Putting olive oil into my son's ears - advice?

Savvy_Sue

when my youngest ears were gloopy he had them syringed with warm water by practise nurse, do they still do this?

No idea. I'd have found out more if I'd gone myself, but the last time I took this son I found the GP so patronising I'm loathe to do it again. I know he could go by himself, but he won't. And if I take him up there and then send him in by himself, he'll only grunt and mutter because he's "fine". I am, it seems, supposed to watch his eczema deteriorate until it's infected and turned into impetigo which will take at least 3 weeks of antibiotics to clear rather than infringe on his personal liberties and ask for more ointment for it. Since I also wanted his Dad to see the GP I thought they could go together. Wrong again: he only showed off his eczema flareup and forgot to mention something else!

I suspect the olive oil is supposed to have the same effect as syringing, ie removing the wax. If it doesn't work I shall be onto the children's hospital: we're about halfway between routine checkups which have always been fine but we don't mess with hearing in my family!

Edinburghlass_2

I occasionally get my ears syringed by the nurse BUT they suggest that you do the olive oil treatment for three days before you go as that helps the wax to loosen.

You could pop into the chemist and buy Earex (?) which comes with a little dispencer for dropping it into the ears.


edit to add, the oil will not remove the wax only loosen it up where as syringing the ears means the actual wax is washed out. Be prepared to hear the pin drop once you have had this don ;D

Savvy_Sue

edit to add, the oil will not remove the wax only loosen it up where as syringing the ears means the actual wax is washed out. Be prepared to hear the pin drop once you have had this don ;D

Thanks EL. I will just be grateful if he can hear what I am saying when he is standing (or lying) 5 feet away from me. I find myself facing him and speaking v e r y s l o w l y a n d c l e a r l y which makes normal family banter rather laboured!

Do you warm your oil or just do it at room temp? I have visions of MATH with fried ears!

Sterling_geezer

Teenage son finally admitted that he doesn't just ignore me, he sometimes can't hear what I'm saying. So off to the GP with his Dad, GP says his ears are 'gloopy' and put olive oil in them to clear it up.

"How?" I ask. No idea.

"Should I warm it up first?" No idea.

"How often?" Now this one, they think the answer is just the once!

The good news is that I do have some olive oil. The bad news is I don't have a medicine dropper or syringe of any kind. Thinking of using a straw rather than the baster, but any tips appreciated!

Dear Savvy_Sue,

I'm sorry to hear that your GP was unhelpful, prehaps I can offer some advice?

The nature of the external ear canal means that ears are effectively self cleaning (the wax will naturally migrate outwards and fall out). This means that cleaning buds are not needed (they can push the wax in and impact it).
Occasionally the wax doesn't fall out of its own accord because if becomes dry and hard.
In this situation softening drops can help. I advise patients to use simple remedies rather than things like Otex which are expensive and don't work any better.
Olive oil is the most simple (& cheapest!) treatment which you can buy from any chemist (it should come with a dropper, if not buy one). I would not warm it under a tap as it can heat rapidly and burn the ear canal if used incorrectly. Leaving the olive oil at room temperature for 1/2 hour should suffice.
Childrens ear canals are relatively straight and short so you don't need to pull on the ear (unlike adults where you have to pull the ear upwards and outwards). Get the child to rest their head to one side and simply drip 2-3 drops into the ear canal. Ideally they should lay on that side for 10mins, failing that a blob of cotton wool with a bit of vaseline on in the ear will prevent the drops from leaking out. (NB don't push the cotton wool in!). repeat on the other side.
If this is repeated a minimum of twice a day for 1-2 weeks that should sort it out. The softened wax will fall out of its own accord. We try and avoid syringing childrens ears unless absolutely necessary.

Hope that helps!

Savvy_Sue

I'm sorry to hear that your GP was unhelpful, prehaps I can offer some advice?

To be fair, the GP may not have been unhelpful, the teenager and accompanying adult just didn't think to ask the relevant questions! But thank you very much for your comprehensive and authoritative answer.

I can well imagine that the wax, which used to emerge from his ears copiously, has now dried out because of the allergy to water so commonly found in, but not limited to, teenage boys ...

Good news is that a small dropper was only 49p at the local chemist, and we have a bottle of olive oil sitting next to the cooker. I'll decant a little for his personal use. I'm sure we'll enjoy ourselves: of course he will really need one of those monitors you can tilt on its side so he can carry on 'chatting' to his friends while the oil sinks in for 10 minutes. ;D

If this doesn't shift it I shall get onto ENT: we're half way between the 2 yearly appointments we get because of the history of hearing loss in my family. It hasn't so far been a problem with the kids but I'm not ruling out the possibility of something more sinister yet!

Savvy_Sue

Of course I should have told him to go to bed before I stuffed his ears with olive oil and cotton wool. ;D

MATH

My ears are un-fryed so you can put ya mind at rest Savvysue ;D We too have hearing probs in our family. All three kidz have hearing loss and regular trips to the consultant. My little girl has lip read since she was two cos she has the hearing of an 80yr old, which despite four opperations they can't inprove. So I know what you mean about talking slowly and facing them etc. Don't hessitate to go to ENT if your no happy. I wish you well

jockettuk

my mother done this to our ears when i was younger and now i put oil in my daughters ears when she complains abt earache..
she is nearly 10 and when she was abt 7 she was in a lot of pain and the doctor said its wax build up used the olive oil and she was ok.. she said the oil being warm helped with the pain.... i heat it up in a cup of warm water test it on myself and give it to her and soon she better...

Savvy_Sue

Well, after oiling him morning and evening all weekend I am pleased to report a distinct improvement. Don't know if his hearing is yet as good as it should be, but he is now sometimes responding when I am 10 feet away and not in his sight line. Even better, I have had a few "No" and "Yes" responses lately which is a vast improvement on "grunt", "I dunno" and "meh". The first No was elicited by suggesting that we should find a nice soppy film and invite some girls to join us for his brithday treat, but we have now made definite progress towards establishing what he would like to do!

1jim

Hi
I agree with sterling-geezer about method of application, I would use for at least 10-14days, teice a day, i probably woulnt not use cotton wool in the ears to keep oil in place as this can sometimes act as a wick and suck up the olive oil out of the ears. Try and avoid having his ears sryinged at all costs!!, the process of ear sryinging damages the natural process of the ear and he will likely need his ears sryinging in the future., not to mention the risk of ear infection and perofated ear drums