Your Baby’s Eyes, Ears, Nose and Nails

Perfect little fingers, perfect little toes, eyes, ears and nose. It's important to keep them clean and healthy. Here we provide easy tips on how to do just that.

Your Touch

Cleaning your little one’s eyes, ears and nose, and caring for his nails, can do much more. Even these little rituals have the power to help you build your bond with your baby. Routine touch helps him develop self-confidence and the ability to relate to others, while also nurturing his happy, healthy development.

Before You Get Started, Safety First!

Never put anything directly in your baby's ears, eyes or nose. Wipe any material from his eyes, mouth, nose or outer ear with a soft, moistened cotton round.

Baby Ears

Focus on getting the outside clean. Even though the pharmacy holds lots of ear cleaning tools and formulas for the inside, only your doctor can tell you if they're necessary.

Be very careful when cleaning your baby's ears ‒ clean what you can see ‒ never put anything deep into your baby's ear canal or nose.

CAUTION: When cleaning the ear, do not probe into the ear canal; gently remove visible dirt and wax around outer surface of the ear. Improper use can cause injury.

Baby Eyes

Holding your baby's head, gently cleanse around each eye with a cotton round dampened with clean warm water. Use a new cotton round for each eye and always wipe from the inside corner of the eye outward.

Baby Nose

If your baby is congested, there are a few things you can do to provide gentle relief. Talk to your baby's doctor about using saline nasal drops or a rubber bulb syringe (to suction nostrils) to ease congestion.

You can use a moistened cotton round to gently clean any debris from around baby’s nose, being sure to wipe away from the nose. For irritation under or around the nose, you can use a skin protectant formulated for babies.

Baby Nails

Cut your baby's nails regularly to prevent him from scratching himself and the spread of infection, as nails can harbour dirt and germs. Cut them right after a bath when they are softer. Use blunt scissors or baby nail clippers with a magnifying glass attached so small nails are easier to see, and follow the natural line of the finger, depressing the finger pad away from the nail so you can avoid cutting the skin of the finger.

If your baby is frightened:

1. Try doing your own nails first ‒ show him what fun it is

2. Distract him with a song such as 'This Little Piggy'