Saline nasal spray. How I hate having to use it!
When Eytan was a baby, I didn’t do much training with the saline nasal spray. I spent my time thinking up all sorts of fun activities to do with him. The days flew by. I didn’t plan much ahead for unpleasant tasks like spraying salt water up his nose.
When he was 6 months old, Eytan had his first cold and was very congested. I was able to do a little bit of training during the day to prepare him for the night, and I had some success. But, he had a runny nose continuously from age 6 months to 9 months, with really no breaks at all. Many nights, as he struggled to breathe and woke up frequently, I ended up pinning him down and forcing the nasal spray up his nose. It was horrible for both of us.
I wish I had been more proactive, but I wasn’t. Still, the little bit of training I did do made such a big difference for us. I think it shows that even a little bit of work around comfort and consent goes a long way, even if you can’t do it perfectly.
Here is what worked for me.
1. Use a saline spray with a wide nozzle
First, you need the right tools! I tried a number of nasal saline spray products. The Nosefrida, for example, wasn’t good for me. The tube is long and hard, which resulted in accidental poking into soft nasal tissue when Eytan struggled. My life improved so much when I switched over to the Boogie Mist. The nozzle is wide, which eliminated accidental poking. It also smells good, which may have helped. (I am not affiliated with Boogie Mist in any way.)
2. Allow your baby to explore the spray bottle
I let Eytan chew and suck on the bottle a bit after each practice session when he was very small (the 6-7 month range). He did end up sucking a little bit of the fluid. I thought that was ok, since it was made up of water and salt, and is safe for use in babies. I didn’t let him suck much, and of course I supervised the whole time. It helped him become more familiar with, and comfortable with, the bottle. It also helped because he wanted to explore the bottle, and that got in the way of applying the spray. After exploring the bottle thoroughly, he was able to focus on the games we played instead of being obsessed with gaining possession of the bottle.
3. Sing a song
When Eytan was 6 months old, he loved a song about a bunny that sneezes. He laughed every time I reached the sneezing part of the song. I began to introduce massaging the sides of his nostrils just before the sneezing part of the song, so the massaging would predict the funny sneeze is about to happen. (The massaging is for loosening the sticky boogers.) Then, I added the saline spray as part of the funniest moment, the sneeze. Here’s what it looked like at 7 months old:
4. Use Natalie’s Funniest Game Ever
My friend Natalie is a speech therapist, and she taught me her secret weapon: The Funniest Game Ever. She says babies from six months and all the way up to older toddlers love this game, and they all laugh every single time. It’s her go-to icebreaker when meeting new students. The way it goes is you put an object on your head, say “ah .. ahh.. Ahh .. ATCHEW!” and at the atchew (sneeze) you let the item drop off your head. Giggles ensue. Eytan LOVED this game, and I’ve tried it many times with other babies and toddlers. It never fails.
I used Funniest Game with Eytan a lot. Every so often, I placed the nozzle of the saline spray in his nostril just before the ATCHEW moment. I did NOT spray him, I only placed the nozzle and made a TSSSS sound. After a few days, every tenth or so placement resulted in a real spraying (which I really had to do, because he was so stuffed up).
5. Spray your own nose! (Or, pretend to.)
Whether I sang the bunny song or played Funniest Game, I had the best success when I sprayed my own nose a few times first (or, pretended to). It was even better when Eytan’s dad also played. We took turns spraying each other’s noses at the ATCHEW moment of either the song or the game. Eytan CACKLED at this and wanted more.
To fake the spraying, we’d make a TSSS noise when the nozzle was in our nostrils, and then reacted dramatically, fake-sneezing several times. For every 4-5 reps pretend-spraying one another, we pretend-sprayed Eytan. Playing in this manner, we’d sneak in one real nose spray in each nostril, then did more reps with only pretend-spraying.
This worked well for many months, even though there were a number of occasions at night when he was exhausted and I pinned him down and forced him.
6. Use consent
Whenever we played the nasal saline spray game, I waited for Eytan to give his consent, to show that he is ready for me to put the nozzle in his nose. When I forced the spraying occasionally, the setup was completely different. I’d tell him I’m going to spray his nose, and then just do it. But, during the game setup, he always had the power to refuse. I waited for him to arch his face forward with his nose towards me. You can clearly see the consent-giving in this video, taken when he was 17 months old:
7. Use screen time
Sadly, I didn’t practice the saline spray very much, and I forced it too often. Over time, I wasn’t able to distract him with games or books to get it done. But, the TV did work. I restrained him gently from behind, and as long as his eyes were glued to the screen, I sprayed his nostrils. This worked well for spraying him before bed. It wasn’t a great solution for 2am wakeups because I wanted him to go back to sleep (and I was tired too!). But, on really bad nights when it was clear he was in need of spraying, I let him watch cartoons on my old phone and sprayed him while he watched.
8. Tell a story
Eytan is two years old now. We were mercifully free of all colds during the entire year of Covid-19 isolation. Recently, though, he has had a very stuffy nose at night, and I ended up forcing the saline spray on him a number of times.
Last night, I asked Eytan if I could spray his nose. I only ask when he’s not so terribly stuffy that saying “no” is ok with me. Asking always means he has a right to say “no.” He said no, of course. Then it hit me. What if I told him a story that would result in him wanting the spray water up his nose?
I had begun telling Eytan made-up stories at nap time and bed time, to get him to lay still long enough for sleep to have a chance of overtaking him. I had told him lots of stories before, retelling stories from his books from memory, but I hadn’t made up my own stories until he was around 20 months old. I was surprised by how much he loved these stories!
Could a story work for the horrible saline nasal spray? We were at an all-time low with the spray. The only way I could spray him was to pin him down. It was 10pm, and he had woken up unable to breathe through his nose.
So, I told him a story about a friendly bee that loved children. She watched a little boy struggle to sleep with a nose full of boogers. The kind bee felt so sad for the boy and wanted to help him. She took a big bowl and filled it with water, honey, nectar, and lots of salt, to help wash out all the boogers. Then she sprayed the water up the boy’s nose. Lots of huge boogers came out! The boy was so happy, he was able to breathe! Then, I repeated the story, this time using Eytan as the boy. “Would you like me to use the bee water to open your nose now?” I asked without expecting much. “Yes,” said a little voice. And he willingly allowed both nostrils to be sprayed. Wow!
The next morning, I retold the story on camera (in English, which is why I was speaking so slowly – I don’t usually speak English with Eytan). Here it is.
Creating your story
Eytan loves bees, and he loves the BZZZ sound. He also loves honey and salt. Find a character your child loves, and make up some kind of story that ends in a salty liquid up his nose. I can think of a number of stories to try next with Eytan: a firefighter using a hose to spray salt water into his nose and opening it (he loves firefighters breaking into places), being a shark swimming in a salty ocean chasing fish until all the boogers melt away, Eytan helping a baby kitten clear his nose by demonstrating him how easy it is, a teeny tiny excavator that is stuck in the boogers in his nose and needs to be flushed out, a mother elephant tickling the inside of his nose with a spray of her water… The stories don’t have to be creative at all, only friendly, empowering (he gets to decide yes or no), and relating to topics your child is interested in.
Storytelling works very well for Eytan now at age two, and I think it would have worked starting at age 18 months.
9. Film your toddler
One more tip! When Eytan consented to the nasal spray after hearing the bee story last night, I pulled out my phone and set it to record a video so he could watch himself. He loves watching himself on video. I’ve shared this tip in my 14 Tips for Brushing Your Toddler’s Teeth without Tears post. I film him like this every time he is doing a challenging task. It gives him a lot of pleasure to see himself doing something difficult. And, I use the footage the next time we need to do the particular task again. He watches himself smiling and succeeding at the task, and it makes him want to do it again. Here’s the video I took last night. Warning: there’s lots of gross snot and boogers at the end. Don’t watch if you’re squeamish!
CHILD COOPERATIVE CARE & Enrichment 
Leave a comment