Toddler ear oozing

[Yogafire]

2 yr old DS has had discharge from his ears the last few mornings, and some during the day today according to our childcare. He has a low level cold (several weeks now), no fever and quite happy. Is it wax or an ear infection , or worse? Someone suggested burst eardrum just now. Will go to doctor in the morning but I'm worried now about he burst eardrum possibility

Burst eardrums are very painful in the few hours before they perforate so I'd imagine he would be grumpy, crying if that were the case. I'd say it's probably ear infection though or excess wax. Definitely worth a trip to the doctors to check either way.

Thanks

My 18 month old has had 2 burst ear drums so far and was clear very poorly both times. She was screaming in pain and extremely ill for a few hours around the time they actually burst and it was quite clearly an infection.. she was losing a thick orange discharge as well as bright red blood on one occasion. Was horrific, but thankfully she got better very very quickly after it actually burst and literally one or two doses of amoxicillin and she was right as rain.

Try not to worry, my dd went through this many times as a toddler and up until about 7. She would get a very bad earache, the drum would perforate, ooze and then clear after antibiotics.
In the end I took her for cranial osteopathy and it never happened again.
With hindsight I wish we had tried it earlier, but she’s an adult now, and has no hearing loss whatsoever.

Does it affect swimming? I mean in the long term? My mum mentioned something about it

Not swimmmg in my experience but she does find it more difficult to equalise her ear pressure when scuba diving, and there is some scarring on the ear drum. But my other dc all had glue ear and had to have grommets inserted and they have the same issue with scuba diving.
Having said that, it really is a first world problem re the scuba diving!

I did get customised ear plugs for the grommet DC which they used for months after to keep water out f the ear canal. To be honest I can’t recall if we used them for hair washing though.

Thanks and hehe to first world problems! Doctor couldn't see past the gunk so we don't know yet if perforated, but seems to be the same treatment either way (antibios for infection) and back for a check in a week when they'll be able to see more.
All of this is in the absence of fever or obvious pain. Low level cold for weeks, that's all

This is really common when children have colds because they suck the snot back in (sorry tmi I know) and it can end up in the ear canal causing inflammation and leading to infection. Less serious infections often present in the absence of a fever and ear infections can be painless or almost painless.

My DD has glue ear. And now grommets she often gets ear infections. Green yellow discharge and it stinks. But never any pain! Just cold symptoms. I think it's pretty common.

My ds used to get ear infections/perforated eardrums and the first we knew was pus oozing out, he has no pain or fever! He grew out of them eventually!

We had a follow up today, 7 days on. The doctor said eardrum is fine. Does that mean it was never perforated? (as I said above, the first dr couldn't see cos of the gunk).
Could it have burst and healed in a week? Or was it only ever an ear infection ?
(my husband took DS to the appt today so I didn't get to ask these questions myself and now wondering. I've found the whole thing a bit baffling really)

Is there a bad smell coming from the ear and what consistency is the discharge ?

When I had a burst eardrum it took about 6 weeks to heal. Obviously I'm an adult but I think even for a toddler it would take longer than a week.

Thanks kurri