Dd has her first ever ear infection and in holiday tomorrow. WWYd?

[Reastie]

Argh, dd and I have come out with a cold today and dd suddenly started complaining of bad earache this afternoon and going downhill. Saw gp who said she has an ear infection, but not sure if viral or bacterial (?). Has given prescription for antibiotics but said leave it 2 days and use only if required as May improve on own.

We are off on holiday tomorrow. Not a foreign fancy one, but we only have one or two a year so it's a big thing for us.

Now I'm not sure whether to give her the abs anyway in the hope it'll speed things along or to leave it and see. Poor dd is so under the weather. My main issue with hesitating with abs is she's never had any before and if she's anything like me she's going to get awful stomach upset as a side effect. So I don't want to give them to her unless she actually needs them.

I have no idea what to do

Get Yakult or actimel yogurts to help the tummy if you do give her them

I would give them but I am not a dr

Follow the GP's advice. If it clears up in two days, that's the potential tummy upset avoided. If it doesn't clear up, give her the antibiotics.

I just wondered if the gp was trying to put me off giving her the abs as I know they try to avoid using them now, so I'm not sure if it would be better to give them to her or not.

We're not going to get on holiday tomorrow are we :(

I think he's just covered all bases. He couldn't tell what kind it was right then, so he's given you a prescription, and a description of when you'll know they're appropriate.

If he wanted to put you off, he'd have told you "viral" and to bring her back if she got worse. Instead, he trusted you to judge! Which is why you feel stressed now.

Have you got a suitcase of children's painkillers?

If you are not flying I don't really see why you couldn't still go on holiday. My ds gets an ear infection every time we are away and it's never stopped us doing anything.

I'd start her on the ab, get her some sort of probiotic thing and go on holiday.

If it's not abroad is there the option of coming home early if she really flags?

My limited and dd is 2.6yo experience is that kids bounce back fairly quickly from ear infections.

Sweet I guess it's because dd has never had an ear infection, or even an ear ache. She rare has a temperature and has never had abs. It's made me panic a bit and I feel mean dragging her on a long car journey when poorly she's my Pfb . I also have emetophobia so the thought of the abs upsetting her stomach is an added complication. I realise this last bit is hard for many people to grasp though.

Spin I have 3 bottles of painkillers!

Have you got a nice variety of drugs? You know, children's paracetamol and children's ibuprofen? I believe the solution to an ear infection is as many painkillers as possible.

I also recommend some of those little microwaveable hot water bottles for her ear.

Have a great holiday, lovely.

Thanks. I have nurofen and calpol. I'm dubious of using warm hot water bottle as I always find they make my ear infections worse. We'll have to stock up when we get there if necessary.

If she's only got the cold today then I'd wait a couple of days for the antibiotics unless she's in severe pain. What antibiotics has she got? Can you reason with yourself if she is sick that it's not a bug, it's because of the drugs?

She's got a cold, fever, earache and generally unwell. She hasn't overly complained of earache for a few hours, so I'm hoping its part of the virus. Yes, sickness as a side effect of medication is better but still very stressful, and in a worrier and could never be sure if it's part of a bug or the medication which would worry me, especially as I'm coming down with it too.

I wouldn't start it for 2 days.
Our GP works on the same basis.
I found dd1 never needed the antibiotics; dd2 rarely, and ds every time. Mind you, ds also had ear infections about 3 times in every month until he had grommets in. But even now if he has ear ache we have a window of about 6 hours to start antibiotics otherwise his drum bursts, and the GP knows that, which is great.
But without the history I'd go for probably not needed them as most don't.

How old is your DD?

DS (nearly 4) and DD (10 months) suffer from frequent ear infections as did I. I definitely wouldn't let it stop us going on holiday. Earache pain is rubbish but to be honest it's not going to hurt any less staying at home than going on holiday. At least a change of scene is a bit of a distraction and they can improve dramatically within 24 hours. It's up to you whether you give antibiotics but I thought the stomach upset was dioreah the shits rather than sickness? DD has had several courses and gets it badly but not known any sickness.

Dd is 4. This morning she's saying it's the other ear that's hurting now (she's aware it's changed from one ear to the other) . I'm taking this as a good sign that it's viral and not needing abs . She's more poorly with the virus today though, and I have it too now proper and was up most of the night unwell :( .

If I were you I'd wrap everyone up and head off on holiday.

The car journey will probably help your DD sleep and you get some quiet time, as long as you don't have to drive of course.

As mentioned by pp, a holiday will be a distraction and you'll probably all feel better in a few days.

Thanks, we had an hour of crying from dd in pain this morning but atm slightly improved. Crossing fingers and packing the car as I type.

I hope she's feeling a bit better now OP.

Did you go away in the end?

Oh reastie poor you. No advice but wanted to say I hope you have a nice holiday and agree with pp that a long car journey might mean she can sleep and rest a bit?

Hope you're all well soon!

Greetings from holiday! Had a long traffic jam filled journey but we made it. Dh now has it too though :( an awful night as I was up for hours feeling rough, and literally as soon as I finally drifted off dd would wake up. I feel like a zombie. Fingers crossed the earache hasn't got progressively worse, which I assume it would do if it was an infection, so I'm hoping it's viral and it will go away quickly so we can get in and enjoy our holiday. In the meantime I think I'll be hoping I can have a quiet day involving napping today fat chance of that

Viral does not mean it is not infected just the antibiotics not effective

Hope all improves soon.

For everyone else, ear infections 80% are viral antibiotics not effective! even the bacterial ones most will heal with no treatment. Pain relief is essential

If treat viral ear infection with antibiotics there is a recurrence rate at 6 weeks of about 60%, if it is bacterial recurrence rate is 30%. So down side of antibiotics are can make a child unwell, give thrush, cause a further infection and resistance.

Thanks bugsy, no idea about that recurrence stat. She is medicated up!

Hope she is getting better today.
You need to keep the ear dry great re medicated up with pain relief. The long nights are horrible