Antibiotics for ear infections?

What's your stance on this? DD is 13 months old and is on her 3rd ear infection in about 5 months (one ear infection did not respond to the first 10 day course of antibiotics and needed another 10 day course before clearing, so I'm counting that as 1 infection, not 2).

I've been doing a lot of research on the use of antibiotics vs. letting the infection take its course. A lot of the literature I read says that children under the age of 2 should still be put on antibiotics to avoid potential negative side effects down the road, but literature also says that antibiotics for ear infections are grossly over prescribed and that lots of bacteria are becoming antibiotic resistant.

Do you put your kids on antibiotics when they get ear infections? Not looking to start a debate -- just want to hear other's input on this topic.

Antibiotics for ear infections?

DD1 has had 4 diagnosed ear infections in 2 years. Antibiotics every time.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

I am dealing with this same thing with my 17 month old. 5 ear infections in 6 months. The Ped prescribed him antibiotics last month which he did not handle well. He had awful diarrhea, the worst I've ever seen which led to a very bad diaper rash. We took him to the ENT who said the antibiotics were way too strong and to stop them. We went back a week later and the infection had cleared up. We are now just watching and waiting to see if he gets another one and then we will decide what to do. Both doctors say infections should slow down in spring/summer.

Antibiotics for ear infections?

My DS has had one ear infection and we was prescribed antibiotics for them. He took them and was then better shortly after taking them.

You need to evaluate the pros/cons for yourself.

Pro: Potentially get better sooner which will help to prevent long term damage to the ear

Negative: The ear infection could be caused by a virus (or a resistant bacteria) and therefore antibiotics will not shorten the length of time your DC is sick.

For me, the fact that it *may* shorten the time my DC is sick would lead me to give him the antibiotics.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

DS has always taken antibiotics for ear infections. When he was younger, he'd start running a fever so we'd bring him to ped to discover he had an ear infection. Now that he's older, he can tell us when his ear hurts. Never thought twice about it.

Antibiotics for ear infections?

Thankfully I've only dealt with two ear infections, both with my youngest. The first she had antibiotics. The second time she was really just bordering on full infection. They gave me the prescription (in part bc we were going away two days later) but they told me only give it if she was still miserable after motrin. I didn't end up having to give them and she was checked and all clear two weeks later.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

Last time DD had an ear infection she was crying and screaming and literally SHAKING from the pain.
Her body was literally shaking.
Yeah, she got an antibiotic.
And she felt 100% better in a day.
No way was I letting her suffer like that.

Message edited 6/13/2016 3:55:00 PM.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

My son had 12 ear infections in less then 2 years. Most of the time I never knew anything was wrong as he never showed any sign of one. We found most of them on well checks. He was prescribed an antibiotic almost every time. He rarely got more then 2 doses into him. He threw up every one he got except for one, which he liked but ended up being allergic to it. Within 3 days the infection cleared up on its own. Antibiotics only work for bacterial infections, a lot of ear infections are viral. My sons were usually caused by his teething. Fluid build up and infection. He had one when he was 3 and a half that popped up 4 days into a high fever. Got a shot of antibiotic and was fine in 24 hours. And he just had one at 6 and a half. 3 days into a bad seasonal allergy attack. 2 shots of an antibiotic and the infection cleared but the fluid stayed for another month... Some drs push the antibiotics, some don't. If my son has a fever of 102 for more then 24 hours or shows signs of pain (he can now tell me), then I will get something for it, if not then I wait and see.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

My LO gets an ear infection seemingly with every common cold since he was 20 months old and after he turned 2 I started discussing with the ped the idea of watchful waiting because I was really uncomfortable with the amount of antibiotics he was consuming for what were most likely viral infections. He's also not able to have penicillin or augmentin, which subsequently means he's getting broad spectrum antibiotics, which are even more problematic with resistance. We also have had instances where the first antibiotic doesn't seem to help so he's given another. Ugh. His first infection after 2 we got the Rx from the doc but waited to fill it and decided to see how things progressed. A week into our watchful waiting LO developed pink eye. I'd read some things linking ear infections with causing pink eye, though I'm not sure that's what happened or if it was just coincidence. If I remember correctly, we ended up filling the Rx after seeing a doc for the pink eye. We are also seeing a ped ENT regularly for check ups because the idea of tubes is being brought up. We are monitoring the fluid and whether it clears between infections or lingers. It's been hard to get a long enough time period between infections to truly ascertain if the fluid dries up. Hoping the summer is our window!

All that to say... I am totally with you on this antibiotic ear infection thing. LO typically doesn't seem too uncomfortable with ear infections and runs a modest fever, so after age 2 we've been comfortable being more conservative with the antibiotics.

Antibiotics for ear infections?

AJ had chronic ear infections. She finally got tubes at 17m.

She had up to 9 in a year's time. I got antibiotics EACH TIME. She never really suffered too badly from most of them. Heck most of the time I didn't know she had one until we were at a well visit and BAM double ear infection so bad her drums were extended.

Meh.

It did NOT negatively affect her reaction to antibiotics. We cycled through about 5 of them. 6 really but one was yucky and was no good for us, so five.

Now understand I'm a cooker. If she has a 100 fever, I don't give her Tylenol. I let her cook if she's otherwise acting fine. I won't treat her fever until she's at 102. But for ear infections? I ALWAYS TREAT!

Why? Because I am partially deaf

There's absolutely no way you could EVER convince me to gamble with my daughter's hearing. At such a young age it affected speech and ability to learn. So yes, I cleared her ears with antibiotics each and every time they were prescribed. Never once held back and used them as directed to the last day or drop as intended.

I pushed for tubes.. begged for them. She finally got them. BEST THING EVER. She's been infection free since.

Message edited 6/13/2016 6:11:50 PM.

Antibiotics for ear infections?

My dd is only 6 months and already had an ear infection. She got antibiotics. I didn't think twice. To me, the benefits outweigh the risks. A baby's ears are not something to mess with, IMO.

Antibiotics for ear infections?

If you are concerned I would see an ENT to monitor fluid (which is the biggest problem next to the ridiculous pain the infections cause). If fluid doesn't clear or there are chronic infections tubes may be the way to go.

Both my boys had tube placed (11 months and 7 months at the time). Infections just about stopped as did the need for antibiotics. That was worth the trade off...my big guy is allergic to penicillin so we are limited in what can be used and didn't want to build resistance to the one he can. My little guy has horrible side effects from antibiotics.

Keep in mind...we were dealing with chronic back to back infections. Not just one every so often.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

It depends on whether it's viral vs bacterial and whether or not my kids are showing signs of the infection. Obviosuly its difficult to say which one it is so depending on fever, shown discomfort (he doesnt talk yet) o dont always run to the dr first. I find the quicker i go to the dr...they walk in with an ear infection and walk out with some other illness they wake up with 2 days later from the germs at the office. My daughter very rarely had ear infections but my son has had them more often than not. 99% of the time they have prescribed antibiotics. He is terrible with antibiotics and I've probably worn more of his antibiotics than he has injested. He isn't allergic, he just hates taken them. (I've tried every trick in the sea) while they take longer to go away, they do go away. Personally, I've just used drops from the drug store for my ear infections vs scripts while pregnant/breastfeeding etc and they have gone away in days. Antibiotics are oversubscribed by Dr's who are so afraid of lawsuits instead of helping parents treat their childrens illness naturally. Plus parents freak out on them when their kids not perscribed drugs when told their child has an infection. While I'm all about antibiotics when my children have certain illnesses, I try homeopathic options first before treating with drugs
More often than not it clears up and is confirmed with a well visit. There are so many viruses in this world now that cause illness where it's helpful to treat the symptoms with homeopathic options and let the virus run its course. I've seen Mrsa cases around more often lately and the majority of those people had been living off antibiotics for various minor illnesses and now had to have heavy doses of meds/surgery to treat Mrsa unfections.

Antibiotics for ear infections?

My 9 month old had a crazy high fever (105+) about 2 weeks ago and it turned out to be an ear infection. Amoxicillin helped enough for awhile but I just took her back to the doctor this morning because she has a pretty bad cold with terrible congestion and with her medical history, especially her lungs, I wanted her checked out. Now it's a double ear infection and we got a rx for augmentin. Her doctor seemed a bit concerned when he looked at her ears.

Message edited 6/14/2016 12:07:50 PM.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

I don't have a problem giving antibiotics to my kids if they get an ear infection but lately I just can't seem to give them to DS anymore, each and every time he's on them, he gets bad diarrhea (he has a very sensitive stomach and is already on probiotics) so I find that I can't give it to him for more than 2 days, I have to talk to my doctor to see if there are any other alternatives for him.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

My DS just got his first ear infection over the weekend at age 5.

He had a fever, was in pain crying even with Motrin and Tylenol and was vomiting. Within taking the first dose, he was feeling better, so antibiotics all the way for me too.

Antibiotics for ear infections?

My DS had NUMEROUS ear infections up until we put tubes in his ears. We used antibiotics each and every time. I have a fear of hearing loss from ear infections not being treated (happened to my sister) so I always made sure to treat it. Also, my other sister is an audiologist and informed us of the risks of not treating his ear infections. He has been on antibiotics, Motrin, and Tylenol A LOT in his little life time but they have helped him each time. We have tried to cut back now that he's older and can tell us what's wrong (he'll be 3 in 2 weeks).

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

DS2, now 3, was on antibiotics about 5 times in his life... ear infections and once was pneumonia.
he's just fine.

DS2 is 10.5 months and was on once preventatively as he relapsed with bronchiolitis in aruba and the dr wanted to be sure he did not get an ear infection before flying home. And just last week for an ear infection.

I can't see making them suffer through an ear infection without it. I had one as an adult a couple of years ago and it was extremely painful.

Antibiotics for ear infections?

My DD just finished a 10 day course of amoxicillin for an ear infection. This was her 5th one in the last year. Our ped is very conservative about giving antibiotics and only recommends them when her ears are usually bulging and she has a high fever. He also suggested that we see an ENT with this past ear infection.

I don't love the fact that she's been on several courses of antibiotics in such a short period of time, but I also can't see making her suffer through an ear infection.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

We personally don't do antibiotics for ear infections unless they are accompanied by a high fever and severe pain that lasts several days. We have only twice needed to move to antibiotics (and I question if we didn't wait it out as long as we needed to). It's a personal choice that you need to make after a lot of research.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

When my son had chronic ear infections, he got antibiotics each time, which ruined his gut. We did eventually go on and get ear tubes, and he has only gotten 1 ear infection in the last 2.5 years with his tubes. But we also removed dairy from his diet, so not sure which has helped more.

Our current ped thinks antibiotics are grossly overused for ear infections and recs garlic oil as the first step. My little girl had one ear infection so far, and we used the garlic oil and she was fine within a day. If you do use the antibiotics, I would double up on probiotics to protect the good gut flora that the antibiotics will wipe out.

Re: Antibiotics for ear infections?

None of the antibiotics for ear infections worked for my son. They only made him sicker. What actually worked for him was hylands ear infection medicine and garlic.