15 month old pus coming out of both ears

[Peonyyyy]

Our 15 month old was teething earlier in the week, we think canines as she was pressing on her mouth in these areas a lot, she went off her food and had a temp of around 38, we gave nurofen and calpol and just let her eat whatever she fancied and lots of milk. She then was ok on Friday, no temperature and did a full day of nursery and no phone call, ate everything apparently and was really happy when I picked her up.

Saturday morning she was very hot when I got her up and had a rash which we thought was heat rash as our older child got that sometimes with a temperature, we thought she was still teething and she also got a snotty nose which often seem to coincide with teething. She was quite unhappy all day but had a long nap, rash faded lunch time though and she slept well. Today she was the same but at about 5pm my husband noticed her hair was wet on one side, lifted her hair and found she had pus coming out of her ear! Felt awful that we didn’t take her to a dr sooner but we were convinced it was teething. She usually has her ears showing with her hair tucked behind or half up but as she’s been unhappy her hair is a bit of a mess as we haven’t wanted to upset her by spending ages combing it and styling it etc. called 111 they said just to take her to the pharmacy tomorrow. I also called back a few hours later, she was asleep in bed but i noticed she had fluid coming out of her other ear too, but this seem to be clear whereas the other side is whitish yellow/green.

she hasn’t rubbed her ears at all so we had no idea. I’m worried about the pus in both ears, I have checked on her sleeping a few times this evening and the pus is still leaving wet patches on the mattress. I thought the pus is when it’s burst and the pressure goes and it starts to get better. Is it normal to have this in both ears?

Has anyone else experienced this before? I’m so worried she’ll go downhill overnight and feel awful we didn’t spot it.

thanks

Sorry your little one is so unwell. It sounds like an ear infection, especially given the high temperature. My DS often gets them in both ears. Pharmacies can now prescribe antibiotics for this. Just keep an eye on the ear with clear fluid coming out, that is a bit unusual. But you have done the right thing, called 111. Just keep an eye on her, calpol and nurofen through the night. But yes, the pressure and pain may have reduced now that the ears are discharging. She will just want lots of cuddles. Hope she feels better soon.

My dd had this years ago. She had tonsillitis and an ear infection.

Made a full recovery but she needed antibiotics.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/perforated-eardrum/

Wishing your little one a speedy recovery.

Sound like a perforated eardrum. I understand as we had no idea my little one had an ear infection until the pus started coming out, it was awful!
Be very careful about putting a temperature (or any other symptoms) down to teething - it can you accidentally miss the start of an illness.

Although it looks horrible it’s actually fairly common and generally a good sign of the infection coming out. My youngest suffered terribly with this when she first started nursery. Very prone to ear infections but because she was too young to tell us, we’d just have the miscellaneous temperature, general upset etc and then when the pus started coming out a few days later it would make sense. By that point she would always be happier and picking up within herself.

To be safe you may want to see a GP to see if she needs antibiotics but try not to freak out too much. My dd had this many times over a 6-9 month period then it just stopped.

Awr this happened to my DD.
no idea until both her ears were covered in puss!
I would take to the GP

Poor thing, I bet that's sore.

I wouldn't go to a pharmacy, I'd go to the gp so they can have a proper look.

Hope she's on the mend soon.

My son has had this a couple of times and we've only noticed when the pus appeared. The first time he was prescribed antibiotics, the second time it happened overnight on a Friday and by the time we got to the doctor on the Monday (couldn't find a prescribing pharmacist all weekend), the perforated ear drum had begun to heal and we were told just to keep an eye on him, paracetamol for pain. In both cases, we were told just to keep his ear dry so to pop cotton wool in it for every bath, avoid swimming etc. I'd just keep an eye on her then visit the doctor as soon as possible.

Mine used to get this whenever he had a cold. His eardrum had burst. You need to take her to the GP or A&E to get the eardrum checked and to get antibiotics. It will heel but you really need to go soon as it can get infected.

I’m sorry but this isn’t an a&e issue. It may not even require antibiotics. Ringing the GP would be the sensible first step.

Thanks everyone, glad to hear it’s not just us that has missed this before!!

we have been to the pharmacist this morning and got antibiotics. Weirdly the ear that was oozing last night has now stopped and dried up, and the other ear was oozing this morning. She was very unhappy and hot this morning again, but fine after calpol.

hopefully it’ll clear up soon!

It was when he had them. I was told to take him to A&E because it was severe and outside GP hours. It was a regular occurrence.

My dd had them so often we had a referral to ENT where the consultant basically shrugged and said it happens all the time. Of course if there’s a bad infection going on then they may need assessing for antibiotics but first point of contact should be with a GP if available and 111 if not.

When he got them he basically screamed his head off, was burning up and generally unwell and vomiting . He had a referral to ENT and the consultant was concerned that his hearing was being damaged. I was advised by the consultant to take him to A&E if it was outside GP hours because it really was so severe. I think this just proves that different consultants/ hospitals do things differently.

Sorry that your DD is poorly, I would say it definitely would be an ear infection.
My eldest who is now 4 suffered with them so much when she was around the same age and her ear would always be leaking. Luckily she never seemed to actually be in any pain though. I would take her to the docs all the time and they kept prescribing various oral antibiotics.

She went on the waiting list for a ENT appointment, however the list was so long we ended up paying to see a private ENT and he explained that the tubes within their ears are so small at this age, they are very prone to getting clogged up and therefore bursting and leaking. He gave us some antibiotic ear drops and they worked so much better than the oral ones. He said she would grow out of it and you know what, she did.

if you go to the docs, I would 100% request ear drops.

Does anyone know how long the ears likely to have pus for? We have done 2 doses of anti biotics now and keep wiping her ears by pus is still coming out.

You need to take her to see the doctor.

This is not a case for a pharmacist.

@mathanxiety good grief, read the thread. I was advised by 111 to go to the pharmacy, they can prescribe antibiotics. It’s very common now for this to be recommended to take the pressure off GPs.

In my experience the pus does take a few days to stop. Keep on doing the antibiotics and wiping the pus away.

Possibly burst ear drum - my little one had this a few times when she was little - once ear drum had burst and fluid released she often began to feel better - see gp

Defo ear infection my son had this loads of times when he was a baby! Ended up him having to have surgery as had a perforated eardrum. Don’t let the doctors fob you off. Hope little one get well soon 😊

Hi just chiming in here as in the exact same position but a few days ahead. We were on holiday when our 15month's ear started pussing. Went to the pharmacy 3 days ago where they gave us antibiotics. It took him about 2 days to perk up and the pus has stopped and dried up now.

Thank you everyone. Amazingly the pus cleared up within 24 hours of starting antibiotics, and the pain. She was back to her old self! Antibiotics are amazing x