In children, earwax is a fact of life, and many parents deal with the sticky stuff by launching a massive attack armed with anything from washcloths and baby oil to bulb syringes and cotton-tipped swabs. Minimize possible wax and hearing problems by learning when it's okay for you to remove your child's earwax -- and when you should leave it to the pediatrician.
Background
Earwax, or cerumen, is a sticky orange-yellow substance that your child's ears produce to lubricate and protect the delicate skin lining the ear canals. Oil glands in the ear canals make the earwax, which generally sloughs its way gradually to the external opening of the ear, carrying along with it germs and debris that inadvertently entered the ears. In most cases, you should be able to easily remove earwax from your infant or child's ears by gently wiping it from the external opening of the ear with a tissue or warm, damp washcloth.
Problems
Sometimes babies and children develop earwax buildup in their ear canals, a condition that occurs when the wax fails to migrate to the external opening of the ear. The wax clumps in the ear canal, creating large lumps of hardened cerumen that are difficult to remove and may negatively impact hearing. This wax buildup isn't typically a problem unless you begin to notice signs of irritation -- such as tugging or rubbing at the ear -- or hearing loss.
Diagnosis
If you notice signs that wax buildup may be affecting your child, your safest option is to arrange an appointment with the pediatrician for proper diagnosis. Hearing loss and ear irritation also occur with other aural problems, including ear infections, so it's important that trained medical personnel verify wax impaction is in fact causing the symptoms. If a physical examination shows signs of wax blockage, the doctor may insert wax-softening drops or remove the blockage manually or with water irrigation. Depending on the severity of the wax impaction, the doctor may instruct you to regularly instill wax-softening drops into your child's ears to help keep future blockage from developing.
Cautions
Don't instill liquid wax-softening drops into your child's ears without first getting approval from your physician, especially if your child is under the age of 6 months, has a history of ear problems or has ear tubes in place. Never insert a sharp or pointed object, such as a cotton-tipped swab or pen cap, into a baby or child's ear canal to try to remove impacted earwax. Doing so may actually push the pieces of hard wax further back into the ear canal, which could irritate or infect the canal skin and even damage the eardrum.
References
- "The Portable Pediatrician"; Dr. William Sears, et al.; 2011
- "Textbook of Pediatric Emergency Procedures"; Christopher King, et al.; 2007
- The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery: Earwax Do's and Don'ts
