Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
Signs your child has an ear infection can include:
1 Baby is pulling, tugging or grabbing his/ her ear
This could be a sign your child has ear pain, however children, especially babies, pull on their ears often for no reason at all). If this is the only sign and if your baby seems fine otherwise, it is probably not an ear infection.
2 Difficulty sleeping
Lying down can put pressure on the eustachian tubes which makes an ear infection more painful.
3 A yellowish or white fluid draining from the ear
This doesn’t happen with all ear infections, but it is a sure sign of infection. This can signal a perforated eardrum.
4 Reduced appetite
Is your baby has an ear infection it can make chewing and swallowing painful. Ear infections can also cause gastrointestinal upset.
5 Diarrhea and/or vomiting
The bug that causes ear infections can also affect the gastrointestinal tract.
6 Unpleasant smell
You may notice an unpleasant smell coming from your baby’s ear.
7 High temperature
A fever above 38.9℃ can be a sign of an ear infection.
My 3 year old daughter had an ear infection towards the end of 2014 and it was terrible. On the way home from creche she started crying and wouldn’t stop. When we got home she wouldn’t tell me why she was crying. She didn’t have a temperature and was grabbing her one ear all the time. After nearly 3 hours of her crying I took her to the hospital. She must have been in a lot of pain to not tell me what was wrong as she is always very happy to tell me all the things wrong with her, she often tells me things are sore or she is sick when there is nothing wrong, so this was very scary for us.
Thank you for this valuable information, As a child I suffered with middle ear infection and only outgrew it at 13 years old 🙁
Thank you – these topics are very valuable for all parents. Signs will differ from child to child but as parents (Moms) we know when our little ones are not themselves.
My eldest son had the most terrible and painful ear infections. Between the age of 8 months and 3 years old he had undergone surgery 4 times. That was a painful experience literally and figuratively for both parents and baby. Luckily that is in the past and today he is a very healthy boy.
So glad it is over for you. My daughter has only had one ear infection and it was a terrible experience.
My twins had so many ear infections we thought they would have permanent ear damage. We had to keep track of the medicine they took because they were getting immune to them all. Thankfully we finally got an appointment to have tubes put in and haven’t had a problem with ear infections since. Great post keep it up lynne!
Thanks Richard.
My younger sister had ear problems from a young baby all the way through till her teens. It was very unpleasant for her. Fortunately my daughter of nearly 4 years old has only had one ear infection and my 18 month old son none!
Glad your twins are doing better.
Lynne
My son is 5 and was in hospital for a month with ear infection. He had lumber punches done on him. He went for CT Scans, sonars, xrays, tones of blood tests. He had severe Mastioditis. He had a operation and a blood transfusion.
Please, take your child to the doctor. My son almost died…….. ?
Oh my gosh that is really scary Natasja. I knew ear infections can be bad but I never realized how serious is could be.
Thank you for sharing your experience with my website, I hope this helps other moms.
I am so glad your son is ok now.
Useful info.
Thanks Lynne
Thanks Marisca, I hope you never need it! An ear infection is really awful.
Hope not ?
I see my boy pull and fiddle with his ears the whole time and moan while he touch and look at me to say i show you mommy my ears are sore then i know. Thanks for sharing all these other signs.