The structure of small ears
A baby's small ear is divided into three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The middle ear is a relatively sealed air cavity, and there is a small tube in the front wall connected with the nasopharynx. This is the eustachian tube, also called the eustachian tube. The baby's ear structure is not well developed and the eustachian tube is short and straight. Once bacterial or viral infection occurs in the nasopharynx, it is easy to enter the middle ear through the eustachian tube, causing otitis media.
Hearing protection should start before pregnancy.
From the third week of embryo, the baby's ear organs begin to develop. Expectant mothers should not only pay attention to the development indicators in the abdomen, but also protect the baby's hearing: prevent and treat infectious diseases such as colds and rubella, and avoid using ototoxic drugs. Choose soft and soothing music during prenatal education, and don't be too close to the fetus. In fact, hearing protection can start earlier, and genetic screening should be carried out during premarital examination to avoid both sides containing pathogenic genes, so as to lay a good health foundation for future babies.
Neonatal hearing screening can not be ignored.
With the birth of the baby, the skills of new mothers and fathers to take care of the baby began to be honed. While feeling happy, we must not ignore their first examination in the world: newborn hearing screening. If you fail, find out the reason in time and review on time. Congenital factors, pregnancy factors, the length of pregnancy, the delivery process, etc. will all lead to abnormal ears of newborns, which will affect children's language, intelligence and psychology in the future. The earlier the problem is intervened, the better the rehabilitation effect will be. If genetic screening is abnormal, preventive measures should be taken as soon as possible.
Neonatal pathological jaundice damages the auditory nerve.
High concentration of bilirubin will cause irreversible damage to the nervous system and auditory system. If the baby's jaundice is serious, it needs timely treatment.
In daily life, the baby may have hearing loss due to some diseases, but it is not easy to be detected. Mom and dad should pay attention to observation, and be vigilant when they find that the baby is insensitive to external sounds or likes to turn up the TV sound, and seek medical advice in time.
Daily care of small ears
1. Pay attention to your ears to prevent water, unclean liquid and foreign objects from entering, and gently clean them after entering the water. There is no need to clean up the earwax frequently. If too much earwax blocks the ear canal, you can go to the hospital to clean it up.
2. Keep the baby's head slightly higher when feeding, and it is not advisable to put it flat immediately after feeding to prevent the milk from overflowing and flowing into the ear through the eustachian tube.
3. Do an otological examination before swimming to clean up the earwax in the external auditory canal to prevent the earwax from swelling after entering the water, causing pain or infection. Pay attention to avoid choking when swimming. Swimming is not recommended for children with upper respiratory tract infection, sinusitis and chronic otitis media.
4. Actively preventing colds and shortening the cold cycle as much as possible are the best measures to avoid otitis media in children. Actively prevent measles, mumps and other infectious diseases that may cause hearing damage.
5. Avoid using ototoxic drugs, especially aminoglycoside antibiotics such as gentamicin, streptomycin and kanamycin. If the genetic test is positive, it must not be used. When the expected large vestibular aqueduct syndrome occurs in genetic testing, it is necessary to intervene and pay attention to preventing trauma and noise.
6. Pay attention to prevent ear injuries in daily life. Ear blood flow is poor, frostbite is easy at low temperature, infection is easy after trauma, and treatment is difficult after infection. If the wound is deep and cartilage is injured, you should go to the hospital for treatment.
7. Don't fly if your baby has a cold and otitis media. At this time, the eustachian tube is in a state of edema, and the take-off and landing of the plane will aggravate the oppression on the ear.
8. Don't wear headphones for your baby for a long time, which may cause tympanic membrane fatigue and hearing loss. It's best to listen to music outside, not too loud.
9. Try to use quiet household appliances and choose qualified sounding toys for your baby to avoid the harm of high-decibel noise in your living environment.
10. Stay away from second-hand smoke. The harmful substances in the smoke will stimulate the baby's middle ear mucosa and make the eustachian tube unobstructed, thus causing middle ear effusion.
Tip: Newborns take a bath.
When the baby is lying on his back, the mother holds the baby's head and neck with one hand, and the thumb and middle finger open to hold the left and right auricles and cover the external auditory canal to prevent the ear from getting water.
? Otitis Media: A Common Ear Disease in Children
1. Babies can't express themselves well. When they encounter behaviors such as scratching, scratching, pulling and slapping. Parents should pay attention to compare with their usual behavior. Acute catarrhal otitis media is mostly caused by a cold. If the above actions occur during a cold, parents should pay special attention to whether there are secretions flowing out of the ear canal and go to the hospital for examination in time.
In addition, observe the baby's sleep. If there is obvious mouth breathing and snoring, especially with the characteristics of respiratory interruption, obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome may have appeared. This disease can lead to lack of oxygen during sleep, which seriously affects the baby's health and growth. This disease is mostly caused by adenoidal hypertrophy and tonsil hypertrophy, and many children will be complicated with secretory otitis media.
If the above two kinds of otitis media appear, take your child to see a doctor in time, and the prognosis will be good. But the latter should pay attention to follow-up treatment and remove the cause.
2. If the baby suffers from acute otitis media and is not treated in time, suppurative otitis media and tympanic membrane perforation may occur. If you can get timely treatment at this time and remove the cause, you can also recover well. Usually, we should pay attention to the prevention and treatment of colds, clean our ears, treat nasal diseases in time, keep the nasal cavity well ventilated, and avoid blowing your nose hard. If you have a bad cold, especially those with ears, you should seek medical advice promptly.
The correct way to blow your nose.
Hold down one nostril and use a little force to dig out the secretion from the opposite nasal cavity.
3. Chronic otitis media in children is mostly caused by secretory otitis media. As mentioned earlier, secretory otitis media in infants is mostly caused by adenoidal hypertrophy, rhinitis and other factors. Most of the baby's parents are aware of the baby's breathing and snoring while sleeping, and a few are aware of the ear problem first. Therefore, babies who are prone to ear problems after sleeping with a cold should go to the hospital for examination in time to rule out ear, nasal cavity and pharynx diseases.