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Objects in Nose and Ears:

When babies first start crawling, you have to worry about them sticking every little thing in their mouth. It's how they explore the world, so you expect them to do this. What you may not expect is that, once the child is old enough to stop putting everything in their mouth, the next thing they will do it stick something in another body part.

Luckily, this isn't the same as the mouth situation. It's not everything they see; it's actually almost always a one-time thing. This is usually because it may involve pain, a parent who is freaking out, and sometimes a trip to the doctor or emergency room, and this isn't something that most kids want to eve have to endure again.

One of the most important points I must make in this situation is for the parent not to try to take the foreign object out. Whatever they stuck in their body (which is usually something like a bead, a noodle, or any other item about this size) is small and hard to grab. Since this is the case, it is just as possible that you will push the object farther inside as it is that you will get it out. This is true even if you are using tweezers.

If your child does stick something in their nose (and the nose is much more common that the ear), the very first thing to do is to try to get them to blow their nose. Unfortunately, there are a couple of things working against you in this situation.
Most likely, a child that does this has not yet learned how to blow their nose. You also have to deal with the fact that it is bothering them, which means they will try to mess with it. You will want to keep them from doing this, because they could make it hurt worse or make it move upward while messing with it. Another thing you will have to worry about is that your child will very possibly be freaking out about it. It is really important to not punish your child or even get mad at them for doing this. All kids do it, and luckily they learn (almost always) after the first time to never do it again. And they learn this by the experience itself, no punishment necessary.

Any time you have a child of this age (which can actually be anywhere from a year old all the way up to 4 or 5 years old) and they tell you their nose or ear hurts, take it seriously. Look inside their nose and ears with a small flashlight and, if you see anything, you will want to call their doctor. Depending on how old your child is, you will want to try to have them give you as much information as possible about the object. For example, if your child was playing with a bead necklace that has several different shapes and sizes of beads, and when it broke they stuck one of the beads up their nose, you should ask your child to show you which kind it was. Being able to show the doctor the exact size and shape of whatever is in there can help them get it back out.

Another thing to be aware of is that if your child sticks something up their nose and you were never aware of it, it can set up an infection in your child's body. This is especially true if it is food.

One of the best ways to avoid this happening to your child is to tell them in advance to never stick things in their nose or ears. This may work opposite, and your child may end up doing it simply because you brought it to their attention that it can be done. But, you may get lucky and, by telling them in advance how much it can hurt, you may be avoiding the situation altogether.

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