Ear Care?

I've always used a really thin wash cloth during bath-time. The wash cloths are so thin, almost like a terry cloth handkerchief, and they work great. I think they are just a really cheap wash cloth, but it works perfect for cleaning ears and are also just gentle all around. You can also use hydrogen peroxide, have her put her head in your lap or on a pillow, and just use a few drops at a time, it bubbles and breaks up all the wax, pushing it all out with the bubbles. Use little cotton pads or something for catching all of the stuff that comes out (eek,lol), it works and doesn't hurt at all, it may feel a little funny to her because it bubbles, but she should be Ok with it (hopefully). Good luck!

Wax in ears (especially children's) is normal and should be left alone. Just clean around the ear folds with a wash cloth. Nothing more is needed. The purpose of having wax in the ears, including small chunks, is to filter out bacteria which can cause ear infections. When you continually remove the wax, infection can set in, as you already experienced. It is rare that a child generates so much wax that it needs to be syringed out. Ask your pediatrician about this practice.

My daughter has the same issue and my ped will pull out the wax with a special tool that they have in the office. Just yesterday they gave her an "ear wash" which is similar to what you are describing with the bulb suringe, but the thing they use has a much finer stream of water. To my surprise, it worked really well and the chunk of wax came out after a few minutes. My daughter did not like it either, but the dr and the nurse helped hold her down. I would take her in to your ped and let them help you.

Most dr will tell you not to stick anything in someone else's ear since you don't know how hard you're pressing.
When our son had excessive wax the dr suggested deborax (wax removal aid that comes in drop form). We put a few drops then a cotton ball to catch drips once a day. the wax cleared up. They suggested continuing weekly, but we haven't since he struggles/argues when we do it.

I know it sounds mean but I had my husband pin my 2 year olds head so I could rinse out the dried up wax in it. He sat with her on his lap and pressed her head to his chest with the ear facing me and the other one on his chest. It didn't hurt her. She had been screaming in pain about her ear and we wanted to make sure she didn't have an ear infection so we needed to clean her ear out. We didn't want to take her to the doctors if we didn't have to in order to get it done. She didn't have an ear infection, the wax was causing her discomfort.
The doctors office will just use warm water to rinse it out as well, it does not cause any harm.
You can put a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in there to soften everything up.

We had some kids with the wax that actually caused hearing problems and the ear doctor told us never to use Q tips. They push the wax down harder in the ear. Use just a wash cloth on your finger and then check with the doctor. We were also told to use a water pick of some kind to flush out the wax after putting in something to soften it but can't remember what that was. It's sort of like the affect of the bulb syringe you use and it will get out chunks of wax. The main thing is to keep it soft enough so you should really check with an ear doctor because I'm sure they have 'new' things since my kids were little.