Noticed my seven-week-old baby’s ears look very different

[PeanutTomo13]

My baby is nearly 7 weeks old and I noticed this morning his ears seem to be dramatically different from right to left… now I have noticed it I cannot unsee it. He passed his newborn hearing test and to be honest, is otherwise perfect but this has thrown me off. Of course I’ll be speaking to his doctor but it’s a Sunday and I’ll be strewing and worrying all day.

We did noticed prior his right ear very easily folds, when he’s feeding or laying on his right ear it’ll fold, we usually just put it back. It doesn’t seem to be bothering him.

His ears look normal to me.

The right ear has a different fold. I’m not sure if it’s significant of anything though? Just a quirk.
Hopefully an ear expert will be along 🩷

I'd get that bottom on checked.

It might be the angle but they look perfectly normal to me too. Unless you are seeing the doctor anyway for something else this doesn't seem something they need to see but absolutely speak to your health visitor, this is exactly the kind of worry they are there to support with.

It's such a worry having a tiny baby ,I can understand why you are concerned.
Yes the ears do look slightly different but people's bodies aren't symmetrical.
For instance most people have one ear higher than the other
You need to remember that your baby is tiny and that as he grows the difference will become unnoticeable to everyone . Apart from his mum!

I took new pictures to show the difference a bit better side by side. He has his 6 week check booked on Friday which is perfect timing so I’ll mention it then.

New/better picture of the ear differences

Yes mention it then.

They look like sweet little ears to me. Not completely symmetrical maybe but our bodies aren't completely symmetrical as said by @limetrees32

I had this with DS2, one ear looked normal and the other looked like the ear had no ligament in it and was a thin flap of skin. Nurse explained it will develop with time and I don’t remember it being an issue anymore by the time he was 1.

I think it's just the angle... if you compare the last set of photos the shapes all look the same. Try taking a photo of the right ear from the same perspective as the left I.e. with his cheek in the foreground of the photo looking up at the ear

I think they just don't quite match.
I have a friend whose toes don't match. It's like her toes were taken from a bag of miscellaneous toes left over at the end of making all the other people.

By the way, the majority of the hearing is related to the bits inside, the outside ear just funnels in the sound more effectively. So I wouldn't fret about hearing.

Oops I just realised I didn’t word this correctly. It’s not the shape of the ear, the folds inside the ear that are different from left to right. However if you can look at the picture and not noticed the difference because you thought I meant the outer shape of the ear, that makes me feel better!

I can see they they are different shapes although I they both look like normal ear shapes. Just not on the same baby. One is a bit fatter. I’m sure it’s not urgent but no harm in asking health visitor.