(image from Johnsonsbaby.com, affiliate links may be included at no cost to you)

Is anyone else out there totally confused about the best way to clean ears, and more specifically, how to clean baby’s ears? I have to admit, I was skeptical about purchasing cotton Q-tips that were designed for babies. That just smacked of “Let’s see if we can make you pay more for the same item by stating that it is for babies.” In fact, though, these really are quite different from your standard Q-tip in some important ways.

If you look closely at the picture, you will see that it has a smaller tip, and then a larger bulb section. This larger section provides an actual barrier so that you can’t accidentally insert the swab too far into your baby’s ear. Any new parent can tell you that it can be terrifying to perform certain maintenance tasks on your baby (cleaning baby ears, nose, and trimming nails) for fear of accidentally injuring the child. I have found that these swabs really do a great job of building my confidence, because I know that I’m not going to hurt my baby. I also use these to wipe out my daughter’s nose, too!

These run about $5.25 for a package of 55, and they are totally and completely worth it, because they do their job of cleaning baby’s ears safely, and they provide peace of mind.