I’ve been on a product review kick for some time now because Kayla is sick. This is probably the 5th or 6th time she’s gotten sick since she started daycare in October 2009. Look for more product review posts in the coming days because I’ve got a lot of them scheduled to be posted almost every day.
When your baby has a cold, you feel so bad for her and will do anything or buy anything that you heard or think will work. One of my main concerns is giving Kayla some relief with nasal congestion and in a previous product review, I raved about the Arianna Babyvac and how amazing it is. However, considering you need the attach it to your vacuum, I needed something quieter that would work almost as well if I ever had to suction Kayla’s nose at night.
This is when I began my hunt for the best manual nasal aspirator. I’ve tried those silly bulb aspirators and found them to be completely useless at removing anything substantial from Kayla’s nose. As I was in Walmart stocking up on Hydrasense, I saw that they made their own nasal aspirator so given the fact that I swear by Hydrasense to flush out Kayla’s nose, I picked it up without even bothering to read how it works. I didn’t see a bulb attached to the end and immediately assumed that it is a good product. It’s amazing how, once a brand wins over the consumer’s trust, they keep coming back without even doing a little research on a new product they put out.
How it works:
- After cleaning the aspirator prior to use, open the bulbous end and insert 1 filter
- I recommend using Hydrasense Ultra Gentle Mist first to liquify the mucus before using the aspirator
- Lay baby flat on her back and gently insert the tip into baby’s nose, making sure to create a seal
- Inhale using the mouthpiece to gently draw out the mucus. The mouthpiece allows you to control the suction power. The mucus is collected in the bulb chamber and mucus cannot pass through it.
- Gently rotate the tip in baby’s nose to ensure drainage of mucus
- When finished, unscrew, remove the filter and discard. Rinse with hot water and let dry
My experience
For a manual aspirator, it’s a good one. I had to use it last night and I managed to get a good chunk of mucus out of her nose. I like the fact that the collection chamber is clear so you can see how much mucus is coming out and I like the fact that it’s simple to use. Cleaning it is really easy – you just unscrew the bulb, throw away the filter and rinse it out. It’s important to make sure you get the angle right when you insert the tip – I find that if you insert it slightly tipped towards the outer nostril, you get a better chance at sucking out the mucus and when I do get the angle right, I can get a good amount of booger out from her nose. I also like the fact that you can control the suction with your mouth so if you see your baby starting to squirm, you can reduce the suction. Wiggle the tip gently in baby’s nose while sucking to really get the mucus out.
At first, it was a bit hard to ensure that you screwed the bulb together because if you wiggled it, it would come apart. I guess the point is to make it easy for you to be able to unscrew it so once I had a good fit, I was good to go.
The only thing I would change is the mouth-piece part – I think it should be just a little bigger because sometimes it slips out from my mouth if Kayla is wiggling around. Other than that, it’s a very good product. Also, I can’t seem to find the replacement filters. I haven’t seen them at Walmart or the local drug store so either they’re on back-order because it’s a popular product or they didn’t order it. I will be sure to ask the pharmacist next time I go. I also haven’t tried using it without the filter because I don’t want any mucus in my mouth!
Overall, I rate this product a 8.5/10. I do feel that it’s the best manual aspirator on the market considering that most of the manual aspirators I’ve seen are those stupid bulb ones.
Product rating: 8/10
