Badly folded baby ears—what to do?

[Redstar2015]

My youngest dc was born with severely folded ears. We got a referral to an ear splint clinic when he was 4 weeks as they were not improving at all. After 10 weeks using Ear Buddies they are slightly improved but still badly mishappen. They look very much like the folded earlobe examples on the Ear Buddies website where his lobes both fold up and stick out. The top of the ear is also a bit mishappen though much improved from splinting.

I don’t see his ears improving further and am wondering if anyone has positive stories of baby ears unfolding further on their own? His ears look so tiny compared to other babies since they are folded in on themselves and I worry he’ll get teased when he’s older or feel self conscious about them.

Admittedly I’m a bit sensitive on this point as he was flagged for genetic testing after birth and one reason mentioned was his ears.

Please note the photos are not my child’s ears but from the Ear buddies website.

Bumping

My DS2 had folded ears. We were referred for genetic testing as he had several minor issues - tongue tie, umbilical hernia, head shape. They all sorted themselves out over time and the testing came back ok.

@countrygirl99 Did his ears sort themselves out too and, if so, when?

We also had genetic testing (results all normal) while he was in SCBU. Like you, most everything has sorted itself other than the ears.

It's a long time ago but I think it was about a year

Not folded, but one of mine had one ear distinctly smaller than the other. I’m not sure I could work out which one it was now, so I think they do keep growing. Is there someone you could call at the splint clinic who could advise?

@countrygirl99 Oh, that gives me some hope they’ll straighten out a bit more.

@Glovesandscarf , we are under a consultant at the splint clinic but have just been told that the stick-out lobe is the hardest to correct as it’s all soft cartilage.

One of mine had one ear nearly 1cm smaller than the other, and as an adult it's still noticeably smaller.

I did ask her consultant about it as she was born missing her arm from below the elbow and the same side has a smaller ear, foot, and eye socket (not as noticeable). The consultant said that everyone is smaller on one side in these things and I probably wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been for her arm, and not to worry about it.

One of mine was born with an ear that was almost paper thin in comparison to their other ear… I can only assume they had leant on it throughout development. It took about a year to fully ‘inflate’ but you would never know now. My midwife was completely bemused by it as she hadn’t seen it before.