do you always have to go to the doctor's for an ear infection?

[fisil]

Ds has got over the miserable stage now and is perfectly happy cos the infection is coming out now. But it's only a tiny weeny bit of puss - do I really need to bother?

yuck! doctor told me that otitis media (inner ear infection) would only go away with a course of antibiotics. is that what he's got cos I don't remember any gunk comingout.

it's up to you though. you still sound very sane considering he's been off colour!

Gunk only comes out with an inner ear infection if the drum gets perforated/burst.

Personally, I'd taken him along. I had an evil one at Christmas, it was agony and I was deaf for over a month. No pus though!

I never had gunk coming out when I was young and I regularly had ear infections. With ds we have always got him to the GP within 12 hours - and it has always burst before then!

I thought ear infections could get quite nasty if left untreated, but I'm no doctor and none of mine have had one yet so don't take my word for it!

I'm Mrs Cautious and would always get them checked out just to be on the safe side!

Not wishing to worry you, but gunk coming out could mean a perforated ear drum. I think I'd take him to get it checked out, just to be on the safe side.

I hate having to give antibiotics but dd's just had a course as she also had an ear infection on top of a cold. I think it's risky to let infection linger in ears and chest though. It did seem to clear up the ear pain within a couple of days, not to mention the green gunk coming from her eyes and nose.

ooh dear, sounds like it would be best to avoid any further infection if it's perforated, definitely a good reason to get antibiotics.

if it was me my dd would be straight down docs! She is only 6 months old tho! Well done for coping this long....

After what has happened to my 7yo nephew I'd always get an ear infection checked out. He had a hidden infection which worked its way into the surrounding bone and has caused an overgrowth of the tissue inside the ear. He now faces regular operations for the rest of his life to remove the overgrowth and protect his hearing. It is an incredibly rare condition - I've never heard if it before - but it can happen.

Thank you very much ladies. It was worth going - the ear infection hadn't really got going yet but he has a chest infection, so we got antibiotics anyway. Hopefully that'll clear up all of his oozy bits like muminlondon's dd. Why can'e toddlers just leave their germs where they found them?