For this and other good reasons, young children should not have access to small objects, warns Dr. Orval Brown, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. But, Dr. Brown concedes, it may not always be possible to keep children, who are tempted to do it, from putting small objects in their ears or noses.

“They are going to explore; there’s no way you’ll keep everything out of sight of a child,” Dr. Brown says. Only occasionally they do repeat the mistake of putting a small object in their ears or noses, he adds. “I think the fear and discomfort of having something removed make a strong impression on a child.”

The signs that your child may have a foreign body in his ear include bleeding, loss of hearing and pain. If your child has a foreign body in her nose, she’s likely to have drainage from just one nostril, congestion and a strong smell coming from the nose.

Ear, nose and throat specialists have the tools and expertise to make removal of a foreign body as comfortable as possible, Dr. Brown says. He recommends parents seek out an ENT specialist if possible to remove the object.

Using small tools and a microscope, an ENT specialist can remove such objects quickly with little chance of damage to surrounding tissue. Rarely, a child with a foreign body in his ear or nose must be sedated to keep him still during the removal.

Dr. Brown reminds parents that neither they nor their child should attempt to remove an object on their own. Cotton swabs, bobby pins, or tweezers may seem like a harmless way to take out a foreign body, but they are not.

Dr. Brown also reminds parents that at no time should they or other caregivers use a cotton swab to clean out a child’s ear canal. Earwax protects a child’s fragile ear canal skin and helps prevent ear canal infections.