One year old is showing symptoms of ear infection is it ok to hold off until Thursday for check up?

Ear aches hurt! A lot! I’d get him help ASAP.

If my youngster had a suspected ear infection, I wouldn’t wait. My little guy always knew before the doctor could see anything, and the doctor and I both learned to trust his symptoms and get right on it. Ear infections can be terribly painful and may even cause hearing loss.

Nothing to add. Ear aches cam be worse than childbirth. move the appointment up. Poor baby.

Here’s the thing, he seems like his total normal self right now. Is that normal for babies with infections?

As a kid that had crazy ass ear infections as a child. They are fucking horrible like hot ice picks in ears. My mom always took me to the ER.

Short answer. No, don’t wait it out. ER ASAP or when it acts up again..

I agree with E R, especially if he wakes up crying tonight.

Why would you want to have him be in pain? Especially if he’s not eating he’s going to get dehydrated. Don’t delay.

ER!!! I have lost hearing from my parents doing this- a rural area and only the local vet! take him at once!! This has plagued me my whole life!

Take him to the doctor! I’m the never run to the doctor person, but babies and illness are completely different than adults, or even children once they are past the age of 5. Infants cannot communicate exactly what their pain is, so they need to be checked. I know there was a movement to let ear infections play out on their own, but there have been subsequent studies contradicting that thought process, proving antibiotics cure them much faster, when antibiotics are indicated. Your baby might just need a decongestant and some ear drops for pain, not antibiotics, but definitely get him some relief. Letting an infection or inflammation persist can cause damage.

I suspect that he is teething. Teething can cause ear pain. My daughter pulled at her ears too at that age. She’s never had an ear infection.

You could always play it safe and get him checked but what you describe doesn’t sound like an ear infection.

Good point, could be teething. Still best to be sure.

@flip86 While you are correct, even more common with children this age is a blocked Eustachian tube. This is a canal that leads from the middle ear to the back of the throat. It helps maintain equal pressure on both sides of the ear drum. Blockage is usually due to a buildup of effluent from minor infection and causes severe pain and can even damage the drum.

Rule out teething by look for redness and irritation of the gums, then gently pressing on suspected areas of the gums with your fingers and watch for flinching. Be aware that the kid may flinch anyway every time you manipulate the jaw the least bit, so this is far from a good diagnostic tool.

Make an appointment with your family practitioner ASAP for today or tomorrow. If this isn’t possible, it is ER time. Your call. In the meantime, take the child’s anal temp to check for systemic infection—If he/she has a temp, get to a doctor. Now take the temp orally, to see if there is a local infection. If so, it’s probably the eustachian tube and ear infection. AFTER you take your temps, give the kid one baby aspirin (81mg) every 4 hours for pain, if he/she is not allergic to aspirin. Monitor this child closely. DO NOT GIVE THE KID YOUR ADULT DOSE OF PAINKILLER OF ANY KIND. Aspirin will lower the temp and skew your diagnostic results, so take the temps before you give the aspirin. Tylenol/Acetometaphen is OK too, but only in child dosage. Apply a warm washcloth or a heating pad set on low can help with ear pain. Warm up a damp washcloth in the microwave in lieu of a heating pad, but make sure you test it on your inner arm (like you do for formula) before you apply it so you don’t burn your kid. Put a cloth between the heating pad and your skin so you don’t burn your skin. Do not allow children to go to bed with a heating pad. They could get burned. Use a heating pad only if your child is old enough to tell you if it’s getting too hot. The symptoms might lessen with these measures, but this doesn’t mean you two shouldn’t go to the doctor. Get an appointment ASAP.

If you are not stuck out in god-knows-where-Alberta or hell-knows-where at sea, take advantage of 21st century medicine and see a doctor.

^^^ Be really careful taking oral temps with kids this age. It is much better to use an ear thermometer. Take a temp in both ears. The affected ear will show a higher temp. How much higher will tell you how severe the problem is. Be careful, this will probably hurt.

No why condemn him to pain?

Not only am I an Audiologist, but my son had chronic ear infections as an infant (despite being breastfed), and got his first set of ear tubes just before his first birthday. Fever is the main sign of infection. You haven’t mentioned fever, and the apparent pain when sucking could be an oral or throat issue. Try to look in his mouth for signs of teething or any sores or inflammation.

Does your baby turn to sounds as he did before being sick? Decreased responsiveness to sounds could suggest pressure or congestion in the ear, which can occur without infection due to teething.

Mouth pain (especially toward the back of the jaw) can also radiate to the ears, so the grabbing of the ears doesn’t mean that the problem is with the ears themselves. Some babies just rub their ears as a self-soothing behavior.

Personally, I always used my son’s behavior as an indicator of urgency. As long as he wasn’t clearly in pain or distress or acting lethargic, I let his body do what it does naturally. You say that your son slept well and is behaving like his normal self, other than drinking milk. In your case, my main concern would be hydration and nutrition… is he taking in any foods or liquids?

People are suggesting to make an appointment “today or tomorrow” – the point here is that you already have an appointment tomorrow – Thursday – and your question was whether it’s OK to wait one more day. If your child is taking in foods and liquids and wetting/soiling diapers normally, and if there are no signs of fever or acute pain, I think it would be OK to wait.

My little guy is up and down with ear infections. Crying, sweaty, whiney at night and might be fine during the day… so it can be very hard to know when to go to the doctor.

Not drinking milk – I would go to the doctor during the day. I wouldn’t have gone to the ER unless the fever was very high also (and then I would call the pediatrician’s after hours answering service for guidance).

@Espiritus_Corvus , When my kids were growing up we were told NOT to give aspirin. Has that changed? They said it masked the symptoms of Rye Syndrome I think.

Yes. Because of ASA’s (aspirin) anticoagulant properties, it is probably best for parents to use Acetometaphen (Tylenol) as an antipyretic pain reliever, but in pediatric doses only—be very careful with this drug. There is also the stomach distress accompanied by frequent ASA intake. Enteric coating has pretty much eliminated that problem, though.

I’m old school. I like aspirin and know how to use it. I like that it promotes blood flow, which promotes healing. But you don’t, for example, give aspirin for a headache to a person with blood in their stools, etc. And it’s cheap. As the mother in this case has not indicated any bleeding, I went with ASA which is easily found in pediatric doses. Tylenol, in a pediatric dose, is fine too. Ibuprofen, on the other hand isn’t, because it has no antipyretic properties and mainly addresses muscle pain. ASA and Tylenol address a broader spectrum of pain.

Tylenol’s toxicity levels for toddlers are very low. One adult dose of 500mg can put a kid in the ER with liver damage. A healthy adult, after a night of drinking, can end up dead by taking four 500mg tabs. Because of the dangers of liver toxicity, Tylenol never has been approved as an over-the-counter (OTC) drug in many countries. But ASA has in many of those same countries. I like ASA over acetometaphen in most cases as a pain reliever because I know the drug, its dangers and contraindications. I know acetametaphen’s as well and I would use it if I thought the anticoagulant component was contraindicated, but I consider it much more dangerous than aspirin, mainly because people don’t take dosages seriously or read lables. And most people think just because a drug is OTC, that it is safe in broad dose ranges. Just my opinion. I carry both in the refrigerator on my boat.

@Judi:
You are correct about Reye’s

Yes, it will mask Reye’s, but not for long if you aren’t giving the aspirin frequently over a long period. If you have to give any pain reliever to a child frequently over a long period, you are treating the symptom of a larger problem—and masking that symptom as well. If you or your child is experiencing chronic pain, you should be under a doctor’s care, not treating it with what has always meant to be a temporary fix.

There is children’s ibuprofen also. From what I remember aspirin’s biggest risk related to Reye’s is when the child has a viral infection. I would never give aspirin to a child unless they were allergic to everything else. Baby aspirin now is for adults with heart disease risk. LOL. I don’t remember that Aspirin masks the symptoms of Reye’s, what I remember is it actually increases the chances of developing Reye’s. The aspirin can be like a trigger. @Espiritus_Corvus Are you a medical professional? I don’t remember. Just a reminder I am not one.

^^^Do read @EspiritusCorvus’s profile. (DMAT info)

Evidently, ASA has fallen into grave disfavor since I last worked a pediatric floor. I learned something new today. Thanks.

I found that ibuprofen was a far more effective fever-reducer than acetaminophen for my son’s ear infections. It is available in pediatric dosage over-the-counter in the USA, but was still prescription only when my son was little.

@Espiritus_Corvus I’m pretty sure there is a big warning on aspirin bottles now. I remember being a kid and watching the commercials with Dick Van Dyke; his granddaughter died from Reye’s. That was a long time ago, maybe 25 years ago, I am not sure how long ago you were working on the pediatric floor? Here is information on Reye’s so you don’t have to take my word for it and I know @gailcalled likes to have links to support the medical things I say. My medical knowledge is from TV, Cosmopolitan magazine, being sick myself, and my mother (she isn’t a medical professional either). LOL.

Today is Thursday, @_Whitetigress, what was the outcome of the Dr. visit? How is baby feeling?

@hearkat Update!

Since he seemed like his normal self the day I posted this we opted to go to the Thursday appointment. He checked out, no ear infection! It’s possible he was in the peek of his cold, his nose was dripping the day before I posted, but it’s since been super minimal if not at all.

But yes he’s ok, we were prescribed some saline, ear drops just in case.

So I’m guessing it might’ve been a tooth ache.

Thanks for you’re input all.