What You Should Know About Your Child’s Ear Infection
Very often, when children come down with a cold, it is often followed almost immediately by an ear infection. Most ear infections can be treated easily, even without antibiotics, if you bring your child to see his or her pediatrician as soon as they start showing any of the following symptoms:
- Pulling on the Ear: Sometimes, when the ear feels like it is clogged, children will often keep pulling the ear to relieve the discomfort. Toddlers will often complain that they have “itchy ears”.
- Difficulty Sleeping: Children who may have an ear infection will often be woken up during the night with ear pain. This also leads to crankiness during the day, crying more often than usual and sleepiness.
- Drainage from the Ear: This is usually a small amount of liquid that kind of looks like milky water. You will often notice it on the collar of shirts or on their pillowcases and should be mentioned to your pediatrician when you visit.
- Fever: Children who have even a mild ear infection will run a slight fever, especially at night. This should also be mentioned to your pediatrician before he examines your child.
- Balance and Hearing Issues: Children with ear infections will often experience an alteration in their balance, and may slightly stagger when they walk. And, if it seems like your child is ignoring you, or turning the volume up on the television against your wishes, this may also be a sign that something is wrong.
Some children will only get one or two infections throughout their toddler years, while others will have them nearly constantly. One reason that this occurs is that the auditory tube inside their ears is shorter than it should be, making it easier to be clogged and then infected. The infection can also be caused by being exposed to a lot of second-hand smoke, or being exposed to other children who may have colds or an infection. Eliminate the smoking from the household, and keep your children away from any child who might have a cold, and you will cut the number of occurrences down considerably.
There are two types of infections: the inner ear, which is the most common case and swimmer’s ear, which affects the outer ear. The best thing you can do to prevent swimmer’s ear is to have your child wear ear plugs whenever they go swimming, and do not use Q-tips or a towel to dry their ears, that can transfer bacteria to their ears. Use a blow dryer instead, on the lowest setting.
If your child is complaining of itchy ears and will not stop crying, call Pediatric Partners for a same-day appointment to get your child feeling better right away.
What You Should Know About Your Child’s Ear Infection
Very often, when children come down with a cold, it is often followed almost immediately by an ear infection. Most ear infections can be treated easily, even without antibiotics, if you bring your child to see his or her pediatrician as soon as they start showing any of the following symptoms:
- Pulling on the Ear: Sometimes, when the ear feels like it is clogged, children will often keep pulling the ear to relieve the discomfort. Toddlers will often complain that they have “itchy ears”.
- Difficulty Sleeping: Children who may have an ear infection will often be woken up during the night with ear pain. This also leads to crankiness during the day, crying more often than usual and sleepiness.
- Drainage from the Ear: This is usually a small amount of liquid that kind of looks like milky water. You will often notice it on the collar of shirts or on their pillowcases and should be mentioned to your pediatrician when you visit.
- Fever: Children who have even a mild ear infection will run a slight fever, especially at night. This should also be mentioned to your pediatrician before he examines your child.
- Balance and Hearing Issues: Children with ear infections will often experience an alteration in their balance, and may slightly stagger when they walk. And, if it seems like your child is ignoring you, or turning the volume up on the television against your wishes, this may also be a sign that something is wrong.
Some children will only get one or two infections throughout their toddler years, while others will have them nearly constantly. One reason that this occurs is that the auditory tube inside their ears is shorter than it should be, making it easier to be clogged and then infected. The infection can also be caused by being exposed to a lot of second-hand smoke, or being exposed to other children who may have colds or an infection. Eliminate the smoking from the household, and keep your children away from any child who might have a cold, and you will cut the number of occurrences down considerably.
There are two types of infections: the inner ear, which is the most common case and swimmer’s ear, which affects the outer ear. The best thing you can do to prevent swimmer’s ear is to have your child wear ear plugs whenever they go swimming, and do not use Q-tips or a towel to dry their ears, that can transfer bacteria to their ears. Use a blow dryer instead, on the lowest setting.
If your child is complaining of itchy ears and will not stop crying, call Pediatric Partners for a same-day appointment to get your child feeling better right away.