How Do You Clean Infant Ears? A Safe Step-by-Step Guide

Clean your baby’s ears from the outside only. Wipe the outer ear and the skin behind it with a soft, damp washcloth at bath time, and leave the ear canal alone. Earwax isn’t dirt. It protects the canal and works its way out by itself, so cotton swabs only push it deeper and can scratch the skin or injure the eardrum. Wax you can see at the opening can be wiped away gently, and anything deeper is a job for your pediatrician. That’s the short answer to how do you clean infant ears, and the steps below show exactly how to do it.

Why Baby Ears Don’t Need Deep Cleaning

Earwax, or cerumen, is made on purpose. It traps dust and germs before they reach the eardrum and keeps the skin of the ear canal from drying out. As your baby moves their jaw while feeding and babbling, the wax slowly travels outward, dries, and falls away on its own.

That means the ear canal cleans itself. The only part that needs your help is the outer ear, the part you can see, where milk, sweat, and lint tend to collect.

How Do You Clean Infant Ears? The Washcloth Method

1. Wet a soft washcloth with warm water. Plain water is enough, so there’s no need for soap.
2. Wring it out well so no water drips into the ear canal.
3. Wipe the outer ear, following the folds and ridges where lint and spit-up collect.
4. Wipe any wax you can see right at the opening of the ear, without pushing inward.
5. Clean behind the ear, where milk and sweat often sit in the skin crease.
6. Pat everything dry with a soft towel.

Fold this into bath time a few times a week, right after washing your baby’s face, and it becomes part of the routine rather than a separate job.

Cleaning Behind Your Baby’s Ears

The crease behind the ear is easy to miss. Dribbled milk can collect there and leave the skin red, moist, or a little smelly. Wipe it gently and dry it well. If you see yellow, greasy flakes there, it’s often cradle cap, which can spread from the scalp to behind the ears. Our guide to the cradle cap brush explains how to loosen those scales safely.

What Never to Put in Your Baby’s Ear

Keep cotton swabs out of your baby’s ear canal completely. A study from Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that about 263,000 children were treated in US emergency rooms for cotton swab ear injuries between 1990 and 2010, roughly 34 a day. Most happened while someone was cleaning the child’s ears, and children under 3 made up about 40% of the injuries. The most common problems were something stuck in the ear, a perforated eardrum, and cuts to the canal.

The same goes for hair pins, rolled tissue, fingertips wrapped in cloth, and ear candles. Ear candling has no proven benefit and can cause burns. Each of these can push wax deeper or damage a canal that’s only a few millimeters wide.

What Normal Baby Earwax Looks Like

Earwax varies a lot from baby to baby. It can be yellow, orange, light brown, or dark brown, and it can be soft and sticky or dry and flaky. Older wax tends to look darker. All of this is normal.

What earwax shouldn’t do is smell bad. A foul smell, or discharge that is yellow-green, cloudy, or bloody, points to something other than ordinary wax and is worth a call to your pediatrician.

When Earwax Builds Up

Sometimes wax builds up faster than it clears. Signs of a blockage include your baby rubbing or pulling at the ear, wax that seems to fill the opening, or your baby not reacting to sounds the way they usually do.

Don’t try to fix a buildup at home with drops or tools. According to AboutKidsHealth, the parent site of SickKids hospital in Toronto, wax-softening drops shouldn’t be used in children under 3 unless a doctor recommends them. Your pediatrician can check the ear and, if needed, remove the wax safely.

Earwax or Ear Infection?

Ear pulling doesn’t always mean wax. Babies also tug their ears when they’re tired, teething, or discovering their ears. An ear infection usually comes with other signs, such as fever, unusual fussiness, crying when lying down, trouble sleeping, or fluid draining from the ear. If ear pulling comes with any of these, see your pediatrician.

When to Call Your Pediatrician

Call your pediatrician if you notice any of these.

• Yellow-green, bloody, or pus-like discharge from the ear
• A bad smell coming from the ear
• Ear pulling along with fever or unusual fussiness
• Signs your baby isn’t hearing well, such as not startling at loud sounds or not turning toward your voice
• Wax that seems to block the ear opening
• Anything stuck in the ear

This article is for general information only. Every baby is different, and it can’t replace advice from a doctor who has examined your child. If you’re worried about your baby, contact your pediatrician or emergency services right away.