Repeated burst ear drum on a 9 month old

[Pickleypickles]

Hi all just wondered if this sounds normal?
My 9 month old has had 3 burst ear drums in 4 weeks. One was only last night so she has an appointment this morning but she had antibiotics for the other 2 (two differebt types and the second lot she onlu finished on saturday)
The only warning i get is 4 hours of proper screaming at night and then in the morning its burst. Not temp or any other warnings.
Has anyone else experienced similar? I feel like 3 times is too many but maybe its noy?

DD2 is a bit older (2 this week) but she’s had gunk coming out of her ear every other week since the beginning of October!

If she hasn’t got a temp with it I personally wouldn’t keep giving her antibiotics as they don’t really seem to help. But definitely take her back to the doctors and if it keeps happening ask for a referral to ENT.

Thanks i took her back to the GP this morning and he said to try drops instead of oral antibiotics. Its just horrible for them . If it comes back after this lot i think i will ask for a refferal thanks.

Ds started ear infections at about 10 weeks and had them about every 10 days until he was 20 months when he had grommets put in. At 3.6yo he had 8 burst ear drums in 8 weeks (and then more grommets!)

Thing is the ear drum bursting is scary for you, but it's actually a good bodily reaction in a child. It releases the pressure, and becomes less painful. In fact ds will come to me and say "oh good, my ear drum's just burst" because he knows he feels better.
When it's burst once, then it's got a weak patch and is more likely to burst again. It may also not have actually healed properly, but is just re-releasing the gunk when it forms, so although you're saying it's gone 3 times, if it hadn't gone the first time it wouldn't have gone the other two.

We never found the drops had any effect at all for ds.

What I'd do if it goes again is ask about what point would he get a referral to ENT. I suspect that they may say it is way too soon. You may find once he's over this he never has another ear infection-dd1 had 3 in about 3 months at just over a year and not another until last year when she was 16yo.

It's a bit like anything, you have it once and it leaves you vulnerable in the short term of having another.