For six years I kept hearing about how common and annoying ear infections are in children. During those six years, we had three kids and no ear infections. All of a sudden, we've had two in the last month.
It started with Jayne. She had a cough which turned into congestion and then added on some red and goopy eyes. That's when I decided this was more than the common cold and took her to the doctor. The diagnosis was sinus infection, eye infection, and the dreaded ear infection. We got her on antibiotics and all three cleared up pretty quick.
Then we went about our lives blissfully free of coughs or runny noses or red eyes for oh, about a week or so. Jayne got a cough again. Nothing else, no fever, no congestion, just a cough. Then Jonah got it. His, however, escalated a bit more than Jayne's. He had a slight fever and got congested. Then on Wednesday afternoon, Jonah just started crying. He said his ear hurt. My first reaction was to ask what on earth he had put in his ear or what he had done to his ear. But he hadn't done anything. I gave him some Tylenol and had him sit down.
It wasn't getting any better and I honestly had no idea what to do with an ear infection. So I took him to the doc and we got him some antibiotics.
So, now Lilly has been coughing and she's congested too. So far, she hasn't said anything about her ears. Cross your fingers for me that she doesn't get it too.
So, if any of you reading this have more experience with ear infections than I do, please please please leave me your wisdom on prevention and spotting them early and treatment because this stuff is no fun.
2 comments:
My brother would get ear infections a lot as a kid and we always knew he had an infection when he would start tugging on his ears. I had a mother of the year moment with Lydia when one her ear drums burst due to a bad ear infection. Honestly they are pretty hard to spot sometimes. Maybe your pediatrician's office will have some good wisdom to office. I know when my kids are feeling off they get pretty crabby.
We always have a hard time spotting them early on as well. The biggest sign we noticed was unusual fits of crying. We had a doctor give us numbing drops for Tanner's mega ear infection once and they were such a blessing. Now I get them all the time! They only help the pain for a little while but an hour or two of relief is a nice break for the little ones. Most drug stores carry a generic form of the numbing ear drops but your doctor can also prescribe them. I should check and see if we still have a bottle. I started keeping extras on hand because Hanna gets an ear infection every time we travel.
Post a Comment