ear infection in 1yr old?

Question

what's the best thing to give a one year old or the best thing you can do for a 1 yr old with an ear infection. she already has antibiotics (amoxicillin) and calpol.please help:-)

this is the first time she has had an ear infection

i took her the doctors today an he gave me antibiotics but he didnt give me chance to ask how else i could ease the pain! i feel awful.ive never had an ear infection but people say its not nice at all:-(

Answer 1

I HAVE had an ear infection in both ears that came on suddenly. NOW I can understand why an infant cries, as I sure did!!!! Not a nice feeling! I felt better after 24 hour on the meds. Well, not FULLY better, but it hurt less. Motrin/ibuprofin helped me.

Now, I have an aunt who swears by blowing cigarette smoke in your child's ear. I think she's a fruit case (love her, but you know....) but one never knows. We don't allow smoking in our home, so we never tried.

I'd caution the heat unless advised by the doctor, as the heat will help the infection to thrive.....food for thought.

Good luck with this...I know it sucks, but it'll be over before too long. Hopefully...

Answer 2

There are some old remedies that some people swear by. However, you should always check with your child's doctor before trying anything. The eardrum is very sensitive and can easily rupture if you do the wrong thing so you have to be very careful. With that said you can buy Red Oil over the counter in any pharmacy. Heat it very slightly so it's just barely warm and drop a drop into the ear or onto a cotton ball and place the cotton ball slightly into the ear canal. You can also use a heating pad and set to warm or medium heat....(not too hot please) and have the child lay on the pad with the infected ear on it for short blocks at a time. This will draw any fluid out of the ear and remove the pressure from the eardrum. Also sucking on something can help with the pain of an ear infection as the sucking motion seems to also release pressure from the eardrum as well as giving the child something else to concentrate on. Other than that the antibiotics should kick in soon and get rid of the infection. Lots of love and patience on your part will help soothe as well as anything.

Answer 3

Well, I am no doctor but I do have 3 children, ages 3, 6, and 11. They all have had ear infections. in fact they all have an IGA deficiency so they are even more susceptible to ear infections. At 6 months old each child had tubes put in their ears to allow for drainage. The tubes eventually come out on their own. My oldest has had 6 sets of tubes in her ears. My sons each have had 3 sets. I know what a child with an ear infection is like. They cry and cry and there is very little you can do. Anti biotics work over the long time but it sucks until they kick in. Usually gental massaging behind and below the ear helps. Our pediatrician has prescribed "FLOXIN" drops that are put directly into the ear. It has helped my kids a lot. I can sympathize with you, I hope things get better soon.

Answer 4

I used to have really bad ear infections when I was young to the point that I was screaming with the pain. My doctor told me that I have been left with scarring in my ears and that if I ever went swimming again, I would go permantly deaf. Mine was an extreme case and I am in no way saying that your 1 year old will end up like me, but I do understand the distress it causes. The best way to deal with ear infections I found was to boil the kettle and make a hot water bottle and then lay my ear on the hot water bottle. The heat penetrates the ear and soothes the pain. If it's both ears then turn your child over onto the other ear once in a while. Make sure that the hot water bottle isn't to hot as it will burn your child's skin. The other thing you can do is buy olive oil from the chemist. Then boil the kettle and as it boils, place the bottle over the spout to warm the bottle up through the steam. Another method would be to pour boiling water in a bowl and place the bottle in the bowl. Once the oil in the bottle has reached a nice warm temperature, get a dropper, suck the oil into the dropper and place one to two drops in each of your child's ears. After doing this place a ball of cotton wall in each ear to prevent leakage. Make sure the cotton wall is just the right size to prevent it falling out. The oil removes blockages and after a while prevents the dreaded crackling and popping, which hurts the most! Make sure you do this every time you adminster your child's medicine and then your child will feel much more comfortable. Give your child lots of cuddles as being close to you and feeling comfort will help them to feel better. All of this together, will help your child to sleep better, which as I'm sure you know is the best healer of all. The other thing you can do is to give your child plenty of real fruit juice as the vitimin C in the fruit juice will help your child's body fight the infection. Hope this helps and I hope your child get's better soon! Bless!

Answer 5

Awwww If she is on antibioltics and calpol already u will soon see an improvement in her condition. Is she teething? The reason i ask this is cos my eldest cut every tooth with an ear infection which resulted by the time she got to 2 years old having gromits. She was diagnosed with high frequency deafness at the age of 4 and had speech therapy. She is now a mum of a 2 year old, and she is a teacher. She hears perfectly well now. So do keep an eye on the level of ear inefections yr daughter gets. Write them down and if they become too many have a word with yr gp who will refer u to an ENT Paediatric Consultant. Good luck and hope that it is just a 1 off. Nothing worse than a baby crying in pain with ear ache, u feel so helpless. Hope she gets better soon.

Answer 6

Your child sounds like a prime candidate for tubes. Both of my boys got them around 17-19 months and 1 got a second set at around 3 1/2. I think the rule is 6 or more infections in a year. Meaning infections that have cleared up, not the ones that need more than 1 round of antibiotics. I know you are very concerned about the thought of surgery, but it honestly is a very simple procedure. In fact, you won't finish a cup of coffee and it will be over. What helped me with the decision is my preference of using ear drop antibiotics that treat the infection at the site, versus an oral antibiotic that goes through the entire system. My older son had a mild speech delay that has been attributed to the infections and then chronic fluid without infections present. Now that he has a second set of tubes in place, I have noticed major improvements in his articulation. Boys are more likely to get ear infections than girls. It's about anatomy. His Eustacian tubes must be horizontal and as he grows, they will become more vertical and allow gravity to help drain the fluid naturally. One nice thing about having tubes is you know exactly when they have an infection because the fluid drains into the part of the ear you can see and usually leaves a puddle on their sheet. You keep the drops at home and don't have to keep going to the doctor with each infection. Giving ear drops isn't exactly a joy at my house, but they kind of get used to it. The tubes were much more effective with my younger son than my older one and I don't know why. My older one continued to get infections with his first set of tubes with about 1/2 of the frequency, but rarely gets them now. I suspect he has some type of allergy but have not investigated it (with my luck it's dust...tough battle to win). My younger son has only had a few infections in the 1 1/4 years since he's had the tubes. I don't think he has allergies. Incidentally, both kids were fine once they had a nap after surgery. No big deal. By the way, I read the other posts and milk allergies are pretty rare and are usually accompanied by digestive symptoms. Also, I believe I read that pacifiers may actually help decrease the liklihood of ear infections. Good question for the ENT. Glad to hear your child uses his pacifier on a limited basis. We did the same thing with the first one. Not so easy with the second one, but nothing was! Good luck. Just do it!

Answer 7

Ear infections are really pain full, I had one last year and I suffered from dizziness. Check with your pharmacist but I have been told that you can give a dose of calpol then 2 hours later give children's ibuprofen. It is also an anti inflammatory which could help, make sure you give the correct dose for the child's age with both medicines and no more doses than the instructions tell you. These can be used together as they are 2 different drugs, but PLEASE check with your pharmacist first. This is only advice I am passing on, it is your choice what you do with it. Hope all gets better soon.

Answer 8

Hi there, my daughter is 28 months old and she has suffered from ear infections from a very young age. She had an ear infection each time she was cutting a tooth. Each time being put on anti biotics and using calpol for the pain. Make sure you have your little one elevated when she sleeps. Put a cushion or pillow under the mattress where the head lies. Ears are more painful when you lye down. Also make sure she never drinks a bottle when lying down. This is the advice I was given. Hope she is better soon.

Answer 9

because she has already been given antibiotics this should help with the pain. all you can do is to make her comfortable and give her calpol if she has a temperature.
speak to your healthvisitor for further info. also ask about the new vaccine that is out for the under 2's, called the pnuemococcal vaccine - one of the things it protects against is ear infections.
Good luck and i hope your wee one is better soon.

Answer 10

For someone so young I would only trust a doctors opinion. The wise thing would be to get an appointment as quickly as possible. Ear infections are serious. Tell the doc's receptionist that it is extremely urgent because the ear is right next to the brain. God bless you both.