11 month old with ear infection. Advice please?

[bigfam]

Took her to gp last night, diagnosed with an ear infection and prescribed ammox. She has a fever that calpol doesn't seem to touch, she's really not herself though, she's so tired. Yesterday and today she has spent the majority of her time asleep, when she wakes she still looks tired and will have a play for half an hour or so before she starts to get grizzly then she'll have a bottle then sleep again. She'd normally sleep once or twice during the day but since this began it's 5+.
The gp said she wasn't too concerned as when seen she was alert (but still grizzly and looking shattered) I'm thinking of taking her back to gp, but don't want to look silly?

My sympathies. My nine month old is just getting over one and it's horrid for them! The doctor I saw last Saturday said if he wasn't showing any improvement by Monday to take him back again. After the first few doses of amoxicillin, as well as regular calpol, he did seem to perk up a little.

It might help to give baby ibuprofen instead of/as well as calpol, ibuprofen is a more effective antipyretic than paracetamol. And you can combine the two for more effective pain relief.

Hope your little one is on the mend soon!

Also sorry I didn't answer your question about tiredness, mine is usually a cat napper, half an hour here and there, but while he's been ill he's been having two or three naps of about an hour each. It's normal.

You shouldn't be worried about looking silly at the doctor, as a parent you're bound to be concerned and any medical professional worth their salt would tell you they'd rather see a child and reassure the parent, than have to deal with an illness or injury that got worse because they didn't get seen due to parents worrying about feeling silly.

I would definately take her back my son lives in a&e had 9 ear infections in the summer as he is immune suppresed but there are a lot of kids in a&e with ear infections they can make babys really ill and if calpol isnt bringing the temp down its well worth going back to the gp especially with the weekend coming up they may change the antibiotic to a more broad spectrum one if amoxcillans not making a difference. Goodluck

Thankyou both. summerdreams, she's still the same, not herself at all. The worst part is the fever though. My ds had recurrent ear infections between the ages of 3-4.5, he was sent to an ent and nothing ever came of it even though he has speech delay, then this morning he was saying his ear hurt and it was bright red so i fully expect him to have another ear infection. (He's 6 now) i just hope it doesn't start recurring again for him and that dd3 doesn't have any more. If either of them do i might see the gp abouts grommets. I know ear infections arent contagious, so maybe it runs in my family. Very bad timing, two at once!

What is the temperature?

It varies between 38 and 39.6

I'm not clear how many days she's had this temperature, or how long since starting the antibiotics, but if you're 24-48 hours into the antibiotics with temperature in the 39's you definitely need to return. Or get the GP to call you about it, they may decide to change the antibiotics. But I'd say you also need to give 3 doses of nurofen and 4 of calpol round the clock and see if that helps bring the temperature under control. Good luck, my two have had ear infections and its nasty for them (and you!).

She started the ammox yesterday at 5pm, but she was unwell the day before that with a temp. She's been having 5ml of calpol on average every five hours, since tuesday excluding at night

I would second Nurofen /ibuprofen use as well as Paracetamol I find it much better at temp control than paracetamol alone. USually they say give it 2 to 3 days before going back to give ab time to work but I would maybe consider going back if the new pain relief doesn't work in next 24hrs - even if you call and book an appt for pm tomorrow better safe than sorry over a weekend

Ibuprofen is more effective for my kids when they have a temp.

Take her back to dr for referral to a&e. This has happened to me twice with 2 of mine and both times it was pneumonia which was NOT picked up via stethoscope. Second time 4 DOCTORS listened to his chest and not one heard any crackling. After a chest X-Ray he was dx and given strong antibacs so we could go home. If temp is still up you need to have a pead looking.

Ds had ear infections every 10days from 2 months until he had grommets in at 20 months.

I used to reckon with him that 24 hours of antibiotics and he'd be better than he was, but needed 48 hours for his temperature to get to approximately okay.

Start with some liquid nurofen! Give it In between paracetamol doses. Ensure that she is just in her vest and do not cover. When she's really hot you can open a window too.
The nurofen is much better antipyretic than calpol.
Is give it at least 48 hours for the ammox to work and the Dr will probably say the same thing.
Lots of fluids and even an ice lolly when hot will help!
We have a little boy with a genetic condition so struggles to control temperature.
Feel better soon bubba x