Ear buddies. | Mumsnet

LittleMissBliss · 2009-12-27T17:45:09+00:00

Any positive stories please? DS is just 3m and at birth his ears were 'normal' but they stick out quite allot now and one ear is more prominent than the other. Is it worth getting ear buddies? do they work? Thanks.

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 27/12/2009 17:54

bump

OP posts:

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 27/12/2009 20:09

It's ok, i have searched old posts and decided to go for it. No harm in trying. If it doesn't work, then there are other options when he's older. And i do like Dp's ears.

OP posts:

Friendlypizzaeater · 27/12/2009 20:11

Yes, we had them for our LO from about 8 weeks till about 14 weeks, made a big difference and we just stuck a hat on him to hide them.

PeasPlease · 27/12/2009 20:13

If they just stick out i.e aren't misshapen then you wont need the plastic 'buddy' just the tape strips as far as i can see from the pack I have here. Maybe you could save a lot of money and buy surgical tape to cut into little strips to use. Oh, and a tight fitting hat.

LadyBiscuit · 27/12/2009 20:15

If you want some half price - I can send you mine that I bought but never used. Entirely sealed packaging and everything.

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 27/12/2009 20:40

Thank you lady biscuit but i've already ordered them and have no way of stopping the payment now as far as i can tell... damn it.

PeasPlease- they don't recommend just taping back the ears as it can cause the fold to become flattened or misshapen. The buddy helps to keep the folds shape.

OP posts:

LadyBiscuit · 27/12/2009 20:42

You can send them back but you only have a week to do it - that's what got me!

Good luck. There are full instructions included so I hope they work

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 27/12/2009 20:45

Oh i see, well i might take you up on your offer is it free return P&P or do you have to pay to send them back?

How come you didn't use them in the end?

OP posts:

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 27/12/2009 20:54

I have just e-mailed to see if i can cancel my order....Hopeful!

Peas please are you using them or about to use them? how old is you dc?

Pizza- Did you get any comments from family or friends? Don't think it will go down well with some of our family. Oh well it's for the greater good!

OP posts:

LadyBiscuit · 27/12/2009 21:00

Because it all seemed a massive hassle (my DS was really young) and my mum made me realise that actually his ears didn't stick out that much and I was being a bit hysterical (I had to have my ears pinned back as a child so I am slightly sensitive to the issue).

I think you have to pay probably to send them back but if you've ordered today you could probably cancel - they won't be processing any orders until Tuesday I'd think. They're really small and very light so wouldn't cost much to post.

I was a bit miffed that they wouldn't accept mine back to be honest - I was so battered post birth that it took me a while to read the small print once they'd turned up.

PeasPlease · 27/12/2009 21:09

DD was born with a folded ear so we bought them but found them fiddly and I couldn't help taping over her hair which made her cry. We used a tiny piece of the tape to hold the fold up and kept her in the hat whenever we could. It took about 3 weeks to look 'normal', she was about 6 weeks old.

I have sticky-out ears and i wish so much that my mum had tried to do something about them so well done you for being so nice and kind.

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 27/12/2009 21:10

Sorry if my posts read a little abrupt, i'm typing with one hand, whilst feeding ds and it's easier just posting short posts.

I was hoping that they wouldn't be processing orders until tuesday and I have e-mailed with-in a few hours of the transaction taking place.

Do you have CAT? if not i will post my e-mail address. I can't CAT but can receive them.

DP's ears stick ot and really suit him. It wouldn't bother me on ds2 if they were both the same but one is allot more prominent (i think from feeding in the night lying down and him laying on a bent ear...possibly??)

It's hard isn't it to know what to do for the best when they're so young.

OP posts:

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 27/12/2009 21:10

Sorry if my posts read a little abrupt, i'm typing with one hand, whilst feeding ds and it's easier just posting short posts.

I was hoping that they wouldn't be processing orders until tuesday and I have e-mailed with-in a few hours of the transaction taking place.

Do you have CAT? if not i will post my e-mail address. I can't CAT but can receive them.

DP's ears stick ot and really suit him. It wouldn't bother me on ds2 if they were both the same but one is allot more prominent (i think from feeding in the night lying down and him laying on a bent ear...possibly??)

It's hard isn't it to know what to do for the best when they're so young.

OP posts:

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 27/12/2009 21:22

Thank you peas. It's great that they have something non-surgical that can address something that may upset a child in later life. I like all mothers think ds is grogeous as he is but do realise it may upset him when he's older, so if i can fix it now all the better.

I'm glad it worked for your dd. I think i will have to shave of a little of ds's hair to get the tape to stick, which is a shame as he has lovely thick hair.

OP posts:

Friendlypizzaeater · 27/12/2009 21:31

Yes my family/friends thought I was mad but OH's stick out and he hates it so was determined for DS not to have this (also one of my ears has a kink missing but can cover it up with hair so not so bad) BUT they all where - oooh and aaah after the few weeks and could see a difference . TBH the first few weeks anyway you have a hat on them all the time and MOST people will not ask !!!

Ebb · 29/12/2009 12:25

I used them on Ds but didn't hear about them til he was 9mths so we had to use them for quite a long time. 3mths I think. The difference was well worth it. He had no form on one ear and now it looks normal. The buddies are a little fiddly but Ds wasn't bothered by them at all. I shaved a bit of his hair where the tape sat. People asked about it but I never had any negative comments. The tape is quite subtle and if yours is only a littly then he'll have a hat on most of the time anyway.

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 01/01/2010 17:10

Just thought i'd keep an ear buddies diary.

So we fitted the buddies on Wednesday night after shaving ds a Mohawk (went a little over board, you only needed to shave the smallest amount of hair, in hindsight should have checked the tape before shaving!)
Luckily his hair grows like a weed so by the time the 10 weeks is up hopefully allot of the hair should be back....

Ds and i had a bath where i washed his ears really well. Then he had a feed and fell asleep. I let his ears air dry for an hour or so and then managed to fit one side with the splint and tape back his ear whilst he was asleep.

I turned him over to fit the other side and he stirred a little and woke up for the taping of the ear to the head part, so to that was a little fiddly.

A couple of days in and he doesn't seem bothered by the taping and his ears don't seem sore. So all is going well. He does look a little odd.

I have taken some before pictures and after 10 weeks i will pop them up on my profile along with some after pictures.

I have some more tape (just bog standard white surgical tape) for when i have to change the tapes in a couple of weeks and some adhesive remover wipes to make it as pain free as possible.

Will post in two weeks to update and let anyone who's interested know how it's all going. As well as updating if there is any improvemnet even in the early stages.

OP posts:

Original poster

LittleMissBliss · 18/01/2010 11:11

Well Ds has had the ear buddies on for 3 weeks. we had a tape change after on week as the tapes/ear was getting smelly as he was being sick in the night and rolling onto and into his ear.

The first change the adhesive remover wipes hadn't arrived yet so I soaked ds in the bath and took off the tapes which i think did hurt a little as it was getting stuck on little bits of the hair regrowth.

We repeated the whole process of cleaning his ears and leaving them to dry. I found the surgical tape that i bought (from e-bay) much better than the tape that came with the pack.

I changed the tape again on Friday after say a week and a half for the same reason as the tape had started to work loose, we had put more tape on top but, his ears were starting to smell a little gross. I used the plaster adhesive remover wipes this time and they were fab! the tape just peeled away! (these were from e-bay too couldn't find them in boots) He did have moisture behind his ears and it was a little gacky. but when i wiped it away it wasn't sore (looked a little red but i think that's from the contact of the ear to head skin) and the skin wasn't broken. We can already see an improvement. I gave him a good bath as hes only had wipe downs as not to get the tape wet. Then left the tape off for a 3 or so hours to let his ears breathe. We only taped back the really prominent ear this time for the last 7 weeks as we want to get an even result.

Will update in a couple of weeks. I will try to keep the tape on for a full two weeks this time as long as they don't get too smelly.

OP posts:

jstar5 · 04/02/2010 18:11

Hi there, i have just ordered the ear buddies for my daughter who is 3 months,do you know how long you need to leave them on for??how old is your son,how is it going?

AWE3 · 27/05/2010 09:24

Hi Guys I have just started using ear buddies for my 7 month old. I was wondering if anyone particularly Ebb as your bub is closer to my bubs age was washing ears and drying them for the 90 mins in between tape changes? I dont want to undo what has been done by leaving them off for long if you know what i mean.
I love to hear that they have worked on your bub because he was over the 6 month mark!

Ebb · 27/05/2010 11:06

I think I changed the tapes every two weeks if they lasted that long. DS was very good about not fiddling with them so the tape stuck well. I'm not sure i left it 90mins to dry inbetween but I did bath Ds earlier than usual and then redo them just before bed. A couple of times I left them off for longer than 90mins and it didn't seem to affect anything but that was towards the end of the 3months.

In general I found them fantastic and think HV's should be made aware of them as, obviously, the earlier they're used the better. I suppose people worry about being 'vain' about their childs looks and HV's would worry about offending new parents by saying you could try these to help your baby's ears.

D0G · 27/05/2010 11:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

barnasmama · 16/06/2010 21:59

Hi AWE3 , my bubba is almost 8 months old and I plan to start using ear buddies next week .Just wanted to know how it is going for you . Any tips, does your bub notice that it is there.

AWE3 · 18/06/2010 23:58

Hi Barnasmama, I posted on your other thread aswell, At first he didn't notice but just now he was scratching at them when i took them off, the actual earbuddy itself had kind of imprinted in his ear and i had to peel it out there was also a fair amount of dead skin around it. We left them off overnight and they look good this morning so i will pop them on again. Will keep you posted.

barnasmama · 19/06/2010 03:48

Hi AWE3 thanks for letting me know how u are getting on. BTW why did you start using ear buddies. My bub's ears looked normal at birth but they are very prominent now and one of them sticks out a lot more than the other. I'm still breastfeeding and his ears fold over all the time, even when he sleeps so probably this is the cause.