10 month old ds has oozing ear/perforated eardrum - any similar experience!

[kb101]

Hi. my ds is 10 months and has one ear oozing (not green or smelly, just yellowish goo like thick honey) and i wonder if anyone has any similar experience?

he saw the dr last week who was relaxed about it and said no need to do anything if he has no temp and well in himself. he did take a swab though and said he has a perforated eardrum.

he is really gunged up with runny gross eyes (not eye infection says dr, but because his 'guttering' is blocked) and runny nose too.

sleeping ok and eating ok.

just worried that he should be having antibiotics, as you read about damage to hearing etc. and we're due to fly in a couple of weeks so am worried about that too.

thanks.

if he doesn't have a temperature, and the doctor sees no need for antibiotics, then he probably doesn't need antibiotics. Ears usually only ooze in the way you describe once the actual infection itself has gone. (happened once to my dd1; her ear oozed for six weeks, but she was fine as the infection had long gone. She didn't need antibiotics).

Agree about antibiotics , better off without them , HOWEVER if you are still concerned about him the week before you fly go back to the GP and tell him that you are flying the following week and you re concerned.

GP may or maynot prescribe but it may put your mind at rest

OMG I had this - an ear infection that resulted in a perforated ear drum - it was like having labour pains in your ear! Is he not complaining about the perforation/its associated pain?

FWIW, Otosporin ear drops are where it's at. Ask your dr if it could be otitis. Is there any flaky skin outide the ear canal?

my dd1 didn't have any pain once the ear was oozing.

ds3 had repeated burst eardrums when he was 1 and 2. He never had antibiotics (I didn't want them near him unless he was very ill which he wasn't). He seems (touch wood) to have grown out of it now he;s 3.

I actually flew to Tenerife when dd1's ear was still oozing. She was fine. Just gave her plenty to drink, and we may have given her calpol in case she had pain.

thanks everyone your comments are really helpful.

his first 2 teeth have just appeared so i had put grumpiness down to that! i know that once the eardrum has perforated it's meant to relieve the pressure. i told the doctor that he was shaking his head frantically only when it oozed, and he said that's probably because of the odd sensation of goo oozing out!

a question: did you have any advice on caring for the ear, ie should you keep it dry (not get it wet in the bath, don't go swimming etc)?

have got a dr's appointment for before we fly. he now has a really chronic cough so i am expecting a chest infection next!

DS has had a couple of ear infections with perforated ear-drum recently. Last time I saw the nurse she said to avoid getting water in it, so we missed swimming for a week or to. Also avoided washing his hair (which we do infrequently anyway).

Don't know about the flying, sorry

thanks again everyone. dr called with the swab results and has given a prescription of amoxycillin as there were
bacteria present.

i'm never sure with antibiotics if the infection would clear up anyway without them? it sounds like some of you had that experience.

DD1 has had a few ear infections (she's 4.3 now)

She's had ABs 3 times, I think.

Took her to see a homeopath in the end.

Since then she's had 2 episodes of oozing ear, which have cleared up in their own time without ABs (new GP is sensible re AB use in ear infections)

Oddly enough I've been to the GP with my poorly dd who is also 10 months! She also has an ear infection - he said both ears looked very inflamed and we have antibiotics plus calpol of course. Poor little mites - hope your ds feels better soon.

LO had this at about the same age. Here is the short(ish) version: honey like waxy ear - HV tells us that "babies have surprisingly waxy ears & is normal". continues for over a month so see GP - def outer ear infection, given antibiotics for 1 week. initially clears then returns within a week. see GP again - takes swab, gives different antibiotics for 1 week. results say first antibiotics correct but needs 2 weeks plus referred to hospital. by hospital appointment seems much clearer but informed has actually caused perforation & is now inner ear infection, given eye drops down ear & review in 1 week. no change so given steroid drops & antibiotics & review in 1 week. All clear. That was Christmas. Still clear 2 months on.

Hated giving all those antibiotics. She didnt really seem that troubled by the infection but was told could lead to deafness. More troubled by medicine 3 times a day for weeks. Didnt like the eye drops - I think they stung. Were given these first as the steroid drops can also cause deafness. We were due to go on holiday at end of jan but had held off booking until after hospital appointment. Were told flying no problem but "would probably reperforate ear but only cause an hour or so of screaming". This didnt seem "no problem" to us so decided to wait a few months before flying to let heal fully. As someone already said - dont get water in it, put cottonwool with vaseline in ear at bathtime.

Ds (18 mo) has v. v. regular ear infections leading to perforations. He had what they desribed as 'antibiotic cover' after the first few, ie to be on the safe side, but I and dr.s became uncomfortable with too regular ABs so now we manage it with a GP check when it starts oozing, then another check a week later to make sure it's healing up and infection has cleared. The last couple of times it's perforated, we have managed to avoid ABs and ds has seemed to recover better without them.

The last dr. recommended baby ibuprofen before bed when we suspect the ear is playing up, to ease the inflammation as well as the pain, and that has worked wonders. We have had 2 bouts without perforation treating it like that - worth considering, we had just used calpol before that and obv. that doesn't address the inflammation, just the pain.

We have problems with a 14 month old who is suffering repeated oozing ear, pain, sometimes higher temperature. He's on ear drops at the moment.

How much of a problem is this? Can it effect hearing long term? Should we worry about it?

Thanks

• Richard

My DD had this in the summer. She was very unwell for a good couple of weeks & then one ear drum burst & it was really quite vile. I took her to the dr & he said because there was green pus she should ab. I was very reluctant but then read about pus going in all sorts of directions & causing problems, plus we were going on hols very soon, so she did take them.
I think she'd have been fine though, as soon as they burst, there was no more pain & she much better in herself. And it cleared up in a couple of days.

Richard, my DD had a slight hearing problem when she was younger & we cleared this up by taking her off dairy. She never had an ear infection though...so not sure if that's any help to you...

We've had gunk coming out of the eyes as well which the doctor put down to a bad case of cough/cold. He's listened to the chest and is happy. I'm hoping it's coming towards an end now as it has been quite distressing for him at times. He does seem happier at the moment and seems to be responding to us speaking/singing which is a positive sign all is all right. I've been playing music and seeing if he jiggles to it.

Thanks

• Richard

Hi, my 4 yr old has gunk coming out of her ear now. She had initially complained of a sore ear a couple of days ago but thought nothing of it.... noticed today the ooz around her ear including in her hair. Tried to get into the doctor but nothing until tomorrow. I'm hoping she stays settled through the night.. have her dosed up on Iboprufen. I have been told to get her to the hospital urgently and others have said she'll be fine until tomorrow.

She also has grommets in both ears and was swimming on the weekend so I know there is an infection in there, I'm just concerned whether there can be any more damage to the eardrum because of the grommets????

Anyone with any info on this and/or whether you can use swimmers eardrops to dry up the water on people/children with grommets???

I guess I will find out tomorrow anyway, but will post the outcome for others who may be wondering. I am finding it difficult to find information on grommets/eardrops/swimming/ear infections etc..

Thanks. :)

Just an update on my 4 yr old..... severe middle ear infection... her grommet has fallen out and left a small hole in her eardrum.... probably why she is not in too much pain because it is able to escape.... on antibiotics...... appointment to see specialist in a week regarding her grommet.

Hopefully she doesn't need the grommet anymore and won't need another operation to put the grommet back in. I find it really hard to know what the right thing to do is! Do the positives outway the negatives????

We were barred from flying by the doctor who saw my ds with a peforated ear drum

although NHS Direct don't seem to think it a problem