You can buy ear cleaning drops or just use a few drops of olive, canola or vegetable oil. I usually use almond oil on J's ears because they get so full o wax that none of us can think over her shouting and turning the tv all the way up every time one of us lets her close to the remote!
The oil will soften the wax and let it come out. You may need to use a little bulb syringe to get warm water in there but that will help get the softened wax out. We do the rinse about every 3rd day of treatment for Jess, but for husband and thank you they do it later the same day. Her ears just get a TON of hard wax no matter what.
We ALL use peroxide in our ears. husband got me started when we were dating. Once the kids were verbal enough to tell me how it felt, I tried with each of them - always AFTER I spoke with the doctor and when they did NOT have tubes in. NEVER put drops of ANY kind into an ear tubes or a ruptured eardrugm. Both the local ENT here, and the other 2 we say due to not living here when the other 2 had ear problems, ALL have had no problems wth peroxide. They didn't jump up and down and say "oh goody it will fix everything!!" but they said as long as the child didn't indicate that it hurt then it was a lot less harmful than some of what they could rx.
I have found peroxide in my ears to be helpful when they are itchy, have an odd "full" feeling that doesn't go away with a yawn (or if I cannot yawn - that can indicate a beginnin blockage in the eustachian tube). A blocked feeling with no ear problem can often be due to a blockage or swelling in the eustachian tube, esp if you have allergies or a cold. Peroide will NOT NOT NOT hurt if there is a blockage. It gets in where oil can't and it helps clean it out and deal with any beginning infection.
thank you and Wiz have super-bad ear problems, so does my bro, but since we started peroxiding their ears every couple of days if they start to act like they have a cold or allergy problem, the trips to the doctor and the amt of medications, esp antibiotics, has gone down HUGELY. From age 10-15, Wiz had a MINIMUM of five ear infections a year plus strep throat several times a year. Once I told him that this ONE week he could earn the amt of the copay on the antibiotics and other medications for infection IF he would permit me to peroxide his ears and he would leave it in for at least 2 min on a stopwatch, less if it stopped fizzing, he has has SOOOOOOOOO many fewer ear infections, strep, etc... It seems to get strep by going back down through the throat a little bit. We use jsut a couple of drops of peroxide in one ear, then the person stays on their side while they wiggle their jaw around to get it near where they needed to be.
I have often done it when I think I am getting a cold and it usually helps a LOT at least in decreasing how bad I feel and for how long I feel bad.
One of my aunts ran a swimming pool for decades and she had a lot of problems with her ears until she started putting a few drops of alcohol in them after she was in the pool or took a shower. Her problems were because the ear was wet all the time all summer long. the alcohol was her dr's solution and it worked for her up to this day.
