Foreign objects in the ear

Child Care by Isabella Muikia

Nellie’s daughter, Jane, was paranoid about many things when her firstborn son was young. She could not trust anyone with him. This is good but we must leave room to trust in God.

She later realised children can be a danger to themselves even when care is taken to keep off trouble. At one time, when the boy was in Pre-unit, Jane noticed he could not hear well. She took him for a medical check-up and it turned out there was an object stuck in one of his ears.

After hospital procedures, which the doctor termed as minor, they removed a ndengu (Green gram) from the ear. The boy said he had plugged in his ear with the cereal. Not long ago, another below five in my class plugged one of his ears with plastacine. The parents noted he could not hear well and a visit to their paediatrician confirmed this.

Plastacine breaks every time you try to pinch on it and my pupil had to be attended to in theatre. According to the First Aid Manual, "If a foreign object becomes lodged in the ear, it may cause temporary deafness. In some cases, a foreign object may damage the eardrum."

The following are a few precautions:

• While at home, work out a way to have the children under supervision.

• At school, no kindergarten child should be anywhere unattended. If they are many, engage nannies to assist the class teachers.

• Caution every child about the dangers of putting objects in their ears.

• Clear all clutter. This way you leave little

room for them to experiment with their

ears.

• Be careful when using cotton buds to clean their ears, you could leave cotton wool in the ear.

• If such an accident happens, do not attempt to remove the foreign object. Experts warn that you can cause injury to the ear or push in the object further. Instead, take the child to hospital.

• However, if an insect lodges into the ear, try to float it out by gently flooding the ear with warm water. Should this not work, take the child to hospital.