Ear Buddies

[bookworms]

My son is 9 months old and his ears stick out. We have heard that ear buddies are an possible non-invasive way to make them stick out less, but that 9 months is rather late to start using them. I wondered if anyone had any experience of Ear Buddies (particularly at this late stage) and whether they worked.

My husband and I are very torn about whether to try this or not. We feel our son is beautiful and aren't really bothered about his ears, but a few people have commented on them and we are starting to worry that he might be teased when he goes to school. Basically, we don't want to regret not trying something when he was a baby that might have avoided teasing when he's older, but nor do we want to put him through having surgical tape and splints on his ears for four months if it's unlikely to work at 9 months.

Any experiences/advice would be very welcome. Many thanks.

One of my NCT friends tried them, their LO hated them and so they decided to take it off, when they took them off it took another 3-4 weeks to get the sticky stuff off her properly.

There was a thread on this earlier this week here. From what my friend told me when she used them for her DD, the later you leave it, the longer they have to leave them on, but the probably the only way to find out is to have a consultation.

Thank you so much for your replies and for the link to the other thread. I'd done a search earlier in the week and it hadn't come up so I'm very grateful. We've decided to go for a consultation with Mr Gault, which, though expensive, will give us an idea of whether the Ear Buddies will work because he'll be able to assess how soft, or not, the ear cartilage is by now.

Hi bookworms, my son is almost 8 months and I am thinking of using ear buddies on him as his ears stick out.

How did your consultation with Mr Gault go , did you use the ear buddies and if you did how long did you leave it for and what were the results like?

I used ear buddies on one of DS's ears when he was about 9months old. I think we had to leave it on for at least 3mths if not longer. Sorry I can't remember the exact time scale! He wasn't at all fussed by wearing it and you can get special tape remover to get the sticky stuff off. One ear had no form to it and stuck out. I wasn't too bothered by the sticking out but even his Consultant commented on his 'funny ear' so we decided it was worth a shot as if adults were commenting, children were likely too once he got to school. We were very pleased with the results.

Thank you Ebb.I thought that it would not work after 6 months , but it sounds like it worked well for you DS. I would definitely give it a try. Did you remove the tape and splint for special ocassions . How old is your DS now and does the 'funny ear' look normal .

Ds is 2 now and his ear looks normal. I did take the splint off for 24hrs or so on occassion once I'd done about a month. I did shave Ds's hair where the tape went as easier to get the tape off. Ds is fair so wasn't obvious. I didn't get any negative comments when he was wearing the ear buddie. I would definately use them earlier is Dc2 has 'funny' ears.

Just to add some positive info - I have been using ear buddies on my 5 month old for 3 weeks and took them off to give her skin a breather today and they are definitely working on her bat ears. According to the instructions i have another 2-3 months before they will take full effect. Putting them on was a lot less difficult than it sounded and taking them off with the adhesive remover wipes was really easy. The only scary bit of the whole process was shaving behind her ears but actually it was simple. They haven't bothered her at all - much less discomfort for her than her ear getting caught forward all the time and sticking to her face when she slept. The instructions say to take them off for swimming and to avoid getting them wet but we have been swimming and bathing with them on without problems. They aren't very noticeable but some people have asked what's wrong with her ears so I carry a photo of my husband when he was 6 to show them the problem I am trying to prevent. My thinking is it's better to spend £50 and some time and effort now to save £500 and a lot of emotional stress for your loved one in 5 years. Having wing nut ears may not bother him or her in the future but if it does you'll wish you had tried the ear buddies.

I have started using them on my 5 and half month old son. I changed the tapes today after nearly 2 weeks as I was worried about whether all was ok underneath the tapes (just a bit red but looked ok) and also he was scratching at ears quite a bit. Was surprised at how sticky the tapes are - was quite hard and stressful to get the tape off even with the remover wipes. And could not get all the adhesive off. I'm not sure if i'll be able to carry on for the 3 months (especially as he gets older and more dextrous) as worried they are bothering him. What do others think about this? My son did always rub ears when tired anyway but seems more so now.

Hi Kazklo bit late now but did you let the liquid from the remover wipes soak in for a minute. I found the tape and glue came off really easily when it was properly wet. Just a final note to say after doing the ear buddies for 3-4 months as directed my baby girl now has perfectly normal and symetrical ears and hopefully will never realise they ever weren't.

We used them on DS when he was 3 months old, they made a huge difference and I never regretted it. He did not notice them at all, we popped a hat on him most of the time.