Nose Picking

I got my son to stop his picking by literally making him wash his hands EVERY SINGLE TIME he did it. It was one hell day - I think we washed about 40 times...but he did stop, and he hasn't started again. He was just over 2 when we did that.

Good luck...it is a tough one.

So I cant give advice due to my 2 almost 3 yr olds BOTH pick and eat theirs. So nasty, but I figure once they are in school and kids say something they will listen. Until then just remind her and tell her its nasty. Also you could try and get her a doll to hold or keep her hands busy with coloring or crafts? I have tried and failed all these myself (I know where they got it too, my brother does the same thing, YUK.)

Best of luck dear, I know how hard of a habit this can be to break.

Hi, my daughter is four and also has her finger in her nose more than I want! She actually will pick a boogie and eat it. She goes to school three days a week, so my hope of the other kids saying something like "gross" hasn't worked. I guess they are not old enough to put on the peer pressure to make her stop. In addition to the manners issue, I really think it is a method to pick up germs and get sick, so I have tried to express this concern with her and instruct her to use a tissue, so she doesn't get sick by passing germs from hand to nose/mouth. Since I repeated that message a few times, now that I think about it, it doesn seem better. I also attempt to be calm about it, so she doesn't do it to just get a reaction out of me. Anyway, I would be curious to hear any other advice out there.

this sounds exactly like my 3 yr old a year ago! what worked for us was a serious talk about it (i made a really big deal about how sad i was to see her nose bleed). and everytime she picked her nose i would take her finger out and divert her attention somewhere else, acting really enthusiastic about birds or whatever! anything! if she was picking for comforting reasons, i would replace picking with another action like holding her hands together.

if she kept insisting on picking her nose then i would tell her that the only appropriate place to take care of her boogers was in the bathroom with water and a tissue behind closed doors... it became a new rule. i had to be consistent ( i know how hard that can be with your husband away) but it didn't take very long for her to stop and i haven't seen her pick her nose outside of the bathroom since! hope that helps!

My daughter does this intermittently, so I know how frustrating it is :o) The only thing I've found that works is reminding her that princesses use good manners and putting her finger in her nose is "yucky." That usually works for her, although I don't know if it'll work for yours :o)

The other thing I'll mention is that if she's doing it at night, her nose might be getting dried out. Especially in the summer when fans, etc. are on, I know my nose gets especially dry and uncomfortable and my daughter has voiced this as well. Putting a humidifier in her room near her bed might help to decrease the night-time "picking" and resulting nosebleeds.

Good luck!

Dear M.,
Here are some ideas that might help.

1) Try to avoid excessive dryness-to a certain extent dry mucus in the nose is seasonal, but plenty of fluids and atmosphere control (vaporizing) of rooms for sleeping may help
2)some allergies and infections take on the form of scar tissue on the inside of the nose that does not heal up very fast
3)Since adults USUALLY also do such things in private, it MIGHT be important to let her know the "acceptable" way to take care of things behind closed doors or hopefully even some tissue technique.
4) I doubt if your daughter will be subjected to comments like "Digging for burried treasure?" or "Pick a winner?" until first or second grade. Whatever the case, most children find out very quickly from the outside what is not socially acceptable if believing the kind criticism from Mom and Dad doesnt work at first!

Ignore it. Keep bugging her and ti will turn into a power struggle. She'll stop when the kids at preschool start teasing her.

I suggest breathing exercises

You start doing them
make sure she sees you and asks you what you are doing and why
;-)
dont offer them to her - in the begining
tell her grown ups do this, it is called
Yoga Breathing.
''we do it to be strong and well'' ... or whatever terms you chose

prepare alone, then you do it for her to see (like she caught you at it)
;-)
and after a couple of days of her seeing you do it show her
and let her do it ''as as a favour'' ...
then build it (laid back) as a new habit

the comfort of focus on the nostrils will sooth her ,,, as will the deeper conscious breath

I suggest making up a story (about the breath going in and out) that she helps you create
give it a colour name or character depending what she says about here nose/how she feels about touching her nose etc once she starts it

at first breathe in and count it
pause
breathe out and count it
pause

Praise her for doing it
be impressed that she can /does anything close to it

;-)

see which nostril you want to foucs on
you can make this alternae if / when she is able

this can distract her from the finger
and remember if she goes back to her habit would make it impossible to do the exercise!

NOTE
for later...

slower exhales are best for tension
slower inhales for feeling sad

namaste!

try gloves or mittens. it worked for my 5 year old who is a fingernail/cutical biter. i made her wear them at all times at home (except eating, bathing, and potty time), and especially at night. i think they are more tempted them because no one is watching.
best of luck!

My son had a serious problem with this (it started at age 4 but lasted until he was nearly 6)! He, too would wake up with a bloody nose at least once a week. The greatest solution was GLOVES. He wore them every night & slowly but surely his desire to pick his nose during the day diminished as well....

He recently had poison ivy (now age 11)and we could not keep him scratching...We re-intorduced the "glove solution" and he is finally healing.

You can use the same stuff people use to stop thumb sucking. I guess the stuff is hot(cayenne pepper, I think) and it keeps fingers out of the mouth. I bet it would work for the nose too. Imagine sticking a finger up your nose with that stuff on it.

I would just continue to remind her and basically ignore it. Because, they all do it. Maybe her "style" is a bit different, but they all do it. Eventually, she will quit doing it in public. I would suggest having her sit on her hands or something when she feels the need. That is what I tried to have my girls do. But, your daughter isn't the only one it just seems like she is. Another suggestion is to get her involved in taking a Karate class of some sort. We have one of my daughters that is 5 involved in North County Martial Arts. I'm not planning on this as a long term thing, but it teaches them a lot of confidence. My daughter now teachs the two year old which is very funny! It seems that as long as they are doing something the bad habits have a way of just going away since they are busy. Good luck, and I'm sorry to hear she is causing herself to have a bloody nose.

Hi M., kids always have their finger in something, just keep taking her fibger out and saying NO, if that does not work, take her finger out ap her on the hand and tell her no. Like you said you don't want her to go to pre school with her finger in her nose. J.