does anyone have any tips for this? i try to clean my daughters ears a little bit with the saftey qtips, but she hates it. i was thinking if there were like drops or something quick i could do to get a little bit of the earwax out, that would be great. i know your not really supposed to go nuts on cleaning out kids earwax, but it gets to be too much sometimes.
Q: If I can’t use cotton swabs, what’s the best way to clean my family’s ears?
A: Great question....
First let me say that cotton swabs are bad. In children, they tend to push the wax backwards and pack it against the eardrum. Earwax is a normal, protective coating and does not need to be removed. Yes, it does have a bad, albeit undeserved, reputation AND it can have an unappealing appearance. In infants, the wax can mix with drool, milk, and any other food that the baby decides to stick in his ear.
Second, earwax is good. It is a protective coating for the ear canal. Just because it has an unappealing appearance, it has developed an undeserved reputation as being dirty. Ears are really self-cleaning...gravity and body heat will eventually pull accumulated wax (and other debris) toward the ear opening. It is perfectly fine to remove any visible drainage from the ear canal opening, but you need to refrain from digging in there with cotton swabs.
Think about buying a home otoscope and looking inside that ear canal. It is a very easy task to learn AND well worth the $30 or so investment. What you may find is that the ear canal is relatively clean, in spite of what you see at the opening.
Now...with that said, one can have "too much of a good thing". Excess earwax can decrease hearing and kids have enough trouble as it is listening to parents. To clean the ears, you will need some home equipment...
Purchase an ear syringe. Most pharmacies have them. The best (and safest) way to clean out excessive earwax is with a warm water lavage. Gently squirt a stream of warm water into the ear from a ear syringe. Since this can be messy, do it in the bathtub, but do not use the bath water....use clean, warm water from a cup. You will need to use your home otoscope to check your progress.
Soften the wax first, perhaps for a day or so. Buy some wax softening agents (ear drops). Your pharmacist can help you select among the many peroxide-based products.
Use a stream of warm water into the ear canal, over and over again until the plug falls out. The water should be warmer than your body temperature to help melt the wax, but not hot. Keep checking periodically with your otoscope.
Avoid the temptation to put objects in the ear to fish out a plug. This could damage the ear canal or perforate the eardrum. And...never clean out a painful ear (Pain could indicate infection).
The battle of the wax does not have to be difficult. With the home otoscope, you will be able to see when you need to get out the ear syringe. Good luck.
