Infant with too much earwax

[athena1277]

My 5 month old has been to the doctor a few times with ear pulling as one of her symptoms. Every time they have to scrap out earwax to see inside her ear. Only a minor ear infection 2 times. DH and DS have problems with excess earwax, so I'm starting to think the wax is a large part of her problems with ear pulling and not sleeping well at night. Warm bath water keeps DS's from getting too bad, but I know it can lead to an infection in an infant. Is there anything I can do to keep it from getting out of hand?

[barnwife]

I'd put a drop (maybe 2) of oil in her ears once every week or every other week. You can use olive oil.

That theoretically should help the wax stay nice and soft and allow it be come out more easily.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I've never even played one on TV. So I could be way off base.

[UnionJack]

Also not a doctor....:-) but our ND(s) would always encourage giving fish oil to lessen ear wax. At that age, we'd puncture Children's Nordic Naturals capsules and squirt the oil into our kids' mouths. (I'd guess Nordic Naturals probably carries a children's liquid fish oil, but we always have the capsules on hand!)

[Tanaqui]

I'd also put a bit of olive oil in the ears every night. You can warm it a bit first.

 

The ear is theoretically self-cleaning. The wax collects dirt and gunk, and then the cilia gently move the wax to the front of the ear and then out into the world.

 

But some people produce more wax than others, or their wax is harder. A little bit of olive oil will soften the wax so the cilia can do their job.

 

Interesting fact about earwax: You can determine how old a blue whale is by counting layers of earwax. It's like tree rings!

 

Another interesting fact, which I literally just learned: In medieval times, earwax was used as a pigment for manuscripts!

Edited October 8, 2016 by Tanaqui