How Do You Clean a Baby's Ears?

B. -

First off I want to say, I hate it when doctors make you feel like a bad parent when you were trying to keep you child healthy and safe. Why can't they just say a better way to do this is...not everyone already knows everything. I would like to see them have to do a procedure without a manual or being taught and then be criticized for how they did it. Okay, soap box over... What I do with my kids is I use a wash rag to clean behind their ears and in the ear (where I can reach) and then I do use the tabood Qtips but I don't push them in I just use them to wipe out the opening of the canal, no further. I hope this helps and no, you are not a bad mom. You are doing the best you can with raising a child that didn't come with directions or prior training.

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As a nurse, I want to share my insight into those doctors behavior. When doctors aren't "succeeding" at a task, eg. visualizing an eardrum, it bruises their ego. SOME doctors must then blame someone else, in this case you for their "failure" So please know that you are not at fault, and that they were just trying to protect their precious egos in front of one another.

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If the wax is that bad, I can't believe the Dr didn't clean them out while there. They have always done that with my kids.

How we clean out our son's ears that get very bad after a couple of weeks. We put a hot (as hot as he can handle) wash cloth on his ear and have him lay on it until it cools down then get it hot again... we do that for about 15 mins. It melts the wax. We then take a q-tip and very carefully remove the wax. We just make sure we don't put the q-tip down too far. Be sure to pull the outer ear in all directions while doing it to open it up all the way.

We have gotten ear wax drops also at the Drug Store and its fairly cheap and it only takes a couple of drops and it disolved the wax when its too bad for the "rag" treatment.

Otherwise for the others that don't get it as bad, we always let them lay in the water when taking a bath and then dry them out with the towel when drying them off or if we can see alot of wax we use a q-tip. They have baby q-tip with a larger tip so you can't put it in too far. Those work great also.

When you go in for the check up to see if the infection is cleared ask the Dr. the proper way to clean them so this doesn't happen again. Also ask them to clean her ears for you so you have a fresh start on keeping them clean. It only takes a couple of seconds to do and they shouldn't have a problem doing it for you... if they do then I would say check into another Dr. Just because they have PHD after their name doesn't mean that they know it all or are is the right one for your daughter... trust me I have had it out with a few drs over my kids. Hold your ground.

Good luck and I hope you or your daughter never have another expierence like this again!

I agree with the suggestion to learn to "roll your eyes at the doctor"! Please be easier on yourself and you and your daughter will both benefit. Doctors are human and not all are good at their jobs!

"What do you call the medical student who graduated last in his class?....Doctor!"

I have always heard NOT to clean baby's ears.

Regardless, if you end a doctor appointment in tears, don't see that doctor again! There is NO reason for a good parent to be put through emotional stress for trying to do a good job. Please see your regular pediatrician - or at least call them to get their opinion on ear cleaning. Go with the advice of the one you like and trust as a doctor. You're the mom- don't let anyone bully you!

I like the suggestion to "roll your eyes at doctor" but some of us are not that "tough". Personally I need to feel respected and not belittled or I fall apart.

If you have to go to urgent care or ER, always call your regular doctor/pediatrician the next business day if you have concerns or need a second opinion.

Hugs for you!
Jen

when my daughter was a baby she got an ear infection three days after visiting the Doctor's office every single time we went in for a regular check up... Because they put this wire thing inside of her ears to remove wax. I finally put two and two together, and told them they were not allowed to mess inside of her ears... She has not had an ear infection since, and she is 10 years old.
There are drops you can get from Walmart That can help. But i would not worry about it so much... I switched Doctors after that, and the new Doctor never tried to clean either of my kids ears.

I am sorry you had such a bad experience.

Earwax does NOT cause ear infections. Your own doctor may have seen earwax and not mentioned it because some earwax is normal. In fact, it's essential. Earwax prevents dirt and dust and other things from getting all the way into the ear.

Here's some info on what actually does cause ear infections:

http://kidshealth.org/kid/ill_injure/sick/ear_infection.html

Earwax can increase if the ear is picked at and "disturbed". Your daughter was likely picking at or tugging her ears because they hurt due to the infection. (This may have even happened when you weren't around--when she was in bed or napping. Ear pain can increase when you lay down.) So the infection happened first, then your daughter tugging at her ears, THEN the earwax build up.

Constant cleaning of ears can increase earwax production. I wouldn't change anything you're doing. All I do is clean my son's outer ear and lobe with a wet washcloth.

What you can do now, to loosen up some of the excess earwax and get it moving is to put 1 drop of warm oil (either baby oil or olive oil) in each ear. Another simple remedy, if you can get her to lay down long enough, is to use a heating pad on each ear for a few minutes.

There are commercial products for irrigating ear wax, but they are not for "regular" use, and abusing these products can actually make the problem worse.

Lastly, don't be so hard on yourself. Ear infections are incredibly common in babies and toddlers. And many infections run their course in a few days and do not require an antibiotic, only Tylenol to keep the child comfortable.

I've always used q-tips to clean my boys' ears. As long as you don't go too far they're fine. Or if you're worried there are baby q-tips that have a wider tip to keep from getting pushed into the ear too far.

HI B.,
As most of these others posts have noted, you don't need to clean out infant ears. My son had recurring ear infections (one after another) from 4 months - and ear wax had nothing to do with it. My son ended up with tubes at 9 months, which was the best thing that could have happened for him. Ear infections can be casued by many things including just the anatomy of your babies ear not allowing fluid to drain- which I learned can be genetic. (My husband had horrible ear infections and multiple sets of tubes when he was young as well)

I would recommend you foget the bad experience you had and go back to your normal doctor (or another one if the one you talked about was your normal doc) after 10 days to get the ears checked again to make sure the infection is gone. Hopefully you won't have the recurring problem - but if you do - require that you get a referral to a ENT to make sure all is well.

I clean my boys' ears with a qtip after bath every night. The water gets in them from the bath, then I gently clean it out after with a qtip. Neither has ever had an ear infection. If you don't jab it into the ear canal, qtips are perfectly safe and usable. Ears need to be cleaned.

A friend suggested Debrox, its over the counter and she uses it on her kids that have alot of ear wax. you drop it in the ear and it bubbles up the wax and then it comes out.

The waxy buildup has nothing to do with the infected fluid behind her ear drum. My youngest daughter has had chronic ear infections since she was 4 months old and has had two surgeries for tubes. Some people just create more wax than others. The ear infection started out probably as a viral infection that turned bacterial infection. All three of my kids at some point have had to have the doctor extract the wax that has been pushed in too far. A few drops of the ear cleaning solution should not hurt them. Be careful not to overuse it. Maybe once you get a good cleaning, her ears will start taking better care of it. My daughters chronic ear infections are due to eustachian tube dysfunction. Fluid travels normally through your sinus cavities and through your eustachian tubes for natural drainage. Sometimes the amount of fluid causes a backup in the system, allowing bacteria to grow. Ear infections are common in this age group because their bodies are still growing and developing at such a rate that some parts don't keep up as well. The hope is that as our daughter grows older, so will her eustachian tubes. Good luck and hang in there. If there was a way to prevent ear infections, I would have found that out a really long time ago.

Take her to a chiropractor. They will adjust her and the ear infection should go away. It has worked wonders EVERY TIME with our 2 kids. They have NEVER had antibiotics for ear infections.

Every time they are diagnosed with one, we head straight to the chiropractor. Actually, now as soon as they start tuggin on their ears or not sleeping well at night, we just head to the chiropractor!

And they are much more understanding and informative than most regular docs..... Just find one that takes special training in adjusting infants and see if you hit it off.

Hi, B.! I do not think the waxy build-up is a problem; it just makes it hard for the doctors to check her ears. :)

Our son, who is 4 1/2, gets a ton of wax, and it never comes out on its own. He has endured hours of ear lavage at the clinic, and it's actually never seemed to bother him too much. What we do now to help keep his ears clean is use a large syringe (like the kind that you use to give children liquid medicine) filled with warm water (same temp as the water with which we bathe him) and squeeze it in his ears. We don't do it too gently, because the stream of water needs to be steady and strong. And we do this several times in a row in the bath, and maybe do it once a month or so.

I realize your little girl is only 11 months, but I would think it should work for her too (does she like her baths?). You could even just draw it from the tub while she is in it before you bathe her and before the water gets all soapy.

Good luck! I hope you find a solution to help her.

B.-
I am so sorry to hear about your bad experience at the doctor. What a bummer for you and your little sweetie! One thing that I did for my boys was when I bathed them, I would lay them in the shallow water to wash their hair. They maybe didn't like it at first, but they got used to it. Then when I got them out of the tub, I would clean their ears with special infant q-tips. They are a little hard to find, but I usually found them at the dollar store (of all places...) We switched to regualr ones, probably before we were supposed to, but I think it is ok if you are really careful to not go in too deep. Good luck! I hope you are all getting relief soon!

My doctor advised a couple drops of olive oil in each ear at bathtime is good. Leave it in for about 5 minutes and then rinse it out with a little water. Don't dump water in the ear, but just rinse it out gently. I use Qtips for our daughter who was very waxy. I just don't go in very deep. I sympathize with you, my Dr. had to use a plastic tool and dig all the wax out before she could even look in her ears. It was horrible holding her down while the Dr. did it.

I have a friend who is an audiologist (ear doctor). When our child was born she told us not to touch the ears. Their ear canals and ear drums are very tiny and delicate and often people do more harm than good. I've heard the best way to clean ears is to use saline solution (you can make it yourself) and suck it out with a bulb suringe. Often a nurse can do this at your check-ups.

Personally, I would get a second opinion from a specialist or at least a pediatritian. It sounds like you were in urgant care and saw a general practioner. I think they are not as used to baby ears as pediatritians are.

Welcome to parenting. No matter what you do, someone is going to blame you for doing it wrong. You have got to toughen up! Don't let doctors bully you. Learn to roll your eyes at them and get over it. LOL

You can use a medicine syringe or a bulb nasal suction thingy (I call it a snot sucker) and rinse the ears out. Use warm olive oil in the ear to loosen the wax every day for a few days and then start rinsing. You can rinse a bunch of times while in the tub for the least resistance from baby. But you probably won't see the wax fall out that way.

I got a Dr. Mom otocsope for $20 and I check the ears myself. I know how much wax is in there. After a while you can learn to spot ear infections, there are great pictures provided with the scope. Then you are saved a trip to the doc for nothing, or know to go early. That has been the best parenting tool for me the last few years!