Vacuum-Powered Snot Sucker

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My Rating of Snot Suckers – See Bottom

As I write this, both our son and daughter have colds with runny noses. If you’re a parent of toddlers, you know this means chasing your kid around with tissues every other minute.

Or the alternative is a snot sucker. I think the proper title is “nasal aspirator” but snot sucker is more memorable, so I’m using it.   I should trademark it, in case I go into business with my own product -ha!

The 3 Kinds of Snot Suckers in the World

  1. Those with a bulb (self explanatory) (“A”)
  2. Those with a second tube (“B”)
  3. Those that attach to a vacuum cleaner (wait, attach to a what?!?) (“C”)

aspirator

(Yes, I made this picture myself from an assortment of grabbed images.)

How Snot Suckers Work

Type A:
Squeeze bulb.
Place narrow end in snotty nose.
Release pressure on bulb.
*Slurp* Pretty self-explanatory really.

Type B:
Place one tube in your (parent’s) mouth.
Place other tube in snotty nose.
Suck air from mouth tube. *SlurP*

Type C:
Place sucker tube near snotty nose.
Calm child.
Turn on vacuum for 2-5 seconds (lower power if adjustable).
*SLURP*

Our Experiences

My wife and I only ever heard of the first type when we left the US with our lone 1-year old. Then we moved to Europe. We found the second type and were mildly disgusted by it – but it was pretty effective.  So we used that for a year.

Then our new friends hailed the vacuum-powered snot sucker as the best thing since sliced bread.

Well, we thought “No way – it’ll suck our li’l angel’s brains out!”  However, frustration and a child’s sad eyes help you reconsider anything!  I’m so glad we tried it.

Where to Get Them

Maybe the vacuum-powered snot sucker would not be possible in lawsuit-happy United States. Too bad, their loss.

Trust me, once you go vacuum-powered, you won’t go back. Three years later, we wonder what we ever did without it.

So, let me provide you with quick links on what I see as the Best Model Snot Sucker, in each of the 3 categories I mention above:

A. those with a bulb (best for infants < 3 months)RATING: 3.5 / 5



B. those with a second tube (best for 3 months to a year) RATING: 4 / 5

C. the one & only vacuum powered snot sucker (1 year to adult) RATING: 5 / 5

I have found one online store in Hungary that sells these:

Hungarian Goose Down

However, you may want to order now, before your child gets their next cold.

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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Jeff February 2, 2010 at 2:10 pm

Someone attempted to comment to this post yesterday. I have comments generally moderated, or set to be approved by me before they are posted. I do this to prevent marketers spamming the site.
Yesterday, I got 1 comment about 30 minutes after posting — a beautiful example of a marketing troll. I can’t believe someone actually used my snot sucker post as a marketing vehicle.

Yes, someone submitted a comment that was oh-so-clearly just a marketing comment, aimed at driving potential customers to their special “nasal aspirator” (a.k.a. snot sucker) website.

In fact, because their comment came so quickly after I posted my snot sucker article, I’m under the impression they used a service such as Google Alerts to alert them whenever a key phrase was posted, e.g. “nasal aspirator”.

In my opinion, “nasal aspirator” and “snot sucker” should be considered synonyms here. To yesterday’s marketing troll, I advise you to create a new alert for “snot sucker” — it’s bound to keep you busy!

Cheers,
-Jeff

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