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Water In Baby’s Ear: Is it Dangerous & What To Do

Baby baths are cute and loving. On the other hand, it’s a struggle especially if you are a new parent. There are some things that might go wrong while bathing your baby, and one of the most common problems is when water gets inside a baby’s ear.

In today’s article, we will talk in detail about this common problematic situation. Water in baby’s ear means only one thing, find the best way to get rid of it because it will impact your baby’s mood a lot.

Main Points

  • Water in a baby’s ear is one of the most common problems many parents deal with when bathing their babies. 
  • Redness, scratching the ear, and touching the ear frequently are ways to tell that there is water in a baby’s ear.
  • Tilting the babies’ heads and putting them laying on the side are common choices many parents do. Earplugs and shower caps are two “devices” that can prevent water from entering a child’s ear.
  • Important: Q-Tips aren’t the best things to use when water is already in your babies’ ears!

How to Tell If There Is Water in Baby’s Ears?

When you bathe a newborn, sometimes you cannot see whether you have put water on their ears by accident, but lucky enough, there are some things that babies do or rather say happens. It includes them becoming red on the face, itchy around the ear and touching.

  • Redness – If you bathe your baby and a few hours later you see some redness on their ears’ outer canal, it indicates there’s water in your baby’s ears! Water that stands in your baby’s ears for a longer period can lead to redness of the canal. 
  • Ear Itching – If you see your baby scratching their ears frequently it means that after a bath the water has entered the ears and it causes itching. Besides scratching it, babies tend to cry a lot in such situations. 
  • Touches the Ear – When babies touch their ears for a considerable amount of time, you should be aware that your baby probably has water in their ear.

Important: Based on what I mentioned above, you should take precautions or find a solution as fast as possible because the water that stays for a long period in a baby’s ear can also lead to ear irritations or ear infections otherwise known as the swimmer’s ears (otitis externa).

Things to Do If There is Water in Baby’s Ears

Now that you know how babies tell they have water in their ears, it is important to know what you as a parent should do to take it out and help your baby get rid of that annoying feeling! Everything I will mention is like a DIY project but here is what you can do to take the water out of a baby’s ear:

Tilt the Baby’s Head

If you notice that there is water in your babies’ ears make sure to tilt their heads. Also, pulling up the earlobe has helped many parents take the water out of the ears. It is the easiest thing to do and you will notice that the water will get out immediately.

Put the Baby on the Side

Something else many moms do is lay the baby on the side of the ear that has water inside. Once you do so, you can put a towel under their ears and wait for it to absorb the water that may come out of their ears.

Use Clean and Soft Cloths to Dry it

In case the water has entered a deeper part of the ear and you don’t know how to take it out or dry it, it is better to use some small pieces of cloth to dry the water fully.

Note: Never use a Q-Tip on a baby’s ear! It isn’t the proper way of cleaning a baby’s ears or drying the water out of them. Instead, do everything I mentioned above and avoid Q-Tips as much as you can!

Water in Baby’s Ears: How to Prevent It?

I know that no parent wants to deal with problems such as the water getting into the babies’ ears! Fortunately, there are some things you can do in order to not deal with water in your baby’s ears at all.

There are a few things to use while you are bathing your babies and they include earplugs, shower caps, and cotton balls!

Use Earplugs

To prevent water from getting into your babies’ ears you can use earplugs. There are some specific earplugs that you can find in the market and they are made specifically for babies/children’s ears in general. The ones I use when I bathe my child are WaterDam earplugs. They are really big helpers and they stay super-correctly on the outer canals of the ears not allowing any fluid to enter.

Use Shower Caps

Shower caps became famous a few years ago and they were made specifically for water getting into babies’ eyes instead of ears. However, I have found them to be super preventive for ears as well.

I noticed this when I bought the Hooyee Shower Cap and that was because my child hated the water in the eyes. Now, I recommend it to everybody who says that the water gets into their babies’ ears because it helps a lot.

Use Cotton Balls

If you don’t want to purchase any of the things I mentioned above like the earplugs and the show cap, you can put in your babies’ ears cotton balls! However, make sure to be safe with the rolling of cotton so the pieces of cotton won’t enter their ears and create another problem!

Final Words

Water in a baby’s ear is a super common problem that everybody deals with and it can happen to adults as well! Something to make sure about is the fact that babies don’t know how to deal with it and you should always come to the rescue.

I hope that after you read this article you have found everything you needed to know regarding the main point: Water in baby’s ears! Good luck!

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