Should We Dig Our Children's Ears?

1 more post before I call it a night.. err, I mean, morning.

Do you know that we shouldn't dig our children's ear? At least NOT with a cotton bud? I didn't know that until I sent Ryan to a hearing test when I was considering a speech therapist back when he was just 4 years old. During the hearing test, Ryan had a really bad ear infection on both his ears. His ear drums were swollen. It was due to a recent flu. Anyway, the hearing test was conducted by an expert but these experts are not doctors. He explained to us that it is not good to dig our ears as it will actually push the dirt in. It would in fact worsen the condition. The wax will eventually flow out and that's when we clean them. Hmm... and all these while, my parents have been cleaning and digging our ears when we were young. Now, I got this advice. It was hard to take in. I sorta half ignored it then.

Recently, I checked with my ENT specialist (when he was treating my sinus) regarding my little daughter's ears. I could smell wax in her ears and I was a bit worried about infection or worse still, pus. When I dug her ears, it came away clean. I asked him about it. Guess what! These were his advice and this time I am taking it seriously.

1. Never dig your children's ears with a cotton bud. It will make matters worse as the cotton buds would push the dirt deeper into the ear and there it will stay.
2. The ear wax forms on the outer part of the ear where there is ear hair. It will trap the dirt. The wax in the ear will 'clean out' the dirt in the ear. It will flow out to the outer part of the ear and that's when we clean it out. Don't dig in.
3. Use an ear digger (the metal/wooden ones with a tiny spoon). Not cotton bud.
4. Don't dig in. Esp for babies and children. Their ear drums ain't too far in.

With Ryan, he has a history of high fever due to ear infection. I have stopped his swimming altogether based on his pediatrician's advice. A couple of times, he even had fever after I dug his ears. Coincidence or not, I have stopped digging my kids ears except to clean the outer part.

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