“Mommy, my ear hurts!”
These days it is much easier to pinpoint the source of my daughter’s pain, but this was not the case when she was a baby. Back then I would have to drag my child into the pediatrician to see if she had an ear infection because her symptoms were not unusual.
Common symptoms associated with ear infections include:
*Ear pain
*Tugging at the ears
*Trouble sleeping
*Loss of appetite, diarrhea or vomiting
*Increased irritability
*Fever of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher
*A thick, clear or yellowish, fluid draining from the ears
The problem was that my daughter always tugged on her ears when she was tired. In addition, she went through a phase when sleep was her nemesis and she would get a fever even when she had a slight cold. Therefore, I always resisted taking her into the doctor lest the pediatrician classify me as an oversensitive first-time parent, which I was, but have since grown out of.
In the six years since my daughter’s birth, I’ve learned quit a bit about ear infections. They are caused when a build-up of fluid inside the ear becomes infected. However, when the illness befalls a baby, it’s not so easy to diagnose with 100 percent accuracy, especially if you don’t have a medical degree.
What’s more, most doctors typically use a wait-and-see policy to avoid over-prescribing medications to babies, so often you may leave the ped’s office with nothing more than a diagnosis and a few words of encouragement. Alleviating your child’s pain, then falls to you.
If you have a baby you will need your doctor’s permission to treat the pain with an over-the-counter non-aspirin pain relievers like acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin). Another solution is to apply a warm (not hot) washcloth to your child’s ear. In addition, nursing always helped calm my daughter when she had an ear infection as a baby.
What type of measures do you take to reduce your baby’s pain when she gets an ear infection?
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