Normal for an ear infection? And tips please.

[HJBeans]

My 21 month old woke with a fever and fast breathing 5 days ago after coming home from nursery with a streaming nose. Had him checked and they said inflamed throat which had spread to an ear and probably viral. Had a few days diahrea as well. Had him checked again three days later when alternating calpol and ibuprofen wasn't keeping him comfortable and again told ear infection but given some antibiotics in case he didn't start to improve. Started those yesterday morning in desperation when he still seemed to be getting worse rather than better so on them for 24 hours now. He's articulate for his age, but doesn't claim to have any ear pain. He's not eating much and has periods of playing a bit and then rapidly becoming miserable and moaning. Understand if he needed to antibiotics it would take 48 hours to kick in. Question is does this sound normal for an ear infection. Have never had such a long stretch of fever before and I'm starting to freak out about it and wondering when to go back to the GP if no improvement is seen.

Also, if this is normal, any tips for lessening the misery? He's in bed with us now but no Ones sleeping.

Once the anti-biotics kick in he will probably feel better.
When my DS (19 months) had tonsillitis, he had a high temp (39+) for 3 weeks.

Sounds normal.
Ds got multiple ear infections and typically his would look something like:
Day 1 shows signs of being a bit whingy
Day 2 mild fever
Day 3 raging fever and antibiotics started
Day 4 still fever very miserable
Day 5 still fever a bit better in himself
Day 6 low fever showing signs of tummy ache (reaction to antibiotics)
Day 7-8: tummy ache but no fever, stops antibiotics on day 8
Day 9: recovering
Day 10: all okay before... back to day 1.

He never complained of ear pain until he was much older. I'm not sure whether that was because he was fairly constantly in ear pain so assumed it was normal or because he doesn't tend even now to complain about pain unless he thinks it might let him miss school

Yes it does.

My son can vary symptoms when he has an ear infection. But even at 3 it’s hard for him to describe his symptoms.

Last time was just him screaming in pain on / off for a day or so. He kept on complaining his sister had hurt him but was pretty inconsolable. No temp though & no other symptoms.

Sometimes he is sick especially in morning / evening and he’s had runny poos before.

Other times he has a raging temperature for days but no signs of pain.

Give the antibiotics a day or so to kick in and if it doesn’t improve I would take him back.

Thanks, all. Still off his food here and emotional but no fever all day and seeming much better in himself. Also got my first unsolicited 'love you, mummy' so I'm marking this a Good Day. :-)