3rd ear infection in 8 mths!?

[dribbleface]

DS2 (8mths) i'm pretty sure has his 3rd ear infection, seeing GP tomorrow hopefully (typically i'm due back of maternity leave tomorrow). His last one was 3 weeks ago but he had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, was told to stop them as ear was looking fine.

Apart from breastfeeding (we failed at that after 10 weeks), and feeding upright, what else can I do to prevent them, poor little bugger is in a lot of pain with it, won't have a bottle at all (but eating solids and had enough fluid). Nurofen and calpol is helping.

ask for a referral to an ENT consultant. We did this, it takes a while, but DS is getting treatment now - currently 6 weeks of trimethoprim (low dose antibiotic) to try and completely wipe out the infection.

It may be your DS has just had one constant infection, we had that with our DS from about 12-18 months, it was relentless. He is currently a month into a new infection (at 32 months) having had none since 18 months.

(Oh, and he is still breastfed - makes sod all difference if they are prone to infections sadly! so don't worry about that at all :))

some folk have reported success with cutting dairy out of the diet, but we haven't tried that - not sure how we would!

Oh your poor ds. My dd is rather older but she has also had three ear infections within only a couple of months. They were caused by a lot of wax building up. She has now had her ears syringed twice and touch wood she has been fine.

As your ds is a baby I'm not sure what the dr will advice. At least my dd can tell when her ears feel blocked up. I'm not sure if it would be worthwhile if the nurse or dr just checked his ears every so often so they can keep an eye on them.

Oh and does he go swimming? That can be a big cause of ear infections.

X posted. Kveta's advice sounds much better!

Thanks all.

Quicklookbusy He does have very waxy ears actually, so does DS1. Will see what GP recommends.

Kveta - thanks for that, feel guilty about the whole breastfeeding thing (can you tell ). Will speak to the doctor about what you have said, I was wondering the same thing myself. Hoping I get an early appointment so I can take him, or it will be DH, and bless him he'll try but won't remember to ask/tell me half of it!

My daughter had more than three infections last winter, it is not uncommon afaik, and she seems to have grown out if them now, touch wood. If it keeps happening or if her hearing is affected she could get a referral to ent, in which case they may fit a gromit, but it depends on whether you would like to go down the surgery route or not. Many kids can be prone to eat infections as they have short eustachian tubes, and although they are unpleasant they often grow out of them. Ask for a referral to ent if it happens again and you can discuss your options with a specialist.

Sorry he! Thought you said dd2 not ds2! And fwiw, my dd was a similar age when she had her problems in the winter, but now is 16 months and hasn't had one in ages.

you may need to argue for referral - my GP was reluctant, but I insisted, and am so glad I did!

DS sometimes has very waxy ears, and we don't take him swimming since the infections started when he turned 1, as we have heard a lot about infections spread in pools.

don't think there are any real preventative methods sadly.

oh, and infections at this time of year are less common than over winter, so we found they were taken more seriously - weirdly!

if it helps all mine where breast fed and its meant to be the number 1 thing you can do to stop glue ear - made naff all difference - all 3 have had grommets last year! ds2 had to have 2nd set a year later...

Is the infection in the middle ear or outer ear? ds3 just had one thats affecting the outer ear (ear channel) since we've gone dairy free (much eaiser than you'd think) for all we haven't had any glue ear/middle ear infections - I think this depends if you are sensitive to dairy in the first place.

We use drops so treating the site of the infection rather than a broad spectrum oral - worth asking if they may help if he has had a reaction to oral antibiotics before, they might also finish off the infection if its lingering. If it gets gunky I'd ask for a swap so you get the right a-b's

Oral a-b's will also wipe out the gut, the immune system starts in the gut so I'd say suppliment with probiotics for time being too (ds's get runny tummies with oral a-b's)

I hope doc is good tomorrow and you get it sorted (and good luck at work too!)

thanks. I'm fortunate to have a fantastic GP whom i have an awful lot of trust in so I'm happy to be guided by him as to whether its a problem or just one of those things (Ds1 had 4 i think before 2 but he had everything so maybe not as noticeable on their own). I just feel sorry for him, he's a happy little chap and it's very unusual for him to cry (unless someone is eating and doesn't offer him some!)

incy dairy has occurred to me as both Ds's have excema (Ds2 more so) and Ds1 has asthma (healthy lot in this house). will add it to things to ask GP.

Least it's taking my mind of going back to work! great timing though!

with the dairy thing there is no medical evidence of it helping - the theory is dairy is mucous producing, my GP said it wouldn't help at all, my consultant suggested it when I asked if there was anything I could do after he advised my 3rd needed SALT and grommets - he agreed there was no evidence but in those cases he'd seen were children were sensitive to dairy then it did help in his opinion, to be honest I will try anything to try and prevent another GA and surgery

3 ear infections in 8 months is not that huge number. I know it feels like it, but I'm not sure ENT will see it that way. Ds had had about 15 by the time he was 8 months, he was getting them about every 10-14 days from 3 months. He was bf until he was 3yo so it made little difference. He had first set of grommets at 20 months.

DeWe that's awful! I know 3 isn't that many, i came on mainly to see if i could do anything else to help prevent them. Just feel sorry for him, but he's a bit better today so hoping we're over the worst.