sophia. I don’t remember ever getting snot-boobs. I think she mostly got a warm washcloth treatment for crusty snot.