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Original poster

snotty noses are gross..why do some people not bother wiping their childrens snot encrusted faces?

64 replies

brimfull · 13/03/2008 12:57

lovely friend of mine has immaculate house with three immaculate children except for snot all over their faces..constantly/She just doesn't see it.I have said to her fgs wipe their nose..she laughs and says ..oh I just wait until bathtime..GROSS!

OP posts:
dizietsma · 13/03/2008 17:21

When DD recently had a cold that made great slimy slugs of snot run out of her nose constantly, I'll admit, I did eventually leave the crusty bogies alone for hours at a time.

BUT, this is because DD has eczema and if I wipe her nose as often as the snot slugs required she will end up with a painful rash on her upper lip. I figured that a crusty upper lip was preferable to rubbed a raw and itchy eczema rash, sue me!

pruners · 13/03/2008 17:23

Message withdrawn

princessosyth · 13/03/2008 17:25

My friend never sees the snot on her dd's face even though she is often choking on it and yet the minute ds sneezes she has the tissues out.

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dizietsma · 13/03/2008 17:38

Oh and lilmamma, for the record, my DD point blank refuses to have anything in her hair, much to my chagrin. She looks cute as a button with bunches, but the longest I've managed to keep them on her is about 2 hours. So yes, she would've been one of those little snotty toddlers with hair all over her face that you so hate!

KKx · 13/03/2008 20:44

I will always remember the snot nose kids when I was in primary school. Some would lick it when it ran too far down their face

Desiderata · 13/03/2008 20:55

Yes, the old No.11 on the upper lip ..

I agree it's not very nice, but I take on board that kids with sensitive skin, allergies, etc., probably wouldn't benefit from a 24/7 wipe-fest.

I wonder what makes some kids snotty and others not?

foofi · 13/03/2008 20:56

OOoh, this is a pet hate of mine. My sister is always horrified when I start wiping her dc's noses, but I just can't stand it! I just think how I would feel with snot dripping down my face - must feel revolting, never mind how it looks.

edam · 13/03/2008 20:58

one of ds's best friends has a permanently snotty nose. He's a nice kid, and I like his mum, too, but I itch to take a hanky to him.

He's had lots of ENT problems, though, grommets and everything, so there's probably a reason. And I would never dream of saying anything IRL.

Actually, I remember years and years ago, getting a gold star from my BIL for wiping his son's nose - BIL was very impressed and said not many non-parents would have bothered. Little did he realise I just couldn't bear to see it and was dying for the parents to do something!

notnowbernard · 13/03/2008 20:58

I took dd1 to a homeopath once

He asked if she was a "wet child"

I probed further... he meant snot

Apparently kids who are milk-monsters are more prone to the "wet" way of living

WinkyWinkola · 13/03/2008 21:02

I can't handle snot. It makes me retch. And so many let their DCs run about with green channels coursing down their philtrums. Spew.

Blood, vomit, poo etc I'm all fine with. Bogeys and snot will see me gagging. It's horrible.

morningpaper · 13/03/2008 21:02

oh it's GROSS I can't believe some of you don't deal with it

Just wipe it FGS how much of a tantrum can they have in 0.5 seconds?

I trained mine to BLOW from a VERY EARLY AGE

If you don't wipe aren't they constantly getting infected eyes and eating their own snot and passing their colds and illnesses onto their peers...?!

Indith · 13/03/2008 21:03

Its when ds is shoving snot covered food into his mouth as it is flowing freely but I know that if I swoop in for a wipe he will yell at me for interrupting the eating process

Indith · 13/03/2008 21:04

But generally wipe lots as ds is always wiping it into his eyes and then it results in conjunctivitis and he can't go to creche etc etc

Chuffinnora · 13/03/2008 21:04

Lilmamma - hope you never bump into DD - she has all things you dislike on a good day. (well except the snot thing ironically).

Messy hair, baggy jumpers she cares not a jot as long as she is comfortable.
DS has a snotty nose almost constantly but is a veritable contortionist in his ability to evade the dreaded wipe.

blackrock · 13/03/2008 21:06

Because they get a sore face, because it dries up, then you don't need to wipe constantly.

Also now my DS is happy to blow his own nose at 21mths.

Get a life, stop wiping and stop fretting. Kids are snotty.

Wait until they start picking and purposely wiping it in offensive places. I knew a guy at Uni that did this when he was twenty (didn't have much to do with him), its not just kids.

pucca · 13/03/2008 21:07

I feel the same way.

I cannot stand snotty noses, i can deal with puke, and poo but snot...bleurgh! it seriously makes me want to be sick. My friends son always seems to have a snotty nose and it does bug me, as someone else said, it must be annoying for the child.

Another thing that really bugs me is picking their nose and eating it, my dd (4yo) has recently started doing this don't know where she has picked that up from, and it really turns my stomach, i have told her and told her that it is full of germs yadda yadda but she still does it

BroccoliSpears · 13/03/2008 21:08

This is one of those things that I was sooooo judgy about before I had children.

Now, meh, not so much. I'd far sooner she had a snotty nose that a sore, red nose from too much wiping.

LyraSilvertongue · 13/03/2008 21:09

DS2 has been constantly snotty for 6 months. I've given up wiping most of the time.

glucose · 13/03/2008 21:10

wipe it
more snot comes out
wipe it again
more snot comes out
really need to push buggy a bit further down the street
more snot coming out
need to cross road can't stop right now to get tissue from pocket
people walking by staring at dd snotty nose

there is more snot than I can control where it comes from I will never know

fruitbowl · 23/02/2009 21:39

I have to bump this as I've noticed recently so many of my (otherwise likeminded) mummy friends just DO NOT even seem to see the snot running into their DC's mouths. I had to sit and eat my dinner next to one of the poor kiddies this weekend and was gagging. I had to wipe the poor kid in the end.

I know I shouldn't interfere or judge and I'm normally very accepting of people but what is it about the snot kids?? I agree. Bleuurch! I do sometimes mention it to the parents and / or wipe them myself I'm ashamed to say not so much to relieve their discomfort but to stop myself from puking.

I understand the thing about the nose getting sore from too much wiping but my DD but you can get soft tissues and I bung vaseline on which she hates even more than the wiping but by age 4, she's got the hang of getting herself a tissue so I don't see that as an excuse.

Sorry to be judgey but this really gets my goat! Perhaps I'm lucky my DD isn't snotty all the time. Maybe I'd be with the snot faced bunch if it was more than a few colds a year. Tissues are expensive!

And why does snot taste salty? You see I'm not so bad snot lovers - I've obviously tasted my own at some point! - scuse me while I retch...

stealthsquiggle · 23/02/2009 21:47

Glucose - LOL. Me too. I do wipe it and it does bother me, so if DD does have a large amount of snot on her face it is because she has sneezed / oozed in the 30 secs since I last wiped her nose.

Also once dried on it takes serious scrubbing to shift so I do then tend to leave it until bath unless it is really offensive (or visibly green)

Anna8888 - honestly? Where do you find the time?

junkcollector · 23/02/2009 22:50

In my extensive experience of snot I would say it's always best to leave it. Dried snot tends to create a dam which stops the new snot coming out.

solidgoldbullet4myvalentine · 23/02/2009 22:57

I dread DS getting a cold because he hates being snotty, which can sometimes lead to very slow progress up the road as every five steps I am interrupted with a roar of 'Mummeeeeee! Wipe! My! NOSE!' I have told him that he is a big enough boy to wipe it himself but to no avail (yet).

charmargot · 23/02/2009 23:09

I don't leave my snot so wouldn't inflict that on a child. Not nice, full of germs and I'm certain it's children wiping snot into their own eyes that causes the painful snotty eyes you sometimes see.

Twinklemegan · 23/02/2009 23:20

I completely agree. It's really disgusting, and unfair on other kids. My 2 year old's well trained now - he asks for a tissue to wipe his own nose.