Should you clean your child's ears? What should you do if water gets into your child's ears? A must-read for new parents!

Ears are important organs for us to listen to the world. We should not only stay away from loud noises, but also prevent all possible hazards.

The children have all kinds of ear problems, so Brother Health quickly explains to them how to protect their ears.

Don't pick your ears, prevent water from entering your ears, and stay away from noise...

When you encounter loud noises, try to stay away from them. If you don’t have time, cover your ears and open your mouth wide.

If water gets into your ears while swimming, just turn the ear downwards to let the water flow out. Oh, and you can also jump on one foot to help the water flow out!

Parents' Classroom

Do parents need to clean their children’s ears frequently?

Earwax, also known as cerumen, protects the eardrum and prevents foreign matter from directly damaging the eardrum. In addition, because earwax contains oil, it can also protect the skin of the external auditory canal and prevent itching due to dryness. Earwax also has a certain antibacterial effect. Under normal circumstances, dry earwax will form small pieces and fall out of the ear by itself as you speak, chew, and move your head, without the need for special treatment.

But some parents always like to clean their children's ears. In fact, there are many harms in cleaning the ears. If the tools used are not clean, it can cause acute external otitis or external auditory canal furunculosis, which will cause great pain to the child. When cleaning the ears, if the child moves around, accidents may occur, causing external auditory canal bleeding or eardrum perforation, which may even affect the child's hearing in severe cases.

If water gets into the ears while swimming, will it cause otitis media?

If the water in the ear canal is not discharged in time, the ear canal environment will be humid, which will create favorable conditions for bacterial reproduction. If you do not pay attention to hygiene, it is likely to cause otitis media. When swimming, if you swallow water through your mouth or nose, bacteria can reach the middle ear through the Eustachian tube and cause otitis media. When you have a cold, viruses or bacteria can also cause otitis media. Therefore, people who swim frequently should pay more attention to hygiene, choose swimming places with good sanitary conditions, and protect their ears and noses.

There is water in my ear, how can I get it out?

Commonly used methods are:

1. Single-foot hopping method. Point the water-filled ear downward and hop on one foot, using the gravity of the water to make it flow downward and out of the external auditory canal.

2. Move the external auditory canal. You can continuously press the ear with your palm or pull the auricle with your fingers; or repeatedly open your mouth and move the temporomandibular joint, which can make the skin of the external auditory canal move up and down and left and right continuously, thereby changing the stability of the water barrier and the stability of the pressure, allowing the water to flow out.

3. External auditory canal cleaning method: Use a clean, thin cotton swab to gently probe the external auditory canal and suck out the water once it touches the water barrier.

In short, if water gets into the ear canal, you must handle it with care. If you cannot drain the water yourself, you should go to the hospital immediately and ask an ENT physician for help.

Review: Experts from the National Health Science Expert Database

Wang Quan, Department of Emergency Medicine, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University

Source: "Big Ear Tutu Grows Up Healthy and I Will Protect My Body" from People's Medical Publishing House, "Ding Ding Dong! My Ears Listen to Everything"

Planning: Tan Jia, Chen Yonggang, Yu Yunxi, Sun Li, Yang Minghao

Editor: Yang Minghao, Wu Hui, Sun Li, Wu Zhen