Removing ear wax from child's ears with olive oil.....Anyone done this?

[KBear]

did it work?

No...but my mum used to pour warm olive oil into our ears when we had ear ache. I used to hate it and always thought that was what olive oil was used for...

No and we did it for weeks

We then had 2 weeks of sodium somethingorother drops

And now, finally, we have been referred to the ENT where apparently, they have a magic machine that just sort of 'vacuums' the wax out of their ears (dd is 5 and a half and virtually deaf because of all the wax).

apparently it did soften the wax but the wax plug still wouldn't budge so I think it can work

My DD1 had so much wax she was deaf.We tried the olive oil and the sodium bicarb drops and eventually got referred for micro suction.She had it done last November and it was great, no pain for her and fairly quick, would highly recommend it.

I always used to have olive oil for eachache when i was a kid, have used it on friends, i even used sunflower oil on a boyfriend once which worked too.

So, what do I do? Warm it a little and put a drop in and plug ear with cotton wool? Or not? Sorry to be dense!

Get a teaspoon pour it in the spoon and out it in your hands so it warms it up, dont heat it on the cooker/lighter etc as it will scold the ear. Get child to lay down warn him that it will feel funny, pour in and then rub the ear behind and get child to lie down for 10 ish mins. then stick some cotton wool in to absorb as it will run out.

I use an old medicine syringe to squirt in a drop or two. Don't tend to warm it first though - bad mummy that I am!

If you don't warm it it won't work - it's the heat of the warmed oil that softens the wax.

It doesn't often work anyway; if there's wax that needs removing, it's best to let the GP or the nurse have a look.

WWB - have seen the GP and he suggested it. In his usual one word answers though he wasn't great at telling me exactly what to do!!

Being in the Olive Oil business, I would confirm that originally in England you could only buy olive oil at the chemist and it was only used for cleaning ears!!! It is only since the last 30 years or so that it is used in the UK for cooking... I would suggest KBear that you find the oldest looking pharmacist in your town and he should be able to tell you exactly how to use O.O. to clean ears... I couldn't help!

OK - I asked my mum how she used to do it (because I can remember being attacked with the bottle of olive oil as well!) - she says that the oil needs to be warm but not hot (put a small amount somewhere warm and leave it for half an hour), then get the child to lie down with the affected ear upwards, put three or four drops into the ear (you can buy a dropper from the pharmacist) and get the child to stay lying down for five minutes to allow the oil time to soften the wax. She reckons that if you do this every day for 5 or 6 days, the wax will break up and fall out of the ear bit by bit.

Thanks for the advice.

Wigwambam is right... I have just confirmed with an OO expert. So the best way, is to warm a teaspoon, then pour olive oil in it, then bend your head, ask someone to help putting few drops from the spoon in your ear(the oil should be very warm NOT HOT!), then massage the ear and put a cotton wool in your ear (not far in) and leave it over night!!!! The job is done and the wax should come out when pulling away the cotton wool... I will try myself tonight...

Sorry the oil should not be very warm but just warm...