Cleaning inside of ears

My son's ears get really gross and I need to confess I use a qtip sometimes (I know, they recommend not to because it just pushes wax back in)...so that's why I want to ask others, how do you clean your toddler's ears? My son's get really waxy, and the doc explained a few months back that some kids just produce more wax than others. It grosses me out though -- it doesn't bother him -- it's just a pet peeve of mine and I need to clean them. Please share your cleaning tips.

 

I have always been told not to stick anything in their ears at all, so I clean the outside but not the inside. Of course it helps that none of my kids' ears seem to really need it, I'm not sure what I would do if they did. ardon:

 

I've also heard not to use Q-tips, I think my pedi mentioned that we could use the corner of a washcloth... I guess its bigger than a Q-tip and might not push wax back into the ear drum.

though... not sure what I'd do either if my kids had waxy ears... good luck!

 

We use them occasionally too. Oh well. I think that wen you can see it on the side and then clean it it can't be horrible.

 

They make q-tips for infants, they are too big to go all the way into the ear canal but have a very short " nub" on the end that helps clean it out a bit. I'm pretty sure I picked mine up at walmart, as that is about the only public place I go anymore lol

 

Just use a damp wash cloth and wash what you can see from the outside. You are correct with no q-tips.

 

I watched a programme that said that people carry the gene for waxy ears in their DNA. And unfortunately 3 of my 5 have it. :fool: I don't use any thing in their ears as I have had the same advice. "Nothing smaller than your elbow" I wipe what comes out and occasionally get my older DS ears syringed when he seems to be struggling to hear again. Usually I try to get them to float in the bath with their ears under the water. This goes in their ears and softens the wax and it comes out. Others have said a couple of drops of warm water or oil in their ears at night and it loosens and comes out. I haven't tried this as I prefer to get this sort of advice from the experts.

 

My DS is prone to waxy ears, I usually use a damp cotton ball to clean the outside. If the wax seems to be getting bad and the cotton balls aren't doing the trick, then I'll use a q-tip to get the outer area of the ear. Wax is a pet peeve of mine too.

 

I just leave it alone. My DS has extra waxy ears too. His ear doctor (he has tubes) said I can use the rx ear drops for infections to help dissolve it (1 drop/twice a day) for a week if the wax seems to be hurting him or bothering his hearing. But it doesn't, so I just leave it alone.

 

I have waxy ears myself. And so does my baby, but not my tiwns. Hydrogen peroxide disovles the wax. You can put some on a q-tip and swab around the ear without putting the q-tip into the ear hole. I do this with myself and by baby and the q-tip always has wax on it when I'm finished. You can actually hear the wax and hydrogen peroxide reacting in the form of a tiny bubbly sound. If you do not hear it, you didn't need to clean. The dirtier the ear the more you will hear it. Again you do not need to actually put the q-tip into the ear cannal, just swabaround the opening.

 

i also use the corner of a damp washcloth. i just get the wax that i can see.

tanya