Ear infection in infants is among the most common reasons why children are taken to the doctors frequently. This is especially common among infants up to 2 years of age. It will be difficult to establish the ear infection as the cause of discomfort in babies and infants because of the fact that they are not able to tell you if their ears are aching when compared to older children. Parents will have to wait for more other tell tale signs to become aware of the infection.
Infant Ear Infections – Pain Is the Most Common Clue
Ear aches will emerge very quickly and the usual accompanying symptoms will include pain and fever. Obviously, pain is the biggest giveaway in ear infections of toddlers since they really hurt. This is among the reasons why a child will continually pull his ear but will appear to be having no discomfort at all which is why ear infection will be ruled out. Perhaps, there are a lot of reasons why a child will keep on tugging his ear.
These will include teething, curiosity of the child, itchiness and can even be habitual. This could be similar to the sucking of thumb. However, what will an adult with their first born do if there seems to be no experience with this kind of thing? The most apparent course of action is to directly go to the doctor.
Ear Infection Facts
There are some risk factors associated with the ear infection in infants. Some of these which are more common are colds, flu and allergies that could be acquired by the child in daycare and pre-school facilities that will lead to the development of ear infection, recurrent infection and also due to the changes in climate.
Looking for Toddler and Baby Ear Infections
The Eustachian tubes in children are responsible in connecting the middle ear to the nose and these are usually shorter when compared to the adults. In reality, the Eustachian tubes of babies are at least one third the size of the adults making it difficult for fluid drainage.
After a period of common colds and flu or allergy attack, the babies will become more prone to the development of ear infection. The Eustachian tube will be blocked and will lead to fluid buildup inside the middle ear and will not be released. Bacteria eventually will breed and if this will remain unchecked, swelling and pain which is followed by fever will usually be the result.
When your baby will suddenly shows a change in attitude just like becoming irritable and uncooperative, cries and usually screams in short bursts, then something is certainly wrong with him and it is usually ear infection that is one of the suspects. Even if there are other reasons why the child could be aggravated, a visit to the physician should always be your topmost priority so that he can immediately determine if there is infection that is present inside the ear.
Despite the fact that ear infections in infants are common, these could become serious and if there is no treatment and diagnosis being made the rupture of the eardrum can be possible. In more serious cases, it will result to possible loss of hearing.
Infant Ear Infection Treatment
More than half of the ear infection episodes in infants can improve without the need for treatment. According to a theory, the best course of action at first would be to wait for three to four days as soon as the diagnosis is already made. But if the symptoms will show no improvement, treatment intervention will be usually pursued after that.
Debate still continues if whether the antibiotic treatment is the best course of action. But with very young children, the doctors will typically play it safe and prescribe them instead. Pain relieving medication can be used in conjunction with the antibiotic treatment.