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Behaviour/development

earplugs for swimming toddlers?

4 replies

henrys7thwife · 16/06/2008 14:34

My DS, just now age 2, is a little waterbaby who absolutely adores his twice-weekly swimming lessons, and DH and I also take him swimming whenever we can on the weekends to the gym or a lido of some sort.

He enjoys going underwater (does it himself) but every time he comes up he sticks his finger in his ear and looks concerned. It is NOT an ear infection (I have checked so many times I've annoyed our paed!) in either ear, and our paediatrician says it's also not a build-up of wax or any other physical problem.

But trying to put earplugs in to assuage this problem is almost a no-go. He is very sensitive (I don't mean emotionally, he's quite happy and sunny) to new things, i.e. we put on some shoes without socks for the first time and he freaked out and just sat there waiting to be picked up or his shoes changed, point blank refused to walk in them.

Has anyone else ever had this issue or ever successfully put earplugs into a toddler? Any tips for getting him to stop fiddling with his ears while swimming? He's not really distressed by it, just comes up smiling out of the water and then sticks his fingers in and keeps them there until I take them away or we get out of the pool (have tried ignoring it to no avail).

OP posts:
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DrNortherner · 16/06/2008 14:35

Try an ear bandit as opposed to plugs.

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dylsmum1998 · 16/06/2008 14:43

a little boy in my ds swimming lesson used to have cottonwool in his ears then a swim hat on (his was for ear trouble) but this might work for your ds possibly

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girlywhirly · 16/06/2008 15:42

You can get something called 'swimmers putty' which is a soft malleable compound to be used as a prevention of ear infections. You just use as much as you need. A work colleague told me about needing to use it for his baby son who had a cleft palate, and he used it every bathtime as well as for swimming, to prevent water getting into the ear canal, as he was very prone to ear infections.

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bethanljones89 · 23/09/2013 13:42

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