198 why children lose their hearing and what we can do
Other ways to prevent ear infections
• If a baby has to be fed from a bottle or a cup, be sure
to keep his head higher than his stomach as you feed
him. If he lies down while feeding, the milk can flow
from his throat into the tubes and into his middle
ears, helping to cause infection.
• Teach a child to wipe his nose instead of blowing it. If
he does blow his nose, he should do it gently.
• As much as possible, keep children away from smoke, including smoke
from stoves and cooking fires. Smoke can make the tube between the
throat and middle ear swell and close. Then fluid builds up in the
middle ear and it can get infected.
• When your child has a cold, find out if he also has ear pain. As much
as possible, keep your child away from people with colds.
Something blocks sound from traveling through
the ear
Children can lose their hearing temporarily when something like hard ear
wax or another object blocks sound from traveling through the ear.
Ear wax plugs
Ear wax helps to prevent infection. It forms a protective layer on the
delicate skin in the ear, helps keep the ear clean, and makes the skin
waterproof. Usually, the wax gradually moves out of the ear, carrying
with it trapped dirt and dust, but sometimes the wax builds up, hardens,
and becomes stuck. This can happen because of cleaning ears
with cotton buds (small sticks with cotton on the ends) or other
objects that push the wax deep into the ear canals. This hard
plug of ear wax keeps sounds from traveling easily through
the ear and can cause an infection. Ear wax can also be
a problem for children who use hearing aids, so these
children’s ears should be checked regularly and their
hearing aids should be cleaned if necessary.
Signs:
• A child seems to hear less well than usual.
• Sometimes you can see the plug of hard wax in the ear.
• Sometimes the wax plug or infection around it may cause the child
to have an earache with pus draining out.
A small amount of wax is normal and should not be touched.
Helping Children Who Are Deaf (2004)