Does a leaky ear mean an infection or just part of a bad cold?

[zephyrcat]

DD2 is 5 months old. She's had a cold for a couple of days but has generally slept through it and had some medised at night when she was a bit hot. This morning when I got her up her nose was completely covered up in snot and her ear had been leaking as it had dried up and looked kind of crystalised .... does that sound like she needs to see a doc or is it quite common with a bad cold? (I normally would have taken her but we have just moved and both our old docs and the new one we need to register with were soooo arsey with us and wouldn't see DS on Monday and he ended up in the hospital for the whole day )

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Hi zephyrcat, was it definately coming from her ear, my ds (5 months also) gets crud on his ears from drool, sick, snot etc - yuck!!
If it is coming from her ear, take her to the GP as it is a sign of infection and should be sorted out asap. Your GP has a resonsibility to see a sick child, if he won't see dd go to a sugery that will.

IME that is the sign of a perforated eardrum zephyrcat - they sometimes sleep through it, dd did, and it fooled us
I'm sorry your new docs sound so rubbish but I think you need to get her checked. They may well not prescribe ABs if that is a factor.

Thanks I think I'll walk down and register and make sure someone sees her there and then. Just wanted to be sure it wasn't just a 'cold' thing before going there nd kicking up a fuss!!

another one with a leaky eared child, each time its happened the dr has said its a perforated eardrum.
hope your dd is feeling better soon