Snots McGee: What a Nasal Aspirator is and Why you NEED one if you have Children. Here's Two to Choose From.

Of all the bits and bobs that you need when you’ve got a baby, a battery powered nasal aspirator is in my top five. Our first kiddo, when he was younger than a year old, had a cold with a lot of nasal congestion. The squeezy ball aspirator just wasn’t doing it and he kept screaming louder (producing more and more goo). Realizing this wasn’t going to work, I made a trip to Walmart and found a battery powered nasal aspirator. Now on our second kiddo, we thought we’d get a new aspirator just for him. Unfortunately, we’ve had a chance to use it!

First, I'm going to talk about the occobaby aspirator.

The thing works like a charm. It pulls that nasty stuff right out. It’s easy to clean between uses. The nozzle pops right off and the cup pops off the handle. If you’re getting really sticky, gross stuff out though, it gets a little difficult to clean. 

The collection cup is a little on the small side, though. It can fill quickly. We sometimes have to stop the aspirator 3 or 4 times in one use to go dump it out. Unlike the below aspirator, though, the pump can apparently handle a little bit of liquid without damage. That’s a nice feature.

The bonus snot sucker is really interesting! (As they note, don’t use it if you might inhale your kid’s illness.) Aspirating a kid is a traumatic experience — at least for our kids — and they squirm and cry. The snot sucker is very quiet as it’s just you inhaling. It also very carefully lets you control the nozzle. If you can get over the ick factor, it’s really the best option out there. 

Now here’s the other one we have, the Graco nasal aspirator.

We also have this other one that we use exclusively for Froot Loop. It’s a little loud, but man, it gets the snot out. It holds more fluid than the first one, but you have to be really careful with it, especially cleaning it because the motor freaks out if it gets too wet. It’s easier to clean than the other one as this one, you pretty much just have to take the pieces out and rinse them with soapy, hot water. 

There is a “music” feature for this one, and really, I don’t see the point. You can’t hear the music over the loud motor anyway. It’s better to just sing or play music yourself. 

The suction is decent enough and it works to get all the snot out. I swear these things help reduce the duration of colds or illness as you’re actually getting the sickness OUT of their little body. 

So both aspirators are good choices. The Graco has more capacity and is easier to clean, but it is louder and has slightly less suction. I think it slightly edges out the other one as if we needed to purchase one right now or buy one as a baby gift for someone, we’d purchase the Graco. 

What was the last illness you've had?