advice on ear infection

[minxie]

For what seems forever (but in reality is about 1 month now) Jacob has been rubbing his ear showing he's in pain. At first I thought it was associated with teething but as he had a constant slightly high temperature I took him to the doctors and he was given amoxcillyn, along with baby paracetamol and ibruprofen for an ear infection in his right ear. After the course finished, he still would rub his ear in pain at times and the temperature would be slightly high. So back to the doctors we went and another course of different antibiotics was given. That course finished and the next weekend he was screaming, rubbing his ear and had a high temperature so I took him to the hospital. The hospital doctors said his right ear still looked inflamed and that it was most likely a viral ear infection..for which antibiotics could do nothing for. I was told to 'let the infection run its course' and hopefully the ear infected bit would burst and the pain would be over (sounds awful waiting for something in my child's ear to burst).

Jacob is a happy, smiley baby 95% of the time, but on occasion he is still rubbing his ear and crying...and im still having to give him paracetamol and ibruprofen everyday to keep the temperature at 37 and pain free.

I'm getting concerned about 'waiting' for this to pass. I can't see him suffer like this. A baby should not need paracetamol and ibruprofen constantly to stay calm and happy with a normal temperature. Or is the temperature to do with teething (his front two teeth are coming out)? I just dont know.

I will make another appointment with the doctor if he's like this tomorrow. But i just wondered are there any mums (or dads) out there who have any experience of this? How long do viral ear infections take to clear up? Does teething cause these kind of symptoms?

His hearing appears to be fine, he's eating super well (loves his food) and now its only once or twice a day that he will rub his ears and cry. However, he wakes up warm (usually temp of 37.5-38). Once he's had paracetamol, the temp is down to around 37 for the rest of the day. And his ear is a bit red from where he's rubbing it.

I know medical issues need a doctor to resolve them. I guess what im asking here is other parents' experiences with this health issue.

Thanks in advance. Any advice would be appreciated. Im just very worried here.

 

[mum's the word]

Hi There,

Read your post as myself and my 2 boys have suffered chronic ear 'infections' since birth!
I spent my childhood going back and forth doctors. e.n.t clinic, had a couple of ops and still have the odd bit of bother now.
Over the years there seems to have been few solutions, then I was chatting to a colleague who has sinus trouble/asthma like me. She also mentioned her ear problems and said her doctor told her it was linked to the allergies, that really made sense to me. My ears are often inflammed, but it's always worse when my allergies are playing up (same for boys). The discomfort and pain alone can be enough to raise a child's temperature.
I know I'm not in a position to offer medical advice, but it may just be worth looking out for certain 'triggers' which may suggest it's allergy-related with Jacob. For me it's dust, pet hair, air freshners/washing powder, extremes of temperature-ie hot drinks/cold drinks/going from cold to warm environments and loads of other things too! I'm still working out the boys' 'triggers' but they seem to be similar to mine.
Sucking offers releif for ear pain, but neither of mine liked a dummy, also my mum used to warm a sock filled with salt in the oven for me to hold near my ear (!), so anything warm (I've got a cuddly toy which has a bag of wheat you can warm in the micro for Ricky) helps.
I avoid getting water in my ears as much as possible and NEVER put anything inside like cotton wool or buds.

I hope you can get to the bottom of this problem, as it's not nice having to give medicines all the time. By the way-Jacob is soooooo cute!

Lucy x

 

[Squiglet]

Sounds like Tia when she was little... She had very severe glue ear.

The best thing to do is request that they do a swab from the infected ear and test it... Its a misconception that all antibiotics work on every infection or that they don't work because the infection is so bad.. You need to have the swab tested and see which antibiotic will work on that particular infection... This will take about a week or so as it needs to be sent to the labs. Then you should get a correct medication that will clear it up... however, if it is glue ear your LO will continue to have constant ear infections.

As for it being a virus... a virus shouldn't last more than 72 hours. Infections can last for a long time...

To help Tia we used to put warm olive oil in her ear... or to put a warm cloth.. anything warm will help the inflammation

 

[minxie]

Thanks for your really helpful replies. Took Jacob to the doctor and he's been given some ear drops ..also some swabs have been taken.

This doctor (who was really nice and didn't make me feel like an over paranoid doctor-obsessed mum) said it doesn't look like a viral ear infection (so God knows what the out of hours doctor was on about). He also said it didn't look like glue ear either.

Very interesting what you, both mumstheword and squiglet, have said...

allergy wise - im allergic to a fair few things and have asthma myself. so yes it could be allergy related with Jacob - will look into this whole 'trigger' thing - thanks

water wise - he loves water so ive been guilty of letting water get to his ears when swimming/bathing..i'll be careful about that

warm olive oil - will try that - thanks

i hate my poor baby being ill. he's not his bubbly self this morning. Its his 7 month birthday and he's looking a bit down in the dumps. hopefully the painkillers will kick in soon.