WFMW: How To Remove Ear Wax

I know this sounds gross, but it's part of our life.  So here goes.

My kid's pediatrician told me my daughter's ears were clogged full of wax.  She tried using an ear wax apparatus to remove some of the dark wax, but my daughter was crying in pain.  After coming home, I remembered the ear candles.  Ear candles are usually made of bee's wax and gauze.  Formed into a cone shape, you can light the larger end with a match and place the smaller end into the ear.  It will draw out some of the wax.  We did this a few months ago.  It worked good, but didn't get all of the wax out.  It was pretty hard and compacted.

Then Sissy was having severe ear pain.  She cried for nearly an hour in constant pain.  I could actually see the wax in the ear, so you know it had to be a lot.  Everyone said to just put water in the ear to clean it, but I'm one of those people who doesn't really like to try new things without being guided by someone who had already done it.  

What's a mommy to do?  

Watch youtube.com

I know.

Youtube?

Yes, youtube!

You definitely need to be selective about what you watch, but it helped me find a video about removing ear wax.  

Here's how:

Have the child lay on a pillow. 

Wrap a towel around their neck and face so the liquid doesn't get into their eyes and drip onto their clothing or pillow.

Fill the ear with peroxide (she recommends at least 3% kind).

Allow the peroxide to sit in the hear for 15 minutes.  

Tip the head to drain the peroxide onto the towel.

Fill a small cup with 1/2 warm water and 1/2 peroxide.  Using a syringe (like the ones CVS gives out to administer liquid medicine to your children), fill the ear with the warm liquid.  

Keep filling the syringe and squirting into the ear.  Repeat this process until some "stuff" starts floating out.

Make sure to keep the towel snug against the child's face (my daughter did not like the liquid dripping down her face and neck so we had to keep it tightly around her).  

After about 5-10 minutes of squirting the liquid into the ear, a glob of dark wax should come out.  

It's gross.

Plain and simple.

But, it's necessary and it works!

Drain the rest of the liquid from the ear by tipping the child's head onto the towel.  

I let Sissy's head lay on the towel to finish draining.  She fell asleep within a minute of having this done.  She hasn't complained of any ear pain since. 

It worked for me!  And it's frugal since most of the time you can get peroxide at Walgreens for $.39-.50 a bottle.

Enjoy!

This post has been linked to:
Life as Mom - Frugal Fridays