Hmm… I’m half nervous submitting this as this week’s Works For Me Wednesdays (WFMW). This tip may turn out to be a no brainer for most of you. But believe it or not I only discovered this “solution” yesterday. Yup that’s right, after having a four-year old son and a one half year old daughter. Incredible huh?
Cleaning ear wax is hubby’s obssession. This is due to a “traumatising” experience he had as a kid of having to go to the doctors to rid some awful accumulated wax from his ears. So he pretty much took care of Hubby-jr (our son)’s ears since birth as shower-before-bedtime was his “duty”. Hubby’s procedure required a wet cotton bud and steady hands.
Don’t be shocked but it only occurred to me yesterday that Little Missy (our daughter) has never had her ears cleaned since birth (gasp!). I was the one in charge of all her bathing sessions… oops! So yesterday I tried hubby’s method and it didn’t work very well for me. The “stuff” just seemed to circulate around the tip of the cotton buds on her ears. Eew.
Then I recalled reading somewhere about using Baby Oil. So I tried. Squeezed just a teensy weensy bit onto the tip of the cotton bud and ever so gently and steadily rotated it at the entrance of the ear canal. It worked! Wax came off easily, oil made it gentle on the ears and Little Missy’s ears were clean. You can even use it to clean to rest of the ears – the part that sticks out?.
Hope this is useful for some of you as it was for me.
Click here to check out other wonderful Works For Me Wednesday tips.
August 15, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Great! Thanks! My tip also makes use of baby oil. Gotta love that stuff!
August 15, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Isn’t ear cleaning a joy? As many times as I’ve cleaned an ear, I’ve never tried this! Good idea!
August 15, 2007 at 12:16 pm
We were at the doctor the other day and she took a kleenex, rolled it into a long tube and stuck it into my daughter’s ear and rolled it a bit more and it came out full of icky ear wax. It was pretty amazing.
August 15, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Funny!!
Great idea! Will try with my no.3 who could possibly have the ability to grow potatoes with his!
August 15, 2007 at 11:35 pm
My pediatrician told me that you are not supposed to clean the wax out because qtips just shove it deeper. Has anyone heard this? I think I need a new doctor! I’ve cleaned my ears and my kiddos’ ears every day of our lives and everyone hears just fine!
September 23, 2009 at 6:50 am
I hears the same thing if u use qtips it pushes the wax back in your ear you are not supposed to clean the wax out
September 9, 2011 at 3:20 am
I took my son in and the doc put warm water and hydrogen peroxide in a bowl then used a flex tip siring to squirt the solution into the ear. he repeated this a few times while my sons head was tilted to the side yo let everything run out. after it was done he stopped crying about his ear. the peroxide releases the wax from the inner ear and lets it pour out. The doc said that this should be done every two weeks to keep inner ear clean and use soap and water for the outer ear. I hope this is helpful. it has been a few years now and the family doc likes what he sees.
August 16, 2007 at 12:30 am
That’s funny. Our pediatrician also recommended doing that to us a few weeks ago! The only thing worse than cleaning ears is suctioning infant’s noses when they have colds!
August 16, 2007 at 12:46 am
LOL. Baby oil huh? I’ll have to try that.
August 16, 2007 at 7:11 am
GREAT TIP!!! I am so gonna use this!!
August 16, 2007 at 11:33 am
Wow, I’m really glad this is a useful tip.
SAHMmy – yeah I’ve heard advice against using cotton buds too and yes I’m confused over it too but hubby did have a build up of wax in his ears when he was a kid because it was never cleaned!
August 17, 2007 at 12:49 am
I used mineral oil and peroxide mixture drops, and big ole chunks of wax soon apperared on my kids pillows! ICK!!! My kids somehow produce nasty orange crusty wax!
August 17, 2007 at 10:24 am
Deb
EEEEWWWW…hmm mineral oil and peroxide mixture drops, must remember that one.
August 26, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Just barely getting a chance to catch up. Great tip! I am terrified to clean the kids ears.
My sister put a q-tip too far in her ear when she was younger and when she went to the doctor they took out what looked to be a dried up raisin but it was really dried blood. ICK!
Thanks for sharing
September 1, 2007 at 8:24 am
Hey, I’m really worried about my 2 year old baby’s ear.
Could you please tell me what kind of mineral oil and peroxide you used and also tell me about the quantity.
Thanks a lot
September 1, 2007 at 9:14 am
Yogini, it was Deb who used those to clean her ears. I’ve forward your question to her.