What can I do about earache??

[scrappydappydoo]

Went swimming with dd2 (2yrs) this morning and ever since seems to have bad earache. She keeps playing with her ear, is v. grumpy, won't let me cuddle her and everything is 'wrong'. Have given her some calpol but hasn't seemed to have helped - any advice??

Get to you gp. Ear ache can be really painful. She might well need antibiotics if she has an infection. Try to keep her ear dry for a few days.In my experience calpol/neurophen aren't enough.

Sorry - had to go away - she has now sick all over the place but seems a little better for it iykwim - will keep an eye and if no better will see gp in the morning. Thanks for replying.

Poor little thing! If she has an infection you might notice sticky gunk coming out of her ear. Once this happens it means the ear drum has perforated and the pressure released so pain should decrease.But a visit to GP still a good idea. Hope she's feeling better soon.

Oh the poor little mite :( I hope she's feeling a bit better now. My ds1 had an awful inner ear infection a few months and the drum burst twice, first time there was some gunky fluid but not much, g.p put him on antibiotics for 5 days and by day two the pain had good way down (he'd been vomiting, crying a lot and not able to sleep from the pain) but the treatment wasn't enough to get it and a week later he was in total agony! The drum burst again and my god you would not believe the stuff that came out his ear!! I'm not easy to make squimish but this stuff was scary and just so much of it! G.p put him on 10days of antibiotics at a stronger dose and with in a few days he was ok, just a constant ozze when he lay on that side for a few more days. It's a awful dose but he's grand again. I was told to stagger the calpol and nurofen so as to provide better pain relief cover and if its an infection your dd will def need an antibiotic. My ds got a lot of comfort from lying on a hot water bottle wrapped up in a soft baby blanket just obv have to make sure its not too hot... Hope she's feeling better soon tis a horrid dose

Calpol is not strong enough for earache, so if you can try to giving her calprofen (max amount for her age at regular intervals during 24 hour period if necessary). Keeping something warm agains her ear might work as well, such as facecloth warmed up in micro wave or when sleeping a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel (not too hot). If she has a blocked nose, you might want to use saline drops/sterimar and give an anti-histamine (like piriton). I would definitely see a GP because if she was in a swimming pool she could easily have picked up a bacterial infection. Hope she gets better soon.