The ‘Mother’s Kiss’ – one of the best tips you’ve never heard of

Let’s face it, kids put everything up their nose. 

Beads. BluTac. Peas. Lego. Popcorn. The list is endless. 

Children aged 2-5 are most likely to put an object up their nose (the incidence is slightly higher in boys than girls!).

One simple method that can be tried at home to remove an object stuck up a nostril is the Parent Kiss (Mother’s Kiss).

This works best with objects that are fully blocking the nostril.

The idea is that the parent or caregiver blows into the child’s mouth while blocking the clear nostril, creating positive pressure. The object will then hopefully be pushed out, likely with a torrent of snot!

Here is how to perform the ‘parent’s kiss’:

• Relax and reassure your child –  explain to them you are going to give them a big kiss. 
• Block the clear nostril (ie the one that does NOT have the object in it) with your finger.
• With a good seal, place your mouth over their mouth.
• Breathe into their mouth, and as you feel a bit of resistance to your breath, give a short, sharp puff of air. 

Hopefully the object has popped out!

You can repeat it, but make sure your child isn’t too distressed.

Never attempt to remove the object with tweezers etc, it can cause trauma and distress.

If you can’t get it out with the Kiss method, you will need to seek medical help!

Check out our recent post on this method, for a visual demo!

References:

Nasal Foreign Body – Stat Pearls
Katherine Baranowski; Mahmoud S. Al Aaraj; Virteeka Sinha.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459279/

Efficacy and safety of the “mother’s kiss” technique: a systematic review of case reports and case series
Stephanie Cook, BM BCh, Martin Burton, DM, and Paul Glasziou, PhD
CMAJ. 2012 Nov 20; 184(17): E904–E912https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3503923/