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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not take DS(7) to A&E because he has a foil confetti star stuck up his nose

91 replies

dougierose · 07/03/2015 22:00

Yesterday I heard DS snorting and blowing his nose. It transpired that he had shoved a foil star (from a confetti bomb) up his nose. Actually, it didn't go up far enough the first time, so he pulled it out and then gave it a right shove, then discovered that he could't get it out.

Last night he said that he could mildly feel the star, then this morning he said that he couldn't feel it at all. I think it might have worked its way down his nasal passage and hopefully will have gone into his stomach with the expected result.

I've asked friends what to do and there's been a mixed response between trying to tweeze it out (NOOOOOOOOOOOOO), trying to make him sneeze - and then right up to taking him to A&E.

He can breathe, eat, swallow, talk moan as usual so he's obviously feeling OK. However I've also been told by a medic that if it hasn't come out within a day or so then I SHOULD take him to A&E.....

Apart from the 4 hour wait, I don't want to clog up A&E with something fairly minor - but then again, the foil star has quite sharp edges and it might scratch something internally on its way through...

What do you think?

PS this is true, not a joke/troll post.

OP posts:

TheSingingMonkey · 08/03/2015 08:25

Yes you definitely need to take him, there is an infection risk and there's a chance he could inhale it as someone else said.

Laying a child across your lap, closing the nostril without the object in it and then giving a short sharp breath into their mouths is a good way of removing something.

DraggingDownDownDown · 08/03/2015 09:14

How does that work? There is a huge risk of hyper inflating a child's lungs and causing a pneumothorax doing that!

shutupaboutstarwars · 08/03/2015 09:15

My DS (aged 8 with ASD ) stuck a small bit of Lego up his nose. (We were recommended Lego as a way of helping his fine motor control). Mothers kiss didn't work ( that is the one where you block the other nostril and blow into the mouth) he was then referred to ent. But as it was near Christmas they said there might be a 3 week wait! Fortunately an ent nurse managed to get it out where a and e hadn't managed it. It is usually toddlers who get things stuck at usually things are up there long enough for them either to go rotten and start smelling or for the child to be irritated enough that they keep picking their nose and make it look sore, so often things are up there for a few weeks before anyone realises. It does need to come out but perhaps not straight away

Charlie97 · 08/03/2015 09:34

Nephew got a legman head stuck up his nose, it was looking down at you when you looked up his nostril.

A&e removed it!

ahbollocks · 08/03/2015 09:38

Ive had 4 lego flowers removed from my nose at age 6 two doctors with long tweezers and my mum holding me down.
Yy take him to a and e

TheSingingMonkey · 08/03/2015 09:48

How does that work? There is a huge risk of hyper inflating a child's lungs and causing a pneumothorax doing that

It's what the A&E staff tell you to do.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2645753/

stilllearnin · 08/03/2015 09:55

If they do find it has made its way to his stomach - the way to check it has come out is by putting cling film across the toilet bowl and having a good sift (bitter experience - hama beads are banned in this house). Hope it turns out well for ds this morning.

cinders456 · 08/03/2015 10:05

Lol Charlie

ispyfispi · 08/03/2015 10:06

Yep another one here, my ds1 shoved a seed pod up his nose aged 4 having never done anything remotely silly as a toddler. Was advised to go to A&E due to risk of ending up in his lung/blocking airway They couldn't get it out. They sent us home to try the mothers kiss thing so we sat up all night watching him and periodically blowing into his mouth while he slept! That didn't work so we had to go back in for removal under GA the next morning ??

nippiesweetie · 08/03/2015 10:06

Barbiegirlmum I know of a child from some years back who started to smell awful and no one could work out why. It turned out she had shoved a Barbie's shoe up her nose and infection had set in. The visit to A&E was pretty gruesome and no one could understand why the child hadn't been in agony.

mrssprout · 08/03/2015 10:31

One of my DC put things up his nose quite a few different times when he was 2/3 years old.He would always tell me after so I would get a torch & tweezers & get it out , they were always where I could see them. Once I noticed a yucky smell & took him to the doctor, he saw something high up & was going to send him to hospital for a general anaesthetic to get it out. I told the Dr I had removed lots of bits before & he was very good at staying still so the Dr had a go & got it, a piece of rotting paper. I had 2 visits to a&e with things in ears (different child) but I didn't try to get them out at home.

Original poster

dougierose · 08/03/2015 14:46

Hello! OP here...

UPDATE

I found two extra stars and took them with me to show anyone who was interested. It turns out that they're not foil at all, but rigid plastic.

We went to A&E at 8.30 am who then sent us across town to the Minor Injuries Unit. After an hour's wait, the doctor told off DS by saying that he would expect that sort of thing from a 2 year old, then he said he couldn't find anything. However, he referred us to ENT and elaborated the symptoms (ie DS said he could feel a difference in breathing through each nostril) by translating this into "He has a blockage in his left nostril, see him today."

We then went back to the original hospital site and into the building adjacent to the A&E dept and waited whilst a bloke in his 30s had something extracted from his nose. I was desperate to ask him what he had shoved up, but was too English to enquire.

The two doctors then saw DS and kept putting longer and longer tubes up his nose and more and more intense magnifying lenses. The doctor finally saw the star (hooray! see, it hadn't fallen out after all) but as it was wedged so far up his nose and starting to disappear down another passage way, she thought DS might need to have it removed under GA.

Anyway, she gave one last final tug and the blessed thing came out. She asked to keep the other stars to show her colleagues and there was relief all round.

I now feel completely drained and in need of chocolate.

I don't think DS will ever do that again as he was shaking quite badly in the chair whilst the Dr was ramming the nostril hoover up his nose. Poor thing. Still, he shouldn't have been so silly in the first place. He still can't give anyone a good reason why he did it!!

Thanks for all your comments. And, in truth, I would never have taken him to hospital if it hadn't been for you all, so thank you very much for that. Hoorary for Mumsnetters!

xxxxxxx

OP posts:

Original poster

dougierose · 08/03/2015 14:47

PS *Nobody" - That is the funniest thing I've ever read!!

OP posts:

SummerHouse · 08/03/2015 15:19

Brilliant end but a stressful day.

Glad its out!

SummerHouse · 08/03/2015 15:21

Ps normal 7 year old behavior if you ask me. My nephew once drank a glo stick and I know of a 30 year old who got a plastic frog stuck in his throat after he drank the makeshift aquarium made from the water jug and the cracker prizes at a Christmas party.

IfMaybeBut · 08/03/2015 15:45

Aw you poor thing. Glad it's sorted

IAmNotAMindReader · 08/03/2015 16:09

I know grown adults who have stuck things up and in various orifices and needed them extracting. No matter how old you think they are they're never too old for abstract stupidity.

gasman · 08/03/2015 18:01

stuff like this keeps me in a job!

I usually gently mock offending child as a deterrent if they are old enough (and 7 is!) to know better.

Having said that my brother and I deliberately ate coloured lego as an experiment to see how long it took to pass through us when we were kids. The worrying thing is the lego never knowingly reappeared. So either I still have some yellow lego inside me or checking your poo isn't terribly effective!

Lilymaid · 08/03/2015 18:05

My DB (when rather smaller than he is now) stuffed a baked bean up one nostril. It was removed about 3 years later when he had his adenoids removed. He lived. Apparently the baked bean was still intact when removed.

Starlightbright1 · 08/03/2015 18:16

Glad all sorted..

I swallowed my mums engagement ring when I was 4 and one of my first memories is the x ray with the ring showing.. I had to stay in hospital till it passed through

Original poster

dougierose · 08/03/2015 18:24

This is now ranking #2 in our household's League of Stupid Things. #1 remains unchanged with DH (aged 38 and a starred first Cambridge graduate) superglueing his teeth together whilst trying to prise apart his fingers which he'd also superglued together.

OP posts:

zzzzz · 08/03/2015 18:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

emummy · 08/03/2015 18:30

Glad it's all over with OP. The parents' kiss can be effective for these things, hold the unaffected nostril closed, blow sharply into the child's mouth. I am not aware of a risk of lung damage with this, would have to be a hell of a blow! Main risk is being hit in the cheek with a lovely mixture of foreign body and snot in my experience!

Charlie97 · 08/03/2015 18:31

AgentZigzag · 08/03/2015 20:02

Glad it was all sorted

at your stoopid DH. I superglued two of my fingers together a couple of weeks ago, nail varnish remover thankfully stopped everyone from knowing what a total twat I am got them apart really easily. How did your DH get his teeth apart?

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