Low level ear infection in 5yo

[SPBInDisguise]

DS is 5, nearly 6, and when he was younger he had recurrent ear infection which were really nasty. He'd be crying in pain and we usually ended up at the GP out of hours. Either the infection would burst or the ABs would kick in and it would very very quickly clear up and that would be the end of it.
He was under a consultant for a while who confirmed no damage to ear drum and a slight loss of hearing in one ear which in practical terms would make no difference.This has all been over for a year or so.
He had a cold a couple of weeks ago which seemed to end with a bit of an ear infection but nowhere near as bad as it used to be. He fell asleep after calpol, and seemed fine the next morning, though he has from time to time said his ear was bothering him, and it seems to have been discharging from time to time.
School has just rang to say his ear is discharging quite badly, but his ear hasn't been bothering him in the last couple of days, slept fine last night etc. It's not bothering him now other than the sensation of something coming out of his ear iyswim.
GP don't have any appointments other than emergencies (which this isn't) until next week.
What I'm wondering is:

-How worried should I be?

• Should I be insisting on a GP appointment?
• SHould be re-contacting the hospital for another check and hearing test, am worried about any damage from long-term issues on his hearing?
• He's been going to weekly swimming lessons, should he miss the next one in order to give his ear a chance to fully recover? Or does swimming not really make much difference?

Thanks for reading this epic

just googled & sounds like he has a chronic ear infection

bump

Wonder whether NHS DIrect would be any good for this.

Last bump :)

If his ear is discharging, then for my ds that would mean the ear drum had perforated. in which case he needs to see GP asap for antibiotics and a swab of the stuff coming out of his ear.

Sorry@

1. Yes insist on a GP appointment.
2. Not yet, but assuming it is perforated, he needs a follow up appointment 6 weeks later to check it's healed. It won't necessarily damage his long term hearing. Ds had 8 perforations in 3 months when he was 3yo and it hasn't done (much) permanent damage.
3. Yes he'll be missing swimming lessons until the hole has healed-about 2-6 weeks.

Your son needs to see the GP for anti biotics. It may well be worth asking the GP to do a culture to make sure that an effective anti biotic is prescribed. It might be worth asking the GP or ENT consultant to prescribe sofradex drops as well as anti biotics. I don't understand why you sent your son to school if he is clearly ill. He needs to rest and avoid getting more colds.

If your son is constantly getting perforations then I feel you should miss swimming lessons for the rest of the term. My son was not allowed to swiming for 18 months when he had severe ENT problems. Which is more important learning to swim or the ablity to hear? I realise that your son may well be utterly gutted if he banned from going swimming.

Thank you.
He is not ill, mos of the time he is charging about happily. Maybe once a week (or less) we notice his ear is discharging. And he doesn't get any more colds than the average child.
Will try to get a GP appt for tomorrow.

ReallyTired, I am sorry I know you're trying to help but I'm quite offended by your post. I wasn't going to stop swimming lessons because DS as a one off complains about ear pain which has then gone by the next morning. And no, he won't be bothered about missing swimming I don't think. But we're not in the habit of missing stuff unless there's a need. You're addressing me as though I am a neglectful parent, sending my sick son to school and failing to get medical help for him. If you'd read my OP I hope you'd see that's not actually the case.
DeWe, do you knw why they need a swab after the perofrataion? In the past they've only ever prescribed ABs, and never been bothered about swabbing afterwards. I wonder whether that was because it was being investigated anyway.

I've made a docs appointment for Saturday morning. Will ask about drops as well as antibiotics, thanks.

Apologies for last post, was upset. Think its probably more about me feelin like a negle tful mother than anything else. Hopefully this will clear up soon :)

The swab, as far as I know, is to check you're using an effective antibiotic. I assume that as last time I had a call 2 days later asking me to go in and change the antibiotic prescription as the one we were using had shown up resistance on the swab. It may be for other things too, I don't totally know.

If he's got perforations then don't ask for drops, if it goes through the hole it's agony.

Can you get an appointment sooner that Saturday? Our GP always wants Antibiotics to start within 24 hours of a perforation. It's going to be slightly over that if you leave it till Saturday.

Really my ds gets ear infections very easily, so a sniff of a cold and he may well get a perforation. Just the way it works out. He certainly isn't anywhere near missing school for a cold when his ear may be bad enough to perforate. It also can be very quick. Eg one time it was: Very slight cold overnight. Noticed he was breathing through his mouth. No runny nose, fever, sneezing etc. 6pm said his ear hurt. Gave him calpol and he cuddled up to me. His ear hadn't been hurting before tea (at 5:30) he said. Ear drum perforated between 6:30 and 6:45. That's how quick it went.
The GP says there's no need to miss school unless he's feverish or actually unwell with a standard infection.

Also ds does have mild pain not irregularly, sounds like OP's ds. He's under ENT and they said that does happen in some children who have had lots of infections. Sometimes it lasts a few minutes, occasionally longer, often it's just a wince and a hand on the ear and it's gone. If kept him off school every time he's had some pain the night before then he'd be missing 1-2 days a week during winter at least.

Ouch! They've said no appointment other than an emergency, if this is an emergency I suppose...but if so ill take him to out of hours tonight, as I usually do. As I mentioned though his ear has been discharging a little bit for a couple of weeks now (on and off) so it sounds as though the perforation keeps rehealif and then reopening. I assumed it was just fully clearing. I've always been given the impression that if he's not in pain ir wasn't anything to worry about though (although that was never really an issue as he was always in a lot of pain so maybe I just didn't realise that even non painful ones are something to worry about)
Poor little guy. I am neglectful.