5 month old tearing at his ears

[Okonomiyaki]

Does anyone have any ideas as to why my ds might be doing this, please?

He's started tearing at his ears at night (both when first falling asleep and during any night wakings). A couple of times he's torn behind the ear and drawn blood. There are also little scabs in his ear. He doesn't seem bothered in the daytime, only when sleepy.

My hv suggested applying e45 in case it's dry skin so I'm giving that a go.

Teething?

Ah, possibly? If it's possible I think he has been teething for 2 months now! Certainly he has been dribbling like a tap all that time.

I was just unsure as it seems so violent!

Have you had ear checked for infection? Try gently pulling down earlobe if this appears painful could be infected ;)

teething almost definitely....IME anyway.... you could try a small amount of calpol or nurofen and see if that helps him? we didn't realise until DD2's first tooth popped out why she's been so arsey tricky... felt bad then that we hadn't helped her a bit!!

Thanks jammy I will give that a go in the morning.

Mummy elk, yes, if he's still doing it tomorrow I will give him some calpol before bed, thanks.

Ds is 7 months old and tugs at his ears when he is teething. Distraction is good - ds always stops grizzling when out in the pram or buggy. He likes Calgel. When he is obviously in pain we give him Calpol or Calbrufen.

Dd does this, she is 6m, she does it when tired.

However, ds did this at 6m and it was an ear infection. He was burning up though and obviously unwell.

My DD used to do this a lot, I thought it was just because she was tired etc. turned out to be an ear infection. Don't know how long she had it as she was not obviously unwell.

Echoing haudyerwheesht and baabaapinksheep! My DS2 did this, it turned to out to be an ear infection. He didn't seem ill, so it was a case of of trial and error to get a diagnosis.

I am concerned it might be an ear infection as he's been doing it for a while now. He's also quite stuffy all the time and one of his tear ducts doesn't function properly yet so it might be the general congestion.

My other thought - and I'm glad no one's mentioned this yet! - was excema. Dh has horrible atopic excema so it is a risk.

Trip to the gp on Monday I think. Thanks all!