To ask what to do about DDs ear?

[BumpyGrindy]

She's 9 and last week she said her ear hurt....I didn't think a lot of it as I thought it was cold weather that had caused it.

Anyway she just told me that it hurts when she holds her breath and "pushes" if you get what I mean....so I looked inside with a torch and there's a big lump of wax...it's too far to reach but appears to be blocking the whole entrance. what am I meant to do?

[Musicaltheatremum]

Leave it alone and do nothing. Wax is natural and will come away. Put some olive oil in if you must. Tell her not to hold her breath and push (valsava manoevre) as that will hurt if the ear is a little inflamed but as long as she is well ignore.

[Silvercatowner]

Book an appointment with the nurse at your surgery.

[mrsjay]

don't poke at it whatever you do you could try otex or maybe some olive oil in it you warm it slightly but tbh I would maybe take her to the clinic nurse or the doctors

[ChoudeBruxelles]

Get some ear drops from a pharmacy. If that doesn't work see your practice nurse

[FourArms]

Not otex - that got rid of my earwax but my eardrum simultaneously perforated. Was partially deaf for months.

Bath, warm olive oil and then lie on a hot water bottle at night to melt wax.

Might even follow my own advice tonight!

[mrsjay]

oh wow really dont buy otex then go with the olive oil instead,

[Sickofthesnow]

Speaking as someone who's mother use to "clean" her ears using cotton buds etc as a child, and who has subsequently suffered years of ear infections and perforated ear drum do NOT put anything in it.
I had to have an extremely painful ear operation a few months back to try repair some of the damage and the ENT specialist said the safest way to remove a blockage is to have someone trained, to syringe it.
Ear syringing is a lot better than it was years ago and it really is not worth trying to remove wax yourself

[Rosa]

warm the olive oil slightly put a few drops in massage very very gently without pushing then lie head / ear on a warm hot water bottle with a tissue / kitchen paper or towel over . Repeat a few times. Do not just leave. If it shows no signs of easing or softening then go to the nurse / surgery . My dd had a wax block and got a massive ear infection behind it and drops could not reach it. So she was on anti b's. Then she had to have ears cleaned out as the wax just stuck .

[Rosa]

As others said do not prod or try to remove yourself as you could make things worse. When we took dd to get it syringed we had to put in olive oil for a few days before hand to try to soften it.

[mrsjay]

yes they do tell you to soften it before you get your ears syringed

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

YY warm olive or almond oil.
Some of the OTC treatments have hydrogen peroxide (which 'fizzes' ) so I wouldn't be happy putting it in my child's ear.

You could try a warm compress against her ear ( trying to think of what you could fashion a safe compress from. Maybe if you have a watertight plastic box - like a Lock&Lock ? - you could put hot water in, seal it and wrap in a flannel. Then she can lie her head on it)
Flannel will catch any oil and wax,

[stargirl1701]

Swimming. Every single day till it clears. Lots of underwater play.

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

Olive oil, a couple of drops every evening then she lies on that side for five minutes.

If it hasn't cleared after doing this every day for a week, then make an appt with the nurse.

[sconequeen]

I'm not a HCP but Audiclean spray (OTC from the chemist) is the stuff to try, IMO. It's just water (special French sea water apparently!) and is suitable for children over 2 as well as adults. Since I started using it, my yearly or twice-yearly trips to the practice nurse to get my very waxy/blocked-up ears syringed are a thing of the past. I would imagine that with your DD, it will either get rid of the wax (might take daily use for a week or so) or else make syringing much easier by making the wax much softer. Quite pricey, unfortunately, but worth it. Having blocked-up ears is not nice and I always found personally that using oil or Otex made things feel worse.