Advice needed please re swimming and ear infection

[laloup]

Three year old ds has ear infection at the moment, ear has been weeping so ear drum may be perforated and she is on course of anti-biotics. We are going away at the weekend to a hotel with a pool and he will want to join his brother in the pool. Have told him this may not be possible. Have ordered some swim earplugs and earband online, does anyone have any experience of using these and do they really help keep the ear free from the poolwater. Any advice appreciated about swimming and children prone to ear infections greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Personally I wouldn't risk it with a perfroated ear drum, but I know several people who do use ear bands or even very tight caps quite effectively.

i personally wouldn't take the risk esp as ear is weeping.
but i suppose if you use plugs and ear band and have a no head under water/no splashing (!) rule it might be o.k. might be tricky with a 3yo though.
good luck

Ds has a perforated ear drum and I use the silicone ear plugs and an ear band for him. However, if he has a runny ear, I don't take him swimming - the ear plugs won't have such a good contact and therefore won't be as good at keeping the water out. However, this is for my ds who is quite happy diving off the side and swimming to me and has his ears underwater quite a bit of the time. If your son has arm bands or similar and keeps his head out of the water might not be so bad.

Thanks, the ear is still quite weepy so looks better to stay out of the water to be on the safe side or maybe just paddle at the side. The earband might be better to prevent a further infections after swimming.

Have you got the silicone ear plugs - consultant recommended those and said it was OK taking ds swimming with them (although not when he actually had an ear infection). The ear band doesn't really keep the water out, but its really good at keeping the ear plugs in (most of the time). You will get complaints putting the ear plugs in, but they soon forget to worry.