nose blowing

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this may sound funny, and is a little funny to watch sometimes, when it's not a screaming fit, but i can't teach my 4 yr old AS boy how to blow his nose.
it's awful when he has a cold or something because i am constantly wiping it but he will not blow and i have tried to explain it every way i can think of.
anyone else have this problem?
can anyone else give me any ideas?
thanks

When you've got a runny nose, show him how you do it.

This is one of those things that seems so simple when your an adult that you forget how much co-ordination it actually takes. I think this is difficult for a lot of kids...like learning to whistle or skip. I recall having problems with the whole "timing"...when to breath.


If he has the attention span you can "act it out" for him letting him see exactly how you are holding your tissue and where your fingers go. This is the way I do it....

Hold one nostril closed with pointer finger,hold tissue under the other nostril.Close your lips tightly and breath in lightly through open nostril then breath out nostril as hard as you can like your blowing up a ballon with it.Switch nostril and repeat. Go wash your hands and face, because chances are you go "it" all over the place.

Doesn't that sound complicated.


Good luck...might want to carry some hand sanitizer with you for awhile.

My sons are 8, and one will blow, but one absolutely will not. It really grosses him out/upsets him. He will throw up if I try to force the point. For him I think it is a sensory issue. The idea of getting snot on his hands horrifies him. He will wipe his nose with a kleenex, just won't blow.

he won't even do it if i or my mom are holding the kleenex, actually he never wipes his own nose but will bring me the kleenex.
i have taken to picking his nose with q-tips to get the crusties out, sorry if it sounds gross but it is becoming abit of a problem. i have tried showing him how i do it when i do if i remember.
thanks

Oh, shoot- my mom had to deal with this with both me and one of my siblings. Either our pediatrician or allergist gave her one of those rubber suction bulbs (probably can find them in most pharmacies, I'd imagine) to use when all else failed, and I remember my sister being taught via the one finger over one nostril at a time method, that Krex mentioned.


My five-year-old sister blows her nose fine now, but she's taken to it so much that when she has allergies she carries the box around the house with her and drops the tissues everywhere she goes. ...I think that's starting to become a thing of the past too, now though.

My son is 8 and still doesn't blow his nose. At least he has learned to wipe his nose with kleenex. I'm happy with that.

I didn't even realize this might be an ASD thing. I'm a 17 year old Aspie and to this day I still cannot blow my nose. I just wipe it with kleenex, without "blowing" like most people do.

i have a nasal aspirator (snot sucker, plastic bulby thing), but it only works on teh loose stuff and he tends to get build up so crusty boogers that get kind of stuck, if he would blow they'd come out becasue they sometimes do when he sneezes but just can't get him to.

I don't think I learned how to blow my nose until I was an older child? I have chronic year round allergies....

You can imagine how that went at school. Not only was I a freak, but a germ freak!

That part sucks to be autistic and with allergies at once... Back on topic, I got annoyed with the constant dripping or wetness, so I took to plugging pieces of tissue in my nose....

Hey it worked! I can blow my nose now, but it doesn't always help. Sometimes the tissue plugs work better. *seriously there needs to be a product designed for that kind of thing*

I'malsoachronicnosepickertogetthestuffthatbothersmebutcan'tcomeoutanyotherway....

picker, too,
preferably armed with my good old trusted set of nail scissors
(one leg of which lost its point so i'm a bit desperate)

my brother, much to my physical annoyance, used to deal with a full nose the opposite route - now there's one i cannot go, i find the thought alone repulsive
(it actually makes the insides cringe)

and that for now is as far as i care to take this

if the issue is getting mucus on the hands, try plastic gloves

saline solution (nasal spray) is a good remedy for dry boogers.

It's inexpensive, and you can use it as often as you want. Who knew the nasal cavities liked to be moisturized?


It helps me a lot when I remember to do it, having terrible allergies/borderline asthma and living in a desert.


Gosh, I've had every health problem under the sun....my poor mother.

I had to teach my son how to blow his nose. He didn't start doing it until I handed over control over the nose blowing. I gave him the tissue box and told him to blow his nose. I tried not to take over the task. Eventually, he learned. I had to learn to allow him to make mistakes and not jump in when it got messy.

Didn't figure out the blowing part until adulthood. Could wipe with tissue, but couldn't regulate the level of pressure in order to coordinate containment of mucus needed to blow with tissue.

Method I discovered along the way (and still use, on occasion, when blowing doesn't work) is to press the tissue (folded in half, not wadded) up into nostril, so it makes a small thimble shape, then touch against each surface inside nose that it comes in contact with. Snot sticks to it, one can see if there's more that needs getting, then one can wipe/blot/dab area until done.

Favorite ones are Puffs Plus with Lotion: they're sturdy but not abrasive-I insist on getting them every time. Special circumstances, of more-than-usual quantity (due to crying, allergies, colds) merit tissues. However, picking with finger is most useful tool for maintaining daily nostril comfort & function, gnarly as it sounds to say-I swear by it.

Our 9-yr-old still won't/can't blow his nose. He seems slightly frightened by it, and also doesn't seem to be able to get the hang of when to breathe. When he's tried to learn, he's choked and coughed and so is now averse to trying again. He will wipe with a tissue. And sometimes he picks his nose until it bleeds. This used to freak him out a bit, the blood and all, but now he just calls for me and I have him lay back with a tissue until it stops.