Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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lump behind ear and strange smell? debating whether to ring the dr

2 replies

Idonthaveenoughtime · 31/10/2013 13:36

I'm debating whether to ring the doctor or whether to keep an eye on things for a couple of days to see if things resolve themselves.

DS has a lump behind his ear about the size of a 10p (but oval). It's quite solid, but slightly moveable. I thought (and still think) it is a swollen lymph node as he has had a bad cough, but the cough is (very recently) gone and it hasn't gone down yet. I would have thought nothing of it if I hadn't noticed this morning a rather pungent smell coming from that same ear, and not the other. It isn't a 'bad' smell, it's like a pungent sweet smell. He always has gunky ears like his dad so I don't know if they just need a good clean! Or whether the two things are related. He has a bad flare up of dermatitis above the ear so he is scratching it but says there is no pain and doesn't mind me touching it.

The only other thing is that DS fell of the slide in the park a week ago and had a really nasty bang to the head but he was seen by the Dr and didn't seem to have anything wrong with him...apparently skull fractures would leave bruising and swelling, not a localised lump!

Has anyone got experience of any of these things being related, or does it sound like fairly normal stuff that will clear up on its own?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
TooBusyByHalf · 31/10/2013 16:58

We'll I don't want to alarm you but a child I know had an ear infection that caused a lump behind the ear and she ended up in hospital on IV antibiotics for several days. No-one had thought it important early enough.
I haven't heard of the smell with children but I do know dogs' ears smell when they get an infection - so I guess it might be the same Hmm ?

Anyway fwiw I would go to the doc just to be on the safe side - and I'm not one for going over every sniff and snivel normally.

Ragusa · 31/10/2013 21:41

Absolutely go to the doctors. Could be mastoiditis and if so it needs treating ASAP. My grandma had it once upon a time.

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