Excessive ear rubbing/pulling/scratching

[AliKatt]

My 6mo DS fusses with his right ear all the time - started doing it at around 3mo. Sometimes he cries while he's doing it, sometimes he does it in his sleep and wakes himself up (he's a pretty awful sleeper in general), sometimes (despite me filing his nails religiously) he scratches it and on occasion has made it bleed really badly.

I've been to see the doctor about it 4 times and they haven't been able to detect any infection. He's been variously prescribed oral antibiotics (just to make me go away be on the safe side), eczema cream (in case that was making it itch), and antibiotic/hydrocortizone cream to help heal up the scratches. Nothing has made any difference to the ear fussing.

At the moment the scratches have healed and I'm being super, super vigilant about his nails to try to make sure he doesn't get any more, but I really want to find out what the underlying problem is. It's been suggested that it's teething but he has no sign of any teeth and this has been going on for months. Other suggestions are tiredness (possible, but he does it all the time not just when he's tired, including in his sleep...) and 'just something he does', although he really does seem annoyed by it.

Has anyone else seen this and, if so, was there any explanation for it other than those mentioned above?

TIA

my son does always pull one ear when he's tired or teething but your situation sounds like more than just that. Can you ask the GP to refer you to an ENT specialist so they can have a really good look inside and make sure its not something to do with the internal working of the ear.
whats his hearing like, i presume he passed his at birth hearing test?

Thanks :) Yes, his birth hearing test was fine.

I know I will have to go back to the GP again unless it magically sorts itself out very soon... I'm just starting to feel like a bit of a crazy lady keeping on going back about the same thing when they keep telling me they can't see anything wrong!

May I suggest you request a referal to audiology - they will try and do a hearing test which might be tricky on a child so young, but what will be really useful is if they can check for glue ear. At ds's appointments, even when he was just a baby, they would use a special instrument to puff air into his ear and measure the repsonse of the ear drum vibrating to detect any fluid built up behind the ear which would certainly feel uncomfortable.

Thanks so much for your reply :) You've both made me feel a lot less like a nutter! I'll definitely ask for a referral.