Fritzi said,

<< No, they didn't have bulb
 syringes in days of old, but mothers resorted to sucking out the mucus with
 their mouths. Obviously it was done only when really needed, but that's how
 it's done. Mothers still do it, having worked at a big city clinic with many
 different cultural groups. >>

Right -- and the point is, they didn't stick something into the nasal passages
where, as one Brazilian obstetrician pointed out, it is easy to inadvertently
"biopsy" a tiny bit of the tender nasal passages.

If it were essential to use a bulb syringe, how on earth did we ever survive
1000's of years of birth & bf before Goodyear (or whomever) developed rubber?

Jan Barger, who is quite convinced that for every 200 uses of the bulb syringe
on babies, probably about 1 is necessary.  (About the same rate as breastmilk
jaundice).