hardened earwax in a 2yr-old, gp says to use olive oil, been doing this for 6 weeks, can I use anything else??

[snooks]

ds2 (2.2) is always touching and pulling at his ears. The gp says he has a buildup of hardened ear wax in one ear, not common in small children but not unheard of either. So for the last 6 weeks or so I have been dribbling warmed olive oil into the ear 3-4 times a day (he loves this as you can imagine). I've been back to the doctor twice to check progress but the wax isn't shifting, gp says a 'last resort' would be to syringe them but apparently they don't like to do this to young children.

Anyone got any experience of this please and any ideas? Thank you

Getting ears syringed is quite intense if not actually painful, I can see why they're holding back on it.

Try popping a cotton wool ball gently into the outer ear (don't push it in) after you've put the olive oil in - your ds should be lying down so some of the softened wax will absorb to the cotton wool.

We won't syringe under-12s. They get referred to ENT for microsuction, where suction is used to remove the wax rather than water.

I would say 6 weeks of oiling is plenty, and if it hasn't shifted by now then it probably won't. I would go back and ask for an ENT referral.

thank you both. AnyFule that is a good idea and I will do this tomorrow, preferably with a major distraction (choc buttons, wiggles etc) otherwise the cotton wool ball will be immediately removed!

sidge, during the 6 weeks ds had c.pox so for almost a week we stopped doing the olive oil because his ears were full of spots/scabs and it gave the scabs some time to dry out. I'm guessing though that that doesn't really make any difference? Do you know if microsuction would be painful, would he have general/local anaesthetic etc?

thanks.

I've recently had my ears syringed (has made such a difference), but was slightly painful, uncomfortable and noisy. I can't imagine my 2 yr old tolerating it for one second. I think something with some level of sedation would be called for.

Microsuction isn't painful or noisy like ear syringing, so no sedation needed. You would just need to hold him quite still, but it shouldn't take long.

Be careful using cotton wool, the fibres can enter the ear canal and get stuck in the oily ear wax. I recommend after oiling trying to get him to stay on his side for a few minutes (oiled ear uppermost) and massaging the area in front of the ear, where it meets his cheek.