In basic terms an ear infection is when the middle ear becomes blocked in some way and that blockage becomes infected. This is a very common ailment in children/babies. However, it can also be an over diagnosed ailment as well. When Isaac was younger, as I said, he would get ear infections all them time, and they would prescribe antibiotics all the time. And he would have reactions to those antibiotics. It got to the point that they thought he was allergic to amoxicillin which is the main ABX used to treat ear infections in children. He would have severe diarrhea, and then he would get severe diaper rash. It was not fun. At one point they (we were going to the student health center, not my favorite place for pediatrics) prescribed this very strong ABX, and Isaac couldn't keep it down, he would just throw it up immediately. I was not happy, especially since it cost us like $70.
Now the question I get most often is should I take my child in if I think they have an ear infection? First, I want to say, if you ever feel like you really need to take your child in, for any reason, do it! I really believe that we will be prompted when our children need to be seen, and we should never ignore that prompting when we feel it.
Here are the basic guidelines I use and tell people when they ask me. A lot of the time people mistake water behind the ear for an infection. There are lots of reasons that kids get blocked ears. They have very short Eustachian tubes which get plugged easily. When this happens kids will complain of feeling pressure, or just like their ears are "plugged". They will also not be able to hear as well. When this happens, it is not a problem, often the issue will resolve itself and no intervention is required. When it doesn't resolve itself, and the fluid becomes infected, that's when it becomes a problem. This is a list I took off of WebMD about when to take a child into the doctor, and I actually really liked it. The link here if you would like to check out the whole page.
Call your doctor immediately if:
- Your child has sudden hearing loss, severe pain, or dizziness.
- Your child seems to be very sick with symptoms such as a high fever and stiff neck.
- You notice redness, swelling, or pain behind or around your child's ear, especially if your child doesn't move the muscles on that side of his or her face.
Call your doctor if:
- You can't quiet your child who has a severe earache by using home treatment over several hours.
- Your baby pulls or rubs his or her ear and appears to be in pain (crying, screaming).
- Your child's ear pain increases even with treatment.
- Your child has a fever of 101°F (38.3°C) or higher with other signs of ear infection.
- You suspect that your child's eardrum has burst, or fluid that looks like pus or blood is draining from the ear.
- Your child has an object stuck in his or her ear.
- Your child with an ear infection continues to have symptoms (fever and pain) after 48 hours of treatment with an antibiotic.
- Your child with an ear tube develops an earache or has drainage from his or her ear
My advice to parents is, unless there are severe symptoms found in that first list, to watch and wait. No one likes to have to spend money to go to the doctor only to be told there is nothing they can do. Like I said before, if you ever feel prompted to take a child in, do it! But if not, I usually err on the watch and wait side unless as I said before there is a severe symptom. If they don't start getting better in a day or so, then take them in.
What have been your experiences with ear infections?
Ugh, Andrew had multiple a year from age 10ish months onward. I think there's something about his head shape that makes it harder for the Eustacian tube to drain. Anyway, he got to the point where he could diagnose his own! One was even so bad that it ruptured the ear drum (after 2 rounds of antibiotics). It was almost better that it happened because then the infection could finally drain. We usually would wait a day or two to see if he started to feel better on his own, then go to the doc for antibiotics. We also tried chiropractic as a preventative measure, but I'm not sure that it helped him much. Like I said, I really think it's a drainage issue (Matt and his dad also have problems, so I think it's because Andrew looks so much like them and his head might be configured the same way).
ReplyDeleteEmma, on the other hand, has had maybe one in her life and it cleared on its own. Weird. I have an otoscope, but my kids are prolific wax producers so it's hard for me to see anything beyond it.
Zeke's ears have a ton of wax too! Although I've never used an otoscope. Zeke had an ear infection when he was little a couple weeks after a cold. The only way I could get him to stop crying was to take him outside in his stroller and walk around. I knew something was going on then and sure enough he had an infection in each ear. I should have used the watch and wait method a few months later when I went into the dr thinking it was an ear infection only to have Zeke totally calm down at the dr's and the dr tell me everything looked fine.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to wait when you have a crying baby that is for sure.