Blowing Nose - Cleveland,OH

I can tell you it's very child specific. My older son who is 5 now learned around 2, he picked it up very quickly and easily. My younger son is almost 3 1/2 and he still can't do it. With my older son we practiced with just blowing the tissue - you know making it wave in the wind created by blowing from nose or mouth. Once he got the idea of blowing through is nose then it was easy. Like all the other respones you have, you still have to hold the tissue.

It was a long time until my son with special needs learned to blow his nose. We would have to just be prepared for the giant sneeze when everything would come out!

Anyway, we were told to work with him when he DIDN'T have a cold by blowing a cotton ball across a surface, obviously by blowing out of his nose, not his mouth. A pinwheel would work also.

Abbie learned at about 2 1/2 - 3, to do it well. I kept telling her to CLOSE HER MOUTH and blow out her nose. Repeating that helped LOTS. Didn't take much time for her to get it right.

It took my daughter forever to figure this out. lol
She's now in Kindergarten and has no problems.

A friend said to take a Kleenex and put it on the table and have your son/daughter blow the Kleenex using just his nose (make sure his mouth is closed and that he's healthy when trying to do this) you don't want him blowing snot all over the table. They will be able to see the Kleenex move across the table and feel the air coming from their nose that is moving the Kleenex. Then, when he's sick and needs to blow his nose, it should be easier on them.

Good luck!

I can't remember when my older kids learned, probably around 3 or so. I recently read in a magazine though to help them learn let them blow bubbles through a straw with their nose! I've never tried it but thought it might be worth a try! Good luck

I know this sounds funny, but I remember my mom telling me to stomp my foot! Somehow it made me sort of blow out my nose and eventually, I learned to do it without the stomping! Just hold the tissue up to his nose and say, now stomp your foot!

Good luck!

When I was working in daycare, our toddler-room kids (2-3) were learning to blow their nose at that age. Some could blow when you held a kleenex to their noses, others didn't master that skill until a bit older. No one could really take a tissue a blow their own nose at that age, though.

My dd is 2 1/2 and she's been blowing her nose for a long time. I have to hold the tissue for her, but she does actually blow. She has allergies though, so we HAD to practice with her so she wouldn't be miserable. She hated it when we used the bulb syringe, so the had lots of motivation to learn :)

my girls are 3.5 years old, and they can blow their own nose (as of recently) but it appears that they are spreading more germs than not becuase they don't grasp that the snot spreads on the tissue, etc., so, if they have a really stuffy nose, i hold the tissue while they blow.

My daughter is four and I think she has been blowing her nose for about a year or so. I heard and easy way to teach them is when they don't have a stuffy nose. Hold a tissue up to his face and tell him to blow it. He will most likely blow out his mouth. Laugh how it made the tissue dance. Then tell him to close his mouth and try to blow through his nose to make the tissue dance. Keep practicing and he will eventually get it. Good luck.

My son learned to blow his nose with the help of a rhino. :) He loves rhinos and immitated their snorting. He did that for quite a while. Later when he had a cold, I justed held up a tissue to his nose and told him to blow like a rhino. He is really good at it now and thinks it is funny.

Good luck.

hi J., my lil boy didn't learn til after 3..everytime we told him to blow, well he puffed up his cheeks and blew :). we tried explainin and showin him with the nose, don't think it worked, he just eventually got it. :) GL

Hi J.! My daughter couldn't blow her nose until she was 3. Now my son is 2 1/2 and he is just starting to blow his nose, but is only successful closing his mouth when he blows about 25% of the time...but is still catching on earlier than my daughter did. Give it time. I think it all depends on the kid.

My mom taught second-graders who didn't know how to blow their noses and would just wipe at them:( She was flabbergasted when my 2-year-old started blowing his nose. My MIL thinks it's because he learned to clear out his nose when swimming? Who knows...
Just have him practice blowing from his mouth then closing his mouth and blowing through his nose. It will come:)