Ear Infections Can Make Your Child Miserable

Your child gets grumpy. He or she may pull on or hold their ear and complain of pain and they may run a fever. Chances are they might have an ear infection. 

 Do you remember what it was like when you were a kid and you had an ear infection? Chances are what you remember the most is the pain. Doctor Charles Bower, chief of Otolaryngology at Arkansas Children's Hospital says that pain is the result of pressure. "Pressure on the eardrum will cause pain and my presumption is that some of this is from pressure from inflammation of the ear drum."

That's because when you're young, say younger than three or four, the small passage that travels between your middle ear and your throat, called the Eustachian tube, is very small and doesn't always do a great job at keeping out germs. So sometimes the eardrum becomes infected causing fluid to build up in that tube instead of traveling down behind the nose and throat, and that causes pressure to build up, creating pain.

Doctor Bower says most doctors will treat the pain first, and then decide if antibiotics are needed. "There's increasing questions about whether all children should be given antibiotics for ear infections; we know that the majority of ear infections will resolve without intervention and low risk children, those who are a little bit older, it's very reasonable to treat them with pain medications and time."

If you want to help prevent ear infections keep your child away from second hand smoke. Don't let them fall asleep while sucking on a bottle or pacifier. And if your child has three or more ear infections in a six month period, your doctor may suggest having tubes placed in their ears to help drain the fluid although doctor Bower says the risk for tubes is relatively small. "It's estimated that maybe 20-percent of kids may be a candidate for tubes but very small percentage of kids will go on to actually get tubes."

Your child can't catch an ear infection from other people -- but a cold they catch from someone else can lead to an ear infection. So keep them away from people with colds when possible. And don't forget to wash your hands and theirs regularly.

from: www.todaysthv.com