Ear infection

Joseph has been SUPER cranky all week and I took him to the dr today and they say he has an pretty bad ear infection. He has no fever so my mother questions using antibiotics (which they prescribed) - anyone NOT use antibiotics, just tylenol?? I don't want him in pain but don't want to give it to him if he doesn't really need it...

Re: Ear infection

infection doesn't always mean fever. I would use the antibiotics. Ear infections are not a good thing to risk not clearing up, r/t hearing loss.

Re: Ear infection

Re: Ear infection

You def. want to use the antibiotics.... an ear infection happens because the fluid build-up in the ear has grown bacteria.... he may not have a fever, but there is and infection which requires anti-biotics... Motrin works good for pain relief too along with the antibiotics

Re: Ear infection

For my sons most recent EI I did not give him the antibotic his ENT prescriped and his ears cleared up on their own in 7 days. My pediatrician was very happy that we chose not to give it to him since he feels they are all too often prescribed these days.

But this was my sons 9TH EI. And after 8 infections and having to switch antibotics almost every time because they weren't "working" we finally said enough. He's been on SIX different antibotics in TWELVE months! We did enough research online to find that there are two different types of infections..viral and bacterial. Antibotics will do nothing for viral infections only help with the bacterial ones. But then again my son showed NO SIGNS of any pain so I just gave him tylenol the first few nights.

Im sure my rant didnt help you any. If this is your sons 1st EI then giving him the antibotics wont harm him. I think giving too many antibotics is what does the harm.

Good Luck
Hope he feels better!

Re: Ear infection

Awwwww...I hope he feels better soon

Re: Ear infection

I hope he feels better soon!

Can I ask - what made you decide to take him to the Dr? Did you suspect an ear infection? Because my first thought would be to look for fever also...

Re: Ear infection

Re: Ear infection

Posted by aja

Posted by BabyAvocado



Can I ask - what made you decide to take him to the Dr? Did you suspect an ear infection? Because my first thought would be to look for fever also...

Good question...it is a good ting you did!

I hope he feels better!

I always just brush off Antonio's crankiness as teething!

Re: Ear infection

Re: Ear infection

I would use the antibiotic. It isn't going to hurt him.

Re: Ear infection

I'm not a parent, but I got ear infections just about every month when I was a child (until I had tubes put in my ears). I didn't run fevers with my ear infections. I don't think a fever are necessarily an indication of infection. Hope your son feels better soon.

Re: Ear infection

Thanks everyone! I'm giving him the antibiotics. So silly though - they say to give a teaspoon. How the heck do I get him to take a teaspoon? Well, I sucked it off the teaspoon into a dropper (needed to do that 3x) but he took it.

I just knew something was wrong. He wasn't really tugging too much but he was just SO irritable - not himself at all. Then last night it took him 2 hrs to go to sleep (that has NEVER happened) and would not take his nap today. Just cried and cried. I knew something was wrong.

Thanks for all the advise!! I hope it clears fast - he just got over a stomach bug...poor kid

Re: Ear infection

Posted by JennChris

Posted by aja

Posted by BabyAvocado



Can I ask - what made you decide to take him to the Dr? Did you suspect an ear infection? Because my first thought would be to look for fever also...

Good question...it is a good ting you did!

I hope he feels better!

I always just brush off Antonio's crankiness as teething!

I did that a few weeks ago and I finally brought her to the Dr and Mallory had a double ear infection