ear wax in a 2 yo

[redundant]

hi there, does anyone have any experience of this. My son has a history of glue ear and possible ear infections, but docs have never been able to view the ear canal (?right term) properly due to hard, blocked wax. One did at one time try to gently move it away with an instrument, but too hard. This has been since he's a baby.
We've been given sodium bicarbonate drops to try - anyone used these?
He has failed hearing tests in the past (passed the last one) and is still delayed with his speech. Common sense seems to tell me the wax can't be helping so I would really like it to be gone/normalised.

any info gratefully received, thanks

Hi redundant. My (now) 5 year old had exactly the same problem, though it took a very long time to get a proper hearing test done; despite him being significantly behind in speech etc. I tried bicarb drops, oil, all sorts. It never really worked, although randomly sometimes a load of wax would come out at once (though not always unblocking the ear, and not always related to the drops). He's had the wax cleared out by the doctor once, but he was so scared the following times the doctor didn't do it again. We finally got grommets about 6 weeks ago. I don't know what his ear wax is doing since, but his hearing seems to be slightly better.

His speech caught up enough to not be noticeable by about 3, by the way.

Ds (age 6yo) has glue ear. The only thing that helps is grommets. He's getting his 3rd set in January.

If he is happy to lie with his ears submerged in a hot bath, let him steep the ear for half an hour then use an ear syringe to squirt a jet of water in the ear (while still submerged) and hopefully it will come out

Olive oil is another thing that can soften ear wax, and there are commercial products such as Otex.

GP surgeries do 'ear irrigation' to remove wax, but the old syringing method was too harsh and is no longer used I believe. Another procedure is called Microsuction, which is probably done in an ENT clinic, or maybe some GP surgeries do it. Microsuction may need the wax to be softened by olive oil before treatment.

I agree about olive oil- only a few drops though, it worked temporarily. Eventually, I ended up having an ear irrigation.

thanks all.

I will try the drops - no harm in trying. But I am thinking he might need grommets if there is no easy way of clearing it properly - am sure it's affecting him. His speech still seems very behind to me, and I am worried about leaving it too late for him to catch up, as he is a summer baby and will only just be 4 when he starts school. He is also getting so frustrated with not being able to communicate as well as he'd like - it's definitely affecting his behaviour. Many tantrums!!

He has got another SALT appt after new year and I might ask if she can refer him for another hearing test? Actually, my husband has private healthcare with his new job so I could see about getting an opinion from an ENT consultant.
Wish there was just a magic way of getting the wax to disappear!