What’s this in my child’s ear?!

[Mummyto3derby]

Hi, so I’m freaking out! I was doing regular bath time and cleaning my son’s ears out and noticed this circle in his ear that looked like it was reflecting in the light!
not sure what to do!

Something similar happened to my daughter. I got advice, they said it could wait until the next day and to present to A&E in the morning. We did this and they eventually got it out.

I didn't say phone 999, I said phone 111 as sometimes they will send paramedics out who can treat you at home. They don't necessarily take you into hospital and they can even arrange prescriptions. I say this through recent experience with a family member and this has happened on two occasions. Sometimes they just send one paramedic in a car who can treat you at home and if not, will call for an ambulance if deemed necessary. I suggested OP phones 111 for advice as she was intending to wait until morning and go to the GP. The foreign object could slip deeper into the ear whilst the child is asleep and make it harder to remove, better to get it sorted now.

I lost an ear plug in my ear and it was an a&e job. The GP and 111 wouldn’t touch me.

I'm not saying it definitely is a split ring, especially after the OP's second photo, but there are indeed some tiny child's ear canal-sized split rings.

We had this with my little boy and it was like a small ball that is used in crafting. Had to go to the ENT team to get it out and it took about 20 minutes. So think it could be that?

Ignore the ridiculous advice about hoovering it out, or poking the bloody tweezers in because 'they or their DH would be all over it,' and especially ignore the passive aggressive 'what about people waiting 12 hours in corridors?' type comments! This is what A & E is for FFS (when the GP isn't open!) And as someone who is a HCP said further back, sometimes even the GP sends someone to A & E in a case like this.

Take your child to the hospital A & E @Mummyto3derby and take him NOW! This could affect your child's hearing, and do his ear canal permanent damage!

WTAF is wrong with some people on here?! Poke the fucking tweezers in indeed! Seriously, a bit of common sense people! It's something inside a child's EAR! I agree with a pp that it looks like a Playmobil coin.

Ds stuffed blue tack in his ear once he woke up SCREAMING in pain I looked and saw "blue" in my extremely tired state I fished it out with tweezers wiped it over with a wet cotton bud calpol and back to bed woke up the next day and took him to minor injuries to make sure I hadn't damaged his ear the nurse looked said I had done a fantastic job and had I come in the night before I would have probably been seen an hour ago because it was bedlam

I hope yours is sorted as easily

Have you got a strong magnet you could try and use?

I’m not a drama llama when it comes to medical stuff but I think I’d call 111 to see what they say. It’d be niggling away at me and I’d worry that whatever it is will fall in further over night?
let us know how you get on!

Poke the fucking tweezers in indeed!

😂😂 made me laugh, sorry.

How old is he?

To echo others, how big are your kids or even your own ear canals to fit coins and key rings in there? 😕

I’d go to A+E I couldn’t leave it all night if I wasn’t confident to remove it myself.

No one has suggested ‘poking the tweezers in’, just grabbing it with the tweezers which is what the hospital will probably do anyway. What a load of fuss.

Why don't you try some small tweezers OP?

I can't really make anything out- the ear canal looks dark brown as if it's wax. Is it the silver ring shape you can see?

How old is your child?

I don't think you should panic.

If it's stuck it won't be going anywhere soon.

It's more likely to work itself out than go further into the ear canal.

You could try a tiny amount of sterile eardrops- the sort they use before hoovering our ear wax. That could loosen it and it might slip out.

You're welcome. 👋 😆

I would phone 111 for advice. I wouldn't start poking things in there as it could easily go deeper.

Of course you've got to poke the tweezers into the ear! Have you ever used tweezers, like ever? Have you ever seen a pair? The fucking thing isn't going to fly out of the ear towards the end of the tweezers! 😆

.

I would probably poke it too.
Any updates?

Although I would be tweezering it before 111 to be honest. I know it’s not advisable really but I just would.

My Dsis dropped a bead in her ear when she was little and the GP used tweezers.

Fine tweezers are fine to use. Paramedics won’t carry things to get it out.

OP go to a &e u don't need it moving further down the canal overnight and making it harder to remove. A gp will likely send you to a & e tmrw to get it out anyway so go now.

Yeah, don't poke anything into anyone's ear to retrieve something. EVER.

A&E? Paramedics? GP? God almighty. Grab some tweezers and sort it out, like mothers have done for centuries. Jeeso.

Using tweezers isn't poking.

You only insert the tweezers to the point of touching the object. You don't push it further in.

Whoever deals with it (nurse etc) will use an instrument to grab it or use a medical hoover / suction machine- the sort audiologists use now to remove embedded ear wax.