Tongue Control & Ear Wax

I don't know about your daughter but my kids take after me and we are just heavy wax producers. When my son was 3 months old he kept pulling on his ear and I took him in thinking he had an ear infection and the dr. said it was normal and asked if my husband or I were heavy wax producers. So it's normal, all you can do is just keep cleaning them. Eventually though it will slow down a little and you won't need to clean them everyday.

Hi E.,

As for your daughter, it sounds like she's founf her tongue and all of the strange things she can do with it. She may just be playing with it.

As for your son, one of my kids is like your son and the wax is really sticky. After his bath is really the only time I can get it out. My other son isn't like that. I guess every little body is just different.

Congratulations on your twins!!
Good luck!

For your daughter, have you changed her bottles or gone from nursing to bottles recently? When I weaned my son from nursing there were a few bottles that he just couldn't latch onto afterwards. I only had a few of them but they were those really wide bottles where the base of the nipples are big. He just couldn't latch on to them but he had no problems with the narrow bottles. Or it could be the flow of the nipples are too slow for her if she is having a hard time getting anything out. And it sounds like she found her tounge too which will make anything you put in her mouth a play toy for her to push out!!

For your son, I have the same problem with my son. I swear he comes by it naturaly cause his dad is the same way. I just use my pinky with a wet wash cloth to clean out his ears in the tub or I just run a q-tip on the outside of his ears to get all the gunk. I've asked his Ped about it and he said it is normal so.....guess I just have to deal with it!!

S.

I can't respond to the tongue control issue but I totally understand about the ear wax. My son has the same problem, and the ped told me to just wipe the outside of his ears. Luckily his is not "hard" ear wax so it looks like liquid draining from his ears on the outside. As long as your ped says everything looks good when they check his ears I would not worry. The best thing is to keep it clean to minimize the build up.

My friend had a similar situation. Her daughter couldn't stick her tongue out far enough to latch so she sucked a ton o air and spit up a lot. She found out the skin that attaches the tongue on the underneath side was so far forward it prevented her from sticking her tongue out enough to latch. Her lactation consultant found it and she went to a ped surgeon. He snipped it and she was nursing within 5 minutes. Things have been better.

I don't think you're really supposed to clean the ears, not with a q-tip at least. Nothing smaller than your elbow in the ears...
When my daughter would get a chunk of wax near the outside of her ear, I'd just scrape it away with the tip of my fingernail.
I started cleaning it with a washcloth in the bath a few months ago, and now she has fluid in her ears. Don't know if it's realted or not. I stopped cleaning them and she hasn't had any more wax come out lately.
The more you remove, the more the body will want to replace it. It's protection for the ears. Unless it really bothers you, I'd leave it alone.

Hi E., My 6yr old also have this problem.. twice a day I have to clean out his ears. It looks like he has caramel running out his ears. None of my other kids has had to deal with this but as his doc. said there is nothing you can really do for it just keep them clean... oh and to comment to paula's advice please dont scape your childs ears with your nails. you could scratch the inside and cause an infection. they make q-tips for children so you can clean them with it.. Just becareful and not to stick it too far into his ear. no further than the cotten tip. good luck