Is the child deaf, or does it not want to listen?

These difficult questions have been troubling parents for years. Does my child have a problem with hearing? Or perhaps it’s an upbringing issue, because my child “by turning off” does not want to listen?

As much as 15-20% of children and adolescents at school-age have all sorts of problems associated with hearing. Almost 60% of parents of children in whom hearing impairments have been found, had no awareness of the existence of this problem.

Let’s start with the ears of a newborn, which are carefully controlled during the first few days after birth by an audiologist. After so-called screening tests, we know that in Poland serious hearing disorders occur only in 2-4 per 1000 newborns. A large group of children, however, has hearing problems that appear during early childhood. The factors adversely affecting the hearing condition may be: noise in the environment, incorrect ear care or lack thereof, the use of some drugs, contact with toxic substances, past diseases of the outer, middle or inner ear, inflammatory, viral and bacterial diseases, cancers or genetic medical history. For the hearing in a little one to be in good form, all of the aforementioned factors need to be eliminated, but above all preventive care of the ears should be applied. Many myths have been formed on cleaning the ears, and it is important to know how to properly take care of them and not harm them.

1. It is enough to clean the ears twice a week
TRUE: earwax in the ear canals protects our ears from infections. Therefore, it should not be removed too often, since then we are ridding our ears of natural protection. At the overproduction of earwax, as well as if the ear canal is narrow, such cleaning of earwax is necessary in order to prevent the formation of earwax plugs and infection.

2. Excess earwax can be removed with ear cotton buds
MYTH: it is not recommended to use ear cotton buds, even those for infants, thicker at the base. Why? In this way we can damage not only the eardrum, but also push the earwax deep into the ear canal, which leads to its clogging. The interior of the pinna is best cleaned with an ear cleaner moistened with the spray BABYCAP Ear hygiene for babies. With the cleaner soaked in warm water you can wash the earlobes and areas behind the ears. Dry the washed places thoroughly at the end.

3. Protect the ears against contact with water.
MYTH: for 9 months of fetal life, amniotic fluids got into the ears, so the ear is accustomed to water. However, if inflammation of the ear canal is found or the perforation of the eardrum, the doctor will surely recommend protecting the ear from water until full recovery. In other cases, one must protect the ears against the excess of water. We can then apply BABYCAP Ear hygiene for babies which will lubricate the ear canal and facilitate the immediate escape of water from the ear canal directly after bathing. Such protection is also indicated for children using swimming pools. Before the child enters the water, we apply 1 dose of BABYCAP into each ear, and in this way we protect the ear canal from bacteria and infections.

4. Proper care protects the hearing
TRUE: to this end, it is worth applying a preparation removing excess earwax into each year 1-2 times a week. On the market we have many products for removing earwax. Use only preparations that do not contain water which naturally help excess earwax come out of the ear canal. In addition to this, they are appropriate for the age of our child.