Anyone used EarBuddies splints to straighten baby’s ears?

[Mitzymarvel]

Our DD is less than a week old but already everyone who has met her has commented on her ears. Even one of the midwives made a particularly unkind comment at the hospital, and said how unfortunate they were.

One ear is folded over and a bit unevenly shaped around the top, the other has a very prominent kink in its shape.

DH and I had noticed her ears but thought they were cute - though I suppose we are looking through parents’ eyes.

My mum thinks we should use EarBuddies to correct them and says that they’ll only take a couple of weeks to work as she’s so young.

Anyone used them and can say how effective they were/weren’t? Any potential negative effects I should be aware of?

Feel upset about the idea of removing hair
to tape them!

I know some will disagree with the idea of doing it at all but I do wonder whether she would one day thank us for sorting it out now. So looking more for comments about the system rather than whether you agree with the idea or not.

Thanks

Never heard of this before so I’m going to make exactly the useless comment you don’t want, but I’d probably do it if I were you. It sounds like it’s not a big deal to correct if you do it now, and it’s true that it’s one of those things she will be judged on when she’s older. Which is crappy and I’m sure she is really cute, but that’s life - it’s generally easier if you’re attractive.

I think it’s interesting there are no bad reviews, then saw on pp on this thread saying don’t buy them & they were threatened about not leaving a bad review!
plenty saying they worked for them though.
www.mumsnet.com/talk/parenting/301221-sticky-out-ears-anyone-used-ear-buddies

That post is 15 yrs old.

Op she is not even a week old, see what it is like in a few weeks time.

I'd wait until she's a bit older and see what they are like then. We did use them with my DC but they were such a faff and kept coming off. Tried for about 2 months? Not sure it made a difference. He has extremely prominent forward ears but I feel like he has grown into them in all honesty. Now it's not so noticeable imo.

He had*

DS had similar issues but we decided not to go with war buddies as they looked like such a faff. Instead we used something called Otosticks. His ears naturally came into shape but stuck out a lot. We started using Otosticks at 6 months (wish we had started way earlier) and 8 months later they look normal.

I would wait and see but due to cartilage hardening apparently it will only take 2-3 weeks if I do it now - yet if I leave a few weeks the process takes months.

How sad

I'd try sort it now when it's easier, my sibling had 'spock' ears and back then the only option was surgery, because kids can be so cruel my parents made sure the surgery was carried out before moving to secondary school.

No I wouldn't. My DS has very uneven ears, it was practically the first thing the midwife mentioned when he was born. The lady who pierced his ear commented (not unkindly).
Last time I saw a post about ear buddies on here (I hadn't heard of them before) I asked if he wished I'd had them 'corrected' somehow. He said no. He's always loved his 'pixie ears'

I would correct them - it's an imperfection that really stands out and can painlessly be done.

my boy had one folded and rippled edge and they’re unremarkable now and we’re from a few weeks. Ask the midwife, but honestly I’d leave her ears be.

Seriously ! Leave her alone . Such vanity . If it bothers her when she's older it's something she can deal with .

But why? It can be fixed easily now. When she's older, it would never invasive surgery to fix!

My nephew has folded ear tips. So does his dad, my brother. They decided against doing anything about them as they felt it was a cute connection between father and son. Personally I would have if he were mine though.

I would.

@vodkaredbullgirl I’m aware of when the thread was started but posters have added to it over the years, right up until 2019.
OP was asking for peoples experience, there were some she could read about on there.

I did a lot of research into these about 18 months ago as my DS had prominent ears and I wanted to avoid any distress for him in the future, people can be so unkind. He was 5 months old so it would have taken months of treatment and I decided it was too much to put him through for that long. As it happens he's grown into his ears and having hair has helped too, so I'm glad I didn't go ahead with it.

However in your situation I would do it, it's literally a couple of weeks, she can't remove them herself and she may lose her hair anyway as lots of newborns do. I can't imagine she'll be upset with you when she's older for correcting them for her?!

Our child had elf ears when she was born, they rounded as she grew and I miss them now!