How to get baby ear wax out

Cleaning your baby's ears and nose

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Keeping your baby’s head and face clean is important for their good health. That’s because baby skin is fragile and more sensitive than adult skin, so it can easily become irritated. It can take a little while to get used to cleaning their tiny ears, eyes and nose, but with practice your confidence will grow.

Do I need to clean my baby's ears, eyes and nose?

Although young babies don’t move around much, you’d be surprised at how dirty their faces can get. Just like adults, they can develop ear wax and mucus in their nose and discharge in their eyes.

Paying special attention to these parts of your baby’s body will prevent problems in future.

When should I clean my baby's ears, eyes and nose?

Your baby’s ears, eyes and nose should be wiped every day. All you need is some cotton wool and warm water. Don’t use soap because this can dry out your baby’s sensitive skin.

A good time to clean your baby's ears, eyes and nose is just before you give them a bath. Newborn babies don't need a bath every day — 2 or 3 times a week is enough — so on other days you can just wash their face and bottom. This is known as 'top and tailing'.

Some babies get upset when you wash their faces, so choose a time when they’re relaxed. It’s best not to wash their face when they’re hungry, or right after a feed. Talking or singing while you’re washing them might help to calm them down.

How do I clean my baby's ears, eyes and nose?

If you are going to give your baby a bath, fill the bath with warm water and get together everything you need first. Always make sure the water is no hotter than 37 to 38°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, use your elbow or wrist to check the water isn't too hot.

Before you undress your baby, lay them on a safe surface. Dip some cotton wool in lukewarm water. Gently clean the corners of their eyes, wiping from the inside corner to the outside corner. Use a new cotton wool ball for each eye.

Then gently wipe around each nostril to get rid of any mucus. Wipe around your baby's ears, including around the outside.

Use a soft towel to gently dry your baby's skin, making sure you also dry behind the ears.

It's very important not to stick anything into your baby's ears or nose as this can cause damage. It can cause the lining of the inside of the nose to bleed and damage the eardrum. Pushing something into your baby's ear or nose can increase the risk of infection.

When their face is clean and dry, you can undress them and give them their bath.

Should I remove my baby's earwax?

Usually there is no need to remove your baby's earwax. It has an important role in protecting their ears. It blocks germs that could cause infection from reaching the eardrum and it prevents dirt and dust from entering your baby's ear.

Ear wax usually makes its way to the outer ear naturally. You can gently wipe it away when you're cleaning their ears. Don’t ever poke a cotton swab, finger or anything else into your baby's ears.

You should also avoid using remedies to remove ear wax. This risks damaging the ear canal and can even affect your baby’s hearing.

If you think your baby's ears are causing them discomfort — for example, if they're tugging or pulling their ears a lot — then tell your doctor in case they have an ear infection.

Sources:

The Royal Women’s Hospital (Caring for your newborn baby), Raising Children (Cleaning baby eyes, nose and ears), Raising Children (Bathing a newborn), The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (Ear infections and glue ear)

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Last reviewed: April 2021

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Dealing With Earwax (for Parents)

Why Do Ears Make Wax?

Earwax is made in the outer ear canal, the area between the fleshy part of the ear on the outside of the head and the middle ear. The medical term for earwax is cerumen (seh-ROO-mun).

Earwax has some important jobs. It:

acts as a waterproof lining of the ear canal, protecting it and the eardrum from germs that can cause infection
traps dirt, dust, and other particles, keeping them from injuring or irritating the eardrum

The wax makes its way through the outer ear canal to the opening of the ear. Then it either falls out or comes out during bathing. In most people, the outer ear canal makes earwax all the time, so the canal always has enough wax in it.

Does Earwax Need to Be Removed?

Usually, there's no need to remove earwax because it comes out by itself. Sticking anything into a child's ears raises the risk of infection or damage to the ear canal or eardrum. Cotton swabs are handy for a variety of grooming needs, but should not be used to remove earwax. In most cases, regular bathing is enough to keep it at healthy levels.

While some people have more earwax than others, in general the ear makes as much wax as it needs. Rarely, kids' ears do make too much earwax. And sometimes earwax can build up and block the ear canal, especially when pushed in by a finger, cotton swab, or other object. This is called "impaction." If it affects hearing or causes pain or discomfort, a doctor can remove it.

Parents — and kids — shouldn't attempt to remove earwax at home, even with remedies that promise to be safe and effective. Doing so risks damage to the ear canal and, possibly, a child's hearing.

What Can Parents Do?

If your child complains of ear discomfort and you see earwax in the ear, it's OK to wipe the outside of the ear with a washcloth. But don't use a cotton swab, a finger, or anything else to poke inside the ear. It could damage the delicate ear canal and eardrum, or pack the wax in even further.

Check with your doctor before using an over-the-counter earwax removal treatment.

When Should I Call the Doctor?

Call the doctor if your child has:

ear pain, itchiness, or discomfort (like a blocked feeling in the ears)
hearing problems

In infants and toddlers, tugging at the ears can be sign of an ear problem.

Sometimes doctors will remove earwax:

if it's painful, itchy, or uncomfortable
if affects hearing
to get a better view of the eardrum to check for problems

Earwax removal usually is done in the doctor's office. There might be a little discomfort but it isn't painful. If a child can't sit still or cooperate, the doctor can remove it in an operating room while the child is under general anesthesia.

Doctors can remove earwax in different ways, including:

scooping it out, pulling it out, or suctioning it out with special instruments designed for this purpose
flushing it out with warm water. Sometimes a doctor will put drops into the ear canal to soften the wax and break it down. Or they might ask you to do this at home and then return to the doctor for wax removal.

Removal takes only a few minutes. If there's a sign of infection, the doctor may prescribe antibiotic ear drops.

What Else Should I Know?

Ear candling has gained a lot of attention as a home remedy for earwax removal. But it hasn't been proved to be safe or effective, and can be dangerous.

In ear candling, one end of a cone-type device is inserted into the ear canal and the other end is set on fire. The idea is that the fire and the cone form a vacuum and extract the wax. But trying this at home carries a high risk of:

burning the ear canal
punching a hole in the eardrum, which can cause permanent hearing damage

Whenever you have any concerns about your child's ears or hearing, call your doctor.

How to remove wax from the ear of a child and an adult.

Doctor's actions – clinic "Dobrobut"

Publication date: 2020-02-17

How to remove wax plug from the ear of a child and an adult

Partial hearing loss, a feeling of stuffiness in the ear and itching in the external auditory canal may indicate the presence of wax plug in it. In itself, this condition is not dangerous, but the problem needs to be addressed. Removal of wax plug from the ear can be carried out in the office of an ENT doctor or independently at home.

Symptoms of cerumen in the ear

The first symptom of cerumen is water retention in the ear canal. If it is passable, then the water should flow freely, and the sulfur plug prevents this - even taking a shower ends with lengthy attempts to remove water from the ear. The sulfur plug can be seen with the naked eye - it looks like a small lump of gray-yellow mass located on the wall of the ear canal. There are the following symptoms of sulfuric plug in the ear:

severe itching;
partial hearing loss - there are complaints of a feeling of stuffiness in the ear, the sound does not go away in full and seems muffled;
unpleasant sensations of pressure and the presence of a foreign body.

Knowing how to remove wax from the ear of a child and an adult, the procedure can be performed independently. This is dangerous when the cork is close to the eardrum - if it is carelessly moved, it can be damaged, and then hearing loss will occur, up to its complete loss. Therefore, it is preferable to consult a doctor.

Methods for removing wax plug

At home, the easiest way is to use a hydrogen peroxide solution, which will soften the wax plug. If the procedure is to be carried out by the child, then during it he must follow all the instructions of the parents.

How to get rid of cerumen with hydrogen peroxide:

lie on your side so that the problem ear is in the access zone;
3-5 drops of a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution are instilled into it;
stay in this position for 10-15 minutes;
, if necessary, repeat the procedure for the second ear.

If the wax plug is soft and small, it should dissolve and come out of the ear within 8-10 hours. The first signs of a positive effect of the procedure will be an improvement in hearing, a decrease in the intensity of itching and the flow of a gray-yellow liquid from the ear.

Hydrogen peroxide can be used to remove earwax plugs for several consecutive days until the plug is completely removed. But if after the first procedure no improvement occurs, then you should contact a specialist.

Another option for self-removal of wax plugs from the ears is the use of special medications. They have the ability to quickly dissolve even dry sulfur formations, which contributes to their release 4-6 hours after the procedure. Drops from sulfur plugs for adults can be used without first visiting a specialist, but in case of a problem, a child will need to contact an ENT doctor.

As for the methods of solving the problem in a hospital setting, the most commonly used is ear washing. How to wash the ear from sulfuric plug and not damage the eardrum? You must first soften the sulfur lump with hydrogen peroxide, and then send a jet of warm water from Janet's syringe along the wall of the external auditory canal - the plug will come out along with the water that has poured out of the auditory canal. This procedure only at first glance seems simple! You should not carry it out at home, especially for a child - water can push the sulfuric plug deep into the ear canal or injure the eardrum.

On the pages of our site Dobrobut.com you will find information on how to remove wax from the ear at home. If necessary, you can immediately make an appointment with a doctor.

Doctors categorically advise against trying to remove the cork with ear cotton buds - during this procedure, you can push the accumulated sulfur deep into the ear canal, closer to the eardrum. If the skin is damaged, infection and the development of an inflammatory process are possible, and then it will be necessary to undergo a course of treatment in a hospital, and in complicated cases, resort to surgical intervention.

Related services:
Otolaryngologist's consultation
ENT-combine

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A child has a sulfur plug | 1DMC

What is earwax? What to do if a sulfur plug has formed in the ear of a child?

Each person has a special secret in the ears - earwax. This secret protects us from the effects of dust, dirt, bacteria on the ear. Normally, dust particles settle on the ear wax, it thickens, dries up and is gradually removed from the ear. When chewing and talking, the wall of the external auditory canal shifts and the earwax moves closer to the exit from the ear. Thus, the outer ear is cleansed. However, in the cleaning of the outer ear, violations can occur, and then a sulfur plug forms. The sulfur plug is a conglomerate consisting of earwax, dust and epidermal cells.

What are the causes of sulfur plugs in children?

Excessive secretion of sulfur, changes in its consistency, anatomical features of the ear canal may predispose to the formation of sulfur plug in a child.

Increased formation of earwax can provoke foreign bodies of the ear, otitis media in children, water getting into the ears, eczema, dermatitis, wearing a hearing aid, frequent use of headphones. A special role in the hypersecretion of the ear glands and the formation of sulfuric plug belongs to overzealous attempts to clean the child's ears with cotton swabs. This leads to irritation of the sulfur glands, an increase in sulfur production, as well as pushing, tamping and fixing the already existing secret in the bone section of the ear canal. In addition to an increased risk of sulfur plug formation, such “hygiene” is fraught with injury to the ear canal and damage to the eardrum.

The anatomical narrowness and tortuosity of the external auditory canal, which can be hereditary in a child, can contribute to the accumulation of sulfur, as well as the problem of sulfur plugs. The recurrent formation of dry sulfur plugs in a child may be due to insufficient air humidity in the children's room.

Initially, the earwax conglomerate does not completely cover the ear canal and therefore cannot be detected in any way. Gradually increasing in size, it blocks the ear canal, and thereby contributes to hearing loss.

Children with wax plugs often complain of hearing loss. Also, the appearance of reduced hearing can cause water to enter the ears. In this case, the sulfur plug swells, increases in size and completely blocks the ear canal.

How can they remove the wax plug in a child?

If all these symptoms appear, it is necessary to contact an ENT doctor so that he can correctly diagnose and treat. Similar symptoms can be observed with sensorineural hearing loss, when hearing loss is observed with inflammation in the middle ear. Direct examination of the cavity of the outer ear allows you to accurately establish the diagnosis. ENT - the doctor examines the cavity of the outer ear, where he detects a sulfur plug. In color, it can be from yellow-brown to black. With a long stay of the sulfur plug in the cavity of the auditory canal, it can cause pressure sores.

It is not allowed to attempt to independently remove the cerumen from the ear canal, as this can lead to damage to the epidermis of the external auditory canal and even the eardrum, while the cerumen will not be removed, but will move deep into the ear canal into the bone section, from which it is quite heavy extract.

Remove cerumen in children by flushing the external auditory canal. For washing, water heated to body temperature is used, since a jet of cold liquid, hitting the eardrum, can cause disturbances in the activity of the vestibular apparatus and then the child may feel dizzy, nausea, headache, and even lose consciousness.

Sulfur plugs are sometimes very dry and difficult to separate when washed. In this case, it is recommended to instill 3% hydrogen peroxide into the ear for 2-3 days or apply Levomekol ointment. When instilling hydrogen peroxide, it must be remembered that it is a liquid that causes swelling and softening of the sulfur plug. In this regard, hearing loss can often occur due to the blockage of the ear canal with swollen cerumen. There is no need to be scared here, after washing the cavity of the ear canal, hearing will be restored completely.

After the removal of the sulfur plug, the child's hearing is usually restored immediately, and unpleasant subjective sensations disappear.

What are the measures to prevent the formation of sulfur plugs?

If the child has an increased tendency to form sulfur plugs, it is necessary to visit an otolaryngologist at least once every 6 months. It is strictly forbidden to use cotton swabs, as well as other traumatic objects to clean the ear canals; to extract excess sulfur from the auditory canal, it is recommended to use sterile cotton flagella.