Picky Picky

This morning, I was awake for a while after an emergency 4:20 AM diaper change (for the baby, not me). I was thinking through something that happened the other day: Mal had his finger up his nose, which he is wont to do, and an older lady said something like, "Eww, don't to that. It's dirty," and moved like she was going to brush his hand away from his face, but then she didn't.

I was thinking, "Why is picking noses considered disgusting?" I mean, I get that picking a big juicy one and either passing it around for a gander or wiping it on the couch or under a chair is just rude, but here's my reality and Mal's, too...

I have allergies and often my sinuses are stuffed up. When this happens, I sometimes sniff a lot. People often ask me if I need a tissue to blow my nose, which I don't. The stuff isn't in my nose; it's up higher. Sniffing helps bring air in so it doesn't feel like it's dripping, which is a relief, but during those times, I can blow my nose and have absolutely nothing happen.

When my nose is stuffed up, it's, well, sorry to be gauche, but dry and crusty. Typically, it's only if I'm hot or sad that the mucous membranes in my nasal passages moisten enough that I can blow my nose and have it be productive. (The past month or two, though, every morning I've had to do this, which is rare and also allergies are super bad right now and I'm way over it.)

All of that to say: Very often (including in Mal's one year pictures), I can see that he has dried boogies in his nose. The Nosefrida doesn't help with this (in the rare event that I can get it lined up and suctioned before he flips his crud), and it will be a cold day in hell before Mal lets me squirt saline or breast milk up his nose to loosen that stuff up.

He's like me: when he gets hurt or upset, he'll cry and, man, is his face a mess then. But if he has a good day and doesn't dissolve in sobbing fits, what's he to do? I'd rather him pick those babies out himself and be able to breathe easier.

Yes, I'll work on things like "put it in a tissue, throw it away, and wash your hands." He's still growing. But even when he gets bigger, I'll tell him about the social stigma associated with nose-picking without making it a hygiene rule in our house. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Furthermore, a lung specialist in Austria (Bischinger) went even further than "picking your nose isn't too disgusting" and said this: "With the finger you can get to places you just can't reach with a handkerchief, keeping your nose far cleaner. And eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system. Medically it makes great sense and is a perfectly natural thing to do. In terms of the immune system the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria are collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine. Modern medicine is constantly trying to do the same thing through far more complicated methods. People who pick their nose and eat it get a natural boost to their immune system for free. I would recommend a new approach where children are encouraged to pick their nose. It is a completely natural response and medically a good idea as well. Children happily pick their noses, yet by the time they have become adults they have stopped under pressure from a society that has branded it disgusting and anti social." So.