Gunky Ear Wax in 3 Year Olds Ear

I'm with you H C, I hate to see earwax in my kids' ears and I always, always want to pick it out. But if you call the doctor, I bet they'll tell you to leave it alone. It works its way out all by itself. If it's not affecting her hearing, just leave it and it will come out eventually. If it is affecting her hearing, I would call the doc and see what they tell you to do. They have wax softening drops and can rinse the wax out with water...

I did use ear candles on myself once when I had a bad wax problem in my ear. I did two in a row and indeed removed some wax, but it didn't fix the problem. I ended up at the doctor - they used the saline trick somebody mentions below and it came right out. The candles are indeed a little tricky, and I can't imagine holding a 3-year old still for the process!

Please don't mess with your daughter's ear canals without a doctor's advice. Ear wax is natural, moisturizing, and protective, and for most people is gradually self-cleaning, though some folks do produce more than others. Yellow to brown shades are completely normal.

More wax might conceivably be produced as the result of a head cold or ear infection, but unless it's bothering her, or there's such a huge plug of it that it's affecting your daughter's ability to hear, it's not something that needs treatment at all (and certainly not amateur treatment). Excess wax gradually works its way outward, where a simple Q-tip will take care of it. The wax you see was probably there before the ear infection, and most people can go their whole lives without dealing with wax buildup.

Ear candling is, according to some people in the alternative health community, simply a device to sell a product that's seldom if ever needed. I've known one person who claimed it made his ears feel "wonderful," whatever than meant, but others have said they noticed no difference and it was a real hassle to use. I've never heard any results for drops from actual users. But please don't put stuff in your daughter's ears without talking to your pediatrician. Unintended irritation, or even damage, is possible.

Hi H C - I have two boys who have had repeated ear infections as well as excess wax at times and ear surgeries for both kids. Do NOT put anything into their ears unless directed by an ENT! Without seeing clearly what is beyond the wax can make things worse. For example "if" your daughter had/has a slight infection (these can clear up without medicine) after/during her head/sinus cold there possible could be some damage/rupture to her eardrum (this can & will heal on own). There is a possibility that anything you put into her ear could potentially flow into the inner/middle part of her ear and make things way bad for her.

If you see some icky looking wax close to the outside of her ear and can gently reach it (like with your fingernail) then you can try to remove it. Do not go further than that. Many, if not all, ENTs & regular doctors will tell you not to use Q-tips for ear cleaning due to the potential damage including pushing excess wax up next to the ear drum or worse damaging the ear drum. If the icky wax is beyond your fingernail length and you want it out you can always schedule an appointment with peditrician's office. They can clean it out (with special tools) especially if it is next to the ear drum. But if you choose to leave it alone, that is ok too. It is always good to keep a close ear to how your child is listening/hearing. If you notice a decrease in her hearing, there could be wax next to her ear drum & blocking/muffling her hearing. That is the time to get her into the dr for them to check her out & remove any obstruction.

Just remember, yes, people do thing without consulting a dr first but with our precious kids' hearing I would never want to be the cause of a hearing loss due to me trying to clean their ears. Let a professional (peditrician or ENT) show you the safe way to do it. Take Care & God Bless

I have to ditto getting it done at your pediatricians office. The might use a special instrument or a cleaning solution to clean out the ear canal.

My husband has constant problems with buildup and gets it removed at the doctors office as well, our doctor was very clear in stating that "ONE SHOULD NEVER ATTEMPT TO STICK ANYTHING SMALLER THAN YOUR ELBOW IN YOUR EAR".

Please do not try to use q-tips or ear candles, while the former can lead to more impacted wax and an infection of the ear canal, which is painful and bothersome. The latter (ear candles) can cause SERIOUS injuries, most notably burns to the ear, face and scalp and have been PROVEN to have no medical value WHATSOEVER!

If you absolutely want to be able to do it at home, have your doctor show you how you can safely use one of the OTC cleaning kits.

Good Luck!

We just use Q-tips.

My mum would put a few drops of baby oil on the q-tip before doing our ears as kids, (wax is oil soluble... so it will melt/dissolve to some degree in the presence of any kind of oil), but I always hated the feel afterward (oily ear canal), so we don't use it.

You do have to be careful with q-tips not to go in too far, for fear of rupturing the eardrum, but that's easily avoided.

I have chronic sinus infections (stupid weather/mold... I only have them here... the moment I cross the mountains into E washington or in any other part of the country my sinuses immediately clear up)... and I definately get excess ear wax with them. To the point where it will fill the canal and be draining down my ears (ugh...tmi). I have to clean them twice a day when I have a sinus infection, or I start to get major earaches (plus it's harder to hear).

With Ds7, for years I just cleaned his ears at night around once a week when I also cut his nails, while he slept. Fortunately he can do both now, himself.

I personally do ear wax candles on my clients and it's not a hoax it's a natural way of removing built up wax, helps restore balance, stops dizzy spells, it really is amazing, but I would reframe from doing it on a 3 yr old, u need to light the other end of the candle which could burn your little girl if she gets scared and moves about. with my clients< i use a tin pie dish with wet paper towels around the dish to catch the ambers, i also drape a wet towel around the shoulders, I personally have never had anything go bad but it could happen so fast, I would go with olive oi warmed up, there is also a Garlic/willow oil which we use on our 2 yr old. Good Luck

there have drops you can buy in the store you put in and leave 5 minutes and then a bulb suringe you wash the ear out with.. Those work good. My daughter always has ear wax and that is how I clean hers!
Mother of 3

Hi - My oldest had/has HUGE wax issues also! She has lots of it and it's really thick. I have used Olive Oil (at the suggestion of her doctor) and it works. It softens up the wax and helps it drain out. It does make a huge icky mess on the pillows! You just put a couple of drops in each ear and let the oil do the work.
I would check with her doc to make sure they think it will work for your little one also!
PS - I have never heard of an ear candle and we spent months to and from an ENT specialist.
Good Luck!
M

I have put the olive oil in my children's ears before. I put some in a little bottle and warmed it under warm water first then I used an eye-dropper and only put about 2 drops per ear. My oldest son had a problem and still does with a wax build up. He will begin to not hear anything and he will begin to speak really loud. I use to take him to the dr where they would take a suction bulb (like they give you in the hospital with your newborn) and they would use warm water and keep squirting it in there till it would work its way out. Someone told me about the candle. You have to get them at the health food store. It worked as well but there is smoke to it and it takes a while and you to have to lay very still for a long time it seemed like. It has been a while since we did any of this so I am trying to remember. I am not sure how it drains. Of course my son's ear didn't drain, it popped the HUGE chunks out. For some reason he doesn't have oil in his ears or something. It just cloggs up and it is huge dry chunks that come out.
If I were you, I would use the olive oil first and then use the bulb to syringe it clean. If it hurts her at all, I would go to the dr because she may have an infection from all the sinus infection draining.

One thing that I learned through "the school of hard knocks" is that whatever you do, do not use q-tips to clean out the brown waxy build up. I did it and made an outer ear infection. My doc was very unhappy with me. With a child's ear canal it is much shorter and you could do a lot of damage.

When my son was three we had a similar issue with ear wax. I could see it when I looked into his ear, but was too scared to try any of the home remedies.
We ended up just going to his pediatrician and he pulled out the gunk with this long, q-tip like tool. The wax was as big as half of my husband's pinky finger! I didn't see it, but my husband said it was amazingly large and quite disgusting!
I would suggest just going to your pediatrician. You're guaranteed to get it removed safely.
Good luck!

Candling should only be done by a professional who is adept at doing this procedure. Excessive ear wax can, should be cleaned by your doctor and then ask them what is the best way to clear them. I have used q-tips, but you can compress the wax in the process of trying to clear only making matters worse. Again, go see your doctor.

I didn't see this mentioned in the other comments when I briefly read through them but we used an OTC product called "Debrox" (if I recall correctly). It is is a yellow & green box and our doctor recommended it for our kids who tend to have a lot of ear wax buildup. They are drops that dissolve the wax safely. I can't recall what the ingredients are but you might want to check it out. Given that your daughter is 3, this would be very easy to use. Good luck!

I don't know if it is approved for kids but I have used the maureen (sp?) ear drops myself for ear wax buildup and found it very helpful. It is easy and safe - but check and see if it is OK for kids or if there is a kids version.

I took my daughter to the doctor when she was about 5 and they couldn't see into her ear to determine if she had an ear infection due to the ear wax buildup. They did a warm saline rinse to evacuate the canal.

They started with warm sterile saline and used a squeeze bottle fitted with an angled tip. They had her lay on her side with a towel and basin under her ear and gently irrigated her ear with the saline. I don't recommend trying this by yourself for the first time, unless she will lay still for you. The more they move, the messier it gets.

The nice thing about this is it is just saline (basically a pre-mixed salt water). No oils or chemicals.

I do recommend that you take her to a doctor to rule out ear infection and discuss safe ways to remove ear wax. Sometimes the nurses or PAs are more helpful because they have a little more time to talk than an MD. Good luck!

Have you child watch a really favorite show and have her sit in your lap while you do an ear cone...You can get them at the co-op or natural food sections - they are a cone that you burn and it pulls the wax right out of the ear - I had to do these with my little one when he was young he would get huge balls of wax and could not hear! sounds dangerous, but they are very effective.

I would vote NO on the ear candle. My dad heard about them somewhere and tried them on himself. They are actually rather dangerous with the potential of hot embers landing on your child's hair. I also think they are a hoax, The wax that is inside the candle that is supposedly from the ear, is really just the wax that has melted down from the top of the candle.

I use hydro-peroxide a few drops, with eye dropper or cotton ball, it eats away the wax.It is very safe, and you will hear a little bubbling, but thats o.k. its just for a few seconds.
It works, if you use q-tips, all you are doing is pushing the dirt and wax down the ear canal.
Clean the outside with kleenex. lori

There is an ear wax softener that you can buy at the store. It is OTC and you just use a few drops every few days and it helps desolve the wax away. My daughter has a similar issue and the doctor recommended it to use and if it didn't then they were going to use some type of tool in the office to get it out. The drops worked very well.