Any tricks or advice for dealing with ear infections?

[CrazyCatLady]

My 3 and a half month old DD has an ear infection at the moment which she's had for about a week now. She's on homeopathics but am getting very exhausted waiting for it to clear up. It's made her go back to waking twice a night and she's refusing the breast and just very fractious during the day unless distracted and entertained which is exhausting.

Any advice woulde be MUCH appreciated.

[Myztik]

Not a lot you can give such a young bub. My DS2 gets EI's with each new tooth and with each cold, :hugs: it's not fun.

Not sure if putting a cotton ball in her ear is a good idea at that age.. Propping her bed up at night may help though :yes: My DS2 always seems to be worse at night when he's lying flat. Pressure build up in the tubes causing discomfort I believe.

[funnyfarm]

Maybe it is a bacterial infection that needs antibiotics from the doctor.

Hope it clears up for you soon. Ear infections suck. :thumbsdown:

[JabberJaw]

Maybe it is a bacterial infection that needs antibiotics from the doctor.

Hope it clears up for you soon. Ear infections suck. :thumbsdown:



:iagree: My daughter had one a few weeks back and after 24 hours on antibiotics she was back to herself.

[mim1]

Are you sure it's an ear infection? 3 1/2 months seems very early for an ear infection. I'd suggest a trip to your GP for confirmation and see what your GP recommends. If she really has an infection she may need antibiotics and or review by an ear, nose & throat specialist. My ds got his first ear infection at 9 months and apparently that's really early too (it's something to do with the way the ear develops that makes infection at a very young age unlikely ... or something like that).

[justmum]

As a veteran of 8 (yes 8!) DS ear infections, we have a tried and true way of dealing with them.

I lock in him in the cupboard until the EI passes. :laughing: kidding - a little EI humour or the insanity will get ya.

We raise his bed - books under the head end of his cot to help with drainage. We give Nurofen with meals and Panadol in between to assist with pain relief - the Nurofen reduces infalmmation which is fantastic but we try to only use it once a day maximum.

We don't use antibiotics - from the research I have done and the docs I have spoken to, even if the infection is bacterial, antibiotics only make them clear up 12 - 24 hours faster than normal. Obviously if bub's temp gets up ober 38.5 this goes out the window.

Try and feed bubs more upright - refusal to feed is usually because lying down = pain.

We give him a good quality pro biotic 2x a day to help with his gut flora (actually since starting that a few months ago, we've been EI free :smiliedance:)

We don't get his hair wet when he's sick to avoid water in the ears.

It is early for your bubs to have an EI. Keep an eye on her hearing - my DS has glue ear and Eustachian tube disfunction which can effect hearing and result in surgery.

[WorkingClassMum]

Are you sure it's an ear infection? 3 1/2 months seems very early for an ear infection. .

My DS's first EI was at about 6 weeks old. Too young for Panadol, but had AB's. DS had 14 scripts fo AB's and steroids for EI
's by the time he was 12 months old - mostly both ears at once. (Our ENT never said that he was too young for EI's???:confused:)

We found propping DS helped him sleep and also we let him keep his dummy until nearly 3 as apparently the sucking motion can help the Eustion Tubes to clear.

Kids are more prone to EI's as the Eustion tubes tend to run nearly horizontal in a babe, also as they spend so much time on their backs.

As a child growns and spends more time upright gravity and the natural swallowing motion helps the EI's to clear. Also as a childs neck lengthens the tubes then run more vertical.

Once a tube is blocked due to either inflamation or infection the inner ear fills with natuarlly occuring fluid. This becomes quite painful and also a bit disorientatining .

The ear will stay "infected" until either the tube clears and drains or the ear drum bursts and drains.

Good luck with your bubs. I'd be getting your GP to look at the ear.

[CrazyCatLady]

thank you all SO much for your advice. I propped her up on the breast feeding pillow last night in bed and she slept fabulously! Straight through to 7.30 this morning infact :yelclap:. Which I really needed.

Our doc didn't say anything about it being too early for ear incedtions either. In fact she said that 2, 4 and 6 months are the peak times for them. She also said it didn't need antibiotics as wasn't blocked just a big congested and red.

Yes DD has gut issues which is where I think she picked up the infection after having a reaction last week. Will have to keep a check on that. I might look into the pro biotics too since they seem to work so well. Our Homeopath said we probably wouldn't need them with her usual stuff but I might bring it up again.

[Myztik]

Glad to hear you all got some sleep :)

[mim1]

Glad to hear she slept better and obviously you can get them that early. Hopefully summer coming up will give her a break from another infection in the near future.

Get her ears checked by the GP when she's better (eg. in 1 - 2 weeks) and make sure the fluid is gone. If not, she may need a hearing test. We started that merry-go-round at 9 months, but apparently most kids ear drums do clear fluid between infections, but some don't.

[CrazyCatLady]

got her checked out today and all clear:yelclap:

The only thing we have to do now is deal with all the bad habits she seems to have picked up in the week of being sick :p