Ear infection/ perforated ear drum?

[Notquiteinsane]

DD is 2.3 and had a horrible cold with v high (39.8) temp which lasted for about 4/5 days early last week. She then kindly shared it with me, so i can vouch for it being a really nasty thing and showed a lot of retrospective sympathy!! (Oops)
Anyway, night before last she woke very distressed by 9pm and just wouldn't settle down. Kept saying she was cold and when I felt her head she has another blasted temperature. Dosed her up and she settled down for an hour, but after that she was just too upset, so in an attempt to get some sleep she came in with us. Usually this will solve the problem and we can all go back to sleep (apart from being kicked, elbowed etc by a wiggly toddler!) But on this particular night she slept for a couple of hours and then was sitting up every 20mins or so, moaning and crying before flopping back down again. Continued to dose her with ibuprofen and calpol.
All seemed well in the morning so we carried on as normal. By lunchtime hot and grumpy again. She is quite vocal so I asked her if anything hurt (for the hundredth time) and she said her ear...had a look and it looked quite crusty.
She had a perforated ear drum a year or so ago and has the same clear fluid/crust, so called docs and was seen later that afternoon...but apparently all clear. The ear in question was very red, but not bubbling. Nice!
Today she is better, but her ear is still crusty (despite frequently washing it gently with warm water/flannel)
Just wondered if it is possible to have this kind of discharge without a perforated ear drum...?
Tia!

My DS used to get lots of ear infections and would often get a discharge with them. My Dr told me that the discharge did not necessarily mean a perforated ear drum but obviously, in some cases it does (as it did for my DS on a few occasions).

It definitely sounds like an ear infection though and I would take her to Dr.

FWIW, my Dr has always diagnosed an ear infection if the ear drum was red.

Hope she's better soon.

Thanks for that info!
Did you therefore get antibiotics? GP was very 'no antibiotics unless still troubled after a significant time' which just seems a bit cruel...
She seems a lot better today but still says it hurts. Will see what tonight brings :)

Well, my DS ended up having grommets fitted as he had sooo many ear infections so I do consider myself a bit of an expert . The basic rule of thumb we were given by the ENT consultant is that if the ear infection continues for more than 48 hours, it is more than likely bacterial and antibiotics should be given.

I would have thought that if its got to the stage where it is oozing pus, that would require treatment, although if it is a burst ear drum, once that has happened, the child is often much more comfortable as the pressure has been relieved.

I don't know if you are aware but, to treat the pain, we were told we could alternate Calpol and nurofen, so Calpol every 4 hours and the nurofen in between (up to maximum number of times in 24 hours). I hope she is on the mend soon and you get a good nights sleep.