Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Dr. JJ: The last thing is ear wax. Now, most parents are so afraid to clean ears because
people like us say, "Don't get near your child with a 10-foot pole." Now the ears actually
have hairs in the canal that naturally move wax to the outside. If wax is soft, that's
an easy deal but if wax dries out if you live in an arid climate like in Arizona or here
in Southern California where the air is very, very dry and you don't let any liquid get
into your child's ear, that earwax can turn to stone. Then it can start pulling on the
ear hairs and cause difficulty and sometimes irritability in kids. Again, if your child
is referencing the ear and all your doctor finds is stone-hard earwax then removal of
that will alleviate your child's symptoms. How do we get around that? Well, when you
give your child bath, let a little water get into their ears. The ears are like a little
cul de sac. The canal literally has a blind ending and comes right back out. If water
comes in, it just drips right out or evaporates out and it can lubricate that ear wax and
keep it moving in the right direction. Then when you see it at the outside of the ear,
just snag it with a Q-tip or your finger or a tissue. That way you can remove the smelly
old wax that's making it's way to the outside.