Back when I was pregnant with Henry, I had an awful, terrible stuffed up nose. As you know, you can’t really take much in the way of medication when you are pregnant…even less when you are being supervised by a crunchy homebirth midwife (whom I adore and love so don’t assume that was an insult!). She suggested a Neti pot…to be used with only all natural sea salt and warm water. I thought she was a little insane, but I was desperate, so I headed to the nearest health food store (which I frequented more in the 8 months I was pregnant with Henry, than I had in my entire life!).
When I asked the otherwise nice store clerk where I could find one of these contraptions, she turned haughty, rolled her eyes, and looked at my decidedly non-birkenstock wearing self up and down before asking with obvious contempt:
“We’re all out. Did you watch it on Oprah too?”
Huh? No. My midwife suggested it.
Her entire being softened and you could tell she was embarrassed. See, maybe I was more granola than my first impression gave off! Oops. Anyway, apparently Oprah had just run an episode where she professed the wonderment of Neti pots and they became the next “It” thing for moms across America. I had no idea.
Brenda ended up finding one for me in SLO (shocking). And I will sing this little ceramic dish’s praises until the day I die! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this thing! It’s a bit tricky at first, and it is totally counter-intuitive to pour warm salt water UP your nose (since aren’t we typically trying to keep water OUT of our noses???)…but it clears up even the stuffiest of noses and I love it forever.
Back when I was pregnant with Henry, Brenda INSISTED that I try finding one of these tubs. Apparently babies love them, you don’t have to hold the baby up the entire time, and they even work for tiny newborns. She raved about how wonderful they were, but that you could only get them in Europe but that it was worth scouring the internet and paying loads of shipping for it.
I never bothered to look.
And now, I wish I would have bought one (or two) when I was pregnant last time. I think it may have come in handy with the girls since it takes up so much less space and since you use less water, it appears to be lighter and easier to fill and pick up/dump out. Sigh…
(As a side note, I have watched Oprah a bit here and there, and best-selling author/medical guru Dr. Oz is on from time to time…and I *swear* that just about everything he proclaims to middle aged moms in the audience is EXACTLY the things Brenda told me all along! Man, she missed her calling!)
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Those tubs look cute–maybe it’s just the picture with so many babies at once. Sounds like a good idea.
I love my neti pot!!! I started using it (well, actually a squeeze bottle type thing, but same idea) last school year when my preparations for my senior vocal recital were thwarted by the worst allergies ever. I went to school on a campus nicknamed “the forest” and I am allergic to…trees. Anyway, my professor was always talking about “nasal lavage” and how great it was for singers. I got desperate and tried it and got hooked! I convinced my roommates and my father and a few other people to try it too, and all but one of them still do it.
Pretty much the weirdest, best thing ever!!!