My daughter has always liked playing with daddy's "dumbo" ears (yes, they really stick out that far! lol). For the past few months now she's been playing with her own, well, only the left one. I haven't worried about it because she hasn't fun a fever and she's not crying or tugging on her ear continually, just occassionally. This morning she discovered that she can actually put her finger inside the ear and I'm worried that she might damage the eardrum. Is this a normal behavior? Also, is it possible to get her finger in far enough to do damage?
It is normal for little fingers to find little ears. I have noticed my daughter doing it to hers more often and at dentist a couple weeks ago, I found out why-- her back teeth are coming in..
She won't be able to get her finger in far enough to do damage... just like you can't. As long as she's not sticking anything else in her ear, she's fine.
Hi T.,
No she can't damage her eardrums, but there are other damages she can do. Very soon she might discover "the stuff" that is coming from her years and her curiosity will lead her to dig deeper. That might enforce her little habit and than she might scratch her skin inside the year and the dirty hands will infect it. The infection can spread and than you are looking forward to an ear infection. I do that to my-self and when I'm nervous about something this is my "habit" to deal with that. Try to stop that habit now. Good luck!
i dont think she can hurt herself. my daughter does it all the time and her ears are fine. i doubt that she can get her finger in far enough.
:) Our daughter does the same thing. She plays with our ears, especially when she is tired, for comfort. Once she found her own ears, she plays with those, too. We have never had a problem of her sticking anything in her ears. And, no, her own fingers couldn't get in there far enough to damage anything. If it could be done, my daughter would have already done it!
This behavior is totaly normal...my son loves his ears too! He hasn't discovered that it has a hole in it yet, but he loves tugging on them...espcially when he's tired. (he's 11 months old.) I have a cousin that would roll up his blankie and stick it in his ear when he was tired also.....this is normal...don't worry about your daughter. She can't damage her eardrum by sticking her finger in her ear. Her fingers are too large to fit all the way down her small ear canal and even though her ears are small, the eardrum is pretty far down there. She can't reach it with her chubby little finger at least. Don't fret! Good luck!
I am quite sure that her finger is too big to do damage to her ear- ( I am positive that though her finger is little- it wont fit into her ear canal far enough to do anything) but your pediatricians' nurse can tell you for sure. Aren't children fantastic??? they give us the MOST amazing questions
many blessings,
J.
T. don't worry about it. She has just discovered her ears and her fingers are too big to get all the way to her ear drum.
T.
I think that if she were to get her finger far enough into her ear (which I do not think is really likely) she would feel the pain from pressure on the ear drum and stop before damage is done. If your daughter is around the age of teething that may be one reason she is playing with her ear. Don't you love all of these little things we find to worry about (haha).
J.
Well after reading your post, obviously I stuck my own finger in my ear to test it out. I don't think that your own finger will ever fit that far inside your own ear canal; however, even if it did, I agree with the previous poster who said your daughter will probably stop when she feels discomfort/pain.
Did anyone ever tell you when you were little, "Never stick anything in your ear smaller than your elbow"? Try telling her that - should keep her busy for awhile. ;)
