Ear infection and unhappy baby

[Joneseygirl77]

My lg has been unwell since Sunday. She was running a high temp on sun all day -39.4 however we got it under control with calpol after advice from 111. She was fractious and unhappy all day on Monday. Had a bad night with her on Monday night so went to doctors on Tuesday. They found an ear infection on one side and prescribed amoxicillin. We've had 48 hrs on them now and she doesn't seem much happier. She's not eating much and we're struggling to get fluids in her. Still doing 3 bf per day though and she's ok with those. We've also had bad explosive nappies for over a week now too. She's got a cold too and is definitely teething. She's also quite tired/sleepy in the day. Any tips to cheer her up? Hate seeing her so unhappy and she doesn't seem to be improving.

[ArchangelGallic]

Poor mite.
It's worth remembering that antibiotics and teething will affect nappies so don't worry about that.
You can alternate paracetamol and ibuprofen upto the maximum dose for each but be careful about the right dose for the age of your DC.
Personally, if she's not improving after 3 days, I'd take her back to GP. Amoxicillin is a good general antibiotic but I know there are others out there because DD is allergic to it so always has to be prescribed something different.
Don't worry about foid, breastfeeding is all she needs and sleep is healing.
Good luck and I hope she's better soon.

[SnowLondon]

Breast milk is fine for her and will cover food and drink. So don't worry about that.

Nappies are bad in teething and with antibiotics, so pretty normal, again don't worry

As long as temperature is coming down with meds and she is fully awake and responsive during wake periods, i wouldn't worry to much.

I would ring gp surgery today / tomorrow as he may want to out her on a different antibiotic or see her again

[Purpleflamingos]

Get her back to the doctors for a check up possibly. Do you have a cotton hat she could wear? Ear infections are hell and keeping the ear warm helps ease the pain slightly, but only do this if her temperature is under control.

[Joneseygirl77]

Thanks all. Just out of interest how much calpol/ibruprofen can you do in 24 hrs? I got told by one dr to avoid ibruprofen if she's not drinking much as it can cause kidney problems.

[SnowLondon]

That's true. but if she is having 3 breastfeeds then she's drinking....

Depends how old she is. Follow the instructions on the box

[Joneseygirl77]

That's what I thought but dr was adamant. It was an out of hours gp though. Sure she's passed her cold onto me now too

[mewkins]

My 6mo ds has just finished antibiotics for an ear infection which may or may not have cleared - not sure as he now has a cold and a tooth has finally appeared. Difficult to tell what is affecting his sleep. Anyway the doctor said to give both calpol and ibuprofen alternately and can do 4 doses of calpol and 3 of ibuprofen in 24 hrs.

[DeWee]

Ds had ear infections from 3 months old. I found about 48 hours after starting antibiotics the ear pain would have reduced considerably, but he would start having tummy pains which would last until he came off the antibiotics. So could it be tummy pains rather than ear?

[Joneseygirl77]

Ooh yes I think it could be tummy pains as her nappies are worse than normal. She's really grouchy until she fills her nappy and then seems to perk up once she's cleared everything! She seems a little happier this morning so fingers crossed we're over the worst.

[mewkins]

We got some probiotics to help with the tummy problems and they have been brilliant! Health food shops sell satchets suitable for babies and you just sprinkle it onto food or in a bottle of milk or water. It meant that ds didn't get watery poos this time round. You have to ensure that you give the probiotics between the doses of antibiotics though so that they don't negate the effectiveness. Our doctor recommended Culturel but said he wasn't allowed to prescribe for babies under a year.

[Joneseygirl77]

Did you buy the culturel ones? If not which ones do you have? I'd been thinking of starting her on some probiotics as I know they can help with immunity too. She's started pt at nursery now and will be going full time in March when I go back to work so I'm keen to boost her immunity as much as possible! She's only been going 5 weeks and has already been ill twice.

[mewkins]

They are called Optibac probiotics and come in a pink box with 10 or 30 satchets-one per day.

[Joneseygirl77]

Great thank you. I've ordered some of that tonight- can see you can take it when bfeeding too so I'm going to try it too.

[mewkins]

Yes can use it long term too! Hope it works well. My ds was certainly better for it.