Ear Ache question

[CharityLynn]

What would you do?

My 7yr old daughter has had a cold the last couple days, mainly a runny nose and being tired, she had a sore throat day one but that was it. Well yesterday she said her ear hurt. She has no fever and hasn't yet as soon as the motrin wears off you can tell she's not feeling well.

I think I am going to take her in to the doctors tomorrow because she has missed half a day both Monday and Tuesday and I didn't even send her to school today. But I keep debating with myself because she does not have a fever.

So what would you do?

 

[golfgal]

My kids never ran a fever with an ear infection and between the 3 of them they had plenty of them. My DR had me get an ear scope and that thing is a life saver. I still use it today. Run to the store and pick one up (you can get them at Walgreens, etc.). Look in her ear, if it is red, bring her to the dr, if it isn't, wait it out. I suspect she has an ear infection, or at least fluid build up though. You have to pull up on their ear to open the ear canal to see inside though. Practice on your DH first since his ears are bigger .

 

[ilovejack02]

I am a wait and see Mommy , but since she is has missed a cpl of days already, I would take her in. She might have fluid backing up in her ear. I know they say if you wait ear aches can work themselves out sometimes, but after having DS7 eardrum burst once and there was no fever involved I now take him in with in a day of him saying his ear hurts.

Hope she feels better soon, hate when little ones feel yucky!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My son is 3.

My son had a cold last week same as everyone else in the family. But suddnely on a Thursday afternoon, he was inconsolable due to ear pain. I took him to urgent care. He hadn't had any fever. But he had a double ear infection.

(He had a double the month before and he did have a fever then.)

If her ear still hurts in the morning, it wouldn't hurt to have it checked.

 

[CharityLynn]

Another question- how do you get your child to take their medication? My daughter is allergic to Penicilan so no yummy amoxicilan for her. She is a pain (as in sit on her, hold her arms down, plug her nose, squeeze the syringe in her mouth) to give medicine to. She takes chewable motrin/tylenol without a problem. She doesn't know how to swallow a pill yet.

 

[ilovejack02]

Another question- how do you get your child to take their medication? My daughter is allergic to Penicilan so no yummy amoxicilan for her. She is a pain (as in sit on her, hold her arms down, plug her nose, squeeze the syringe in her mouth) to give medicine to. She takes chewable motrin/tylenol without a problem. She doesn't know how to swallow a pill yet.

I have been pretty lucky , DS7 is pretty easy even if it tastes bad, but he also knows I don't play around with that kind of stuff. So he just may be afraid of mean mommy LOL! You can get the pharmacist to flavor liquid meds with yummy taste for a cpl of extra dollars I think.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Another question- how do you get your child to take their medication? My daughter is allergic to Penicilan so no yummy amoxicilan for her. She is a pain (as in sit on her, hold her arms down, plug her nose, squeeze the syringe in her mouth) to give medicine to. She takes chewable motrin/tylenol without a problem. She doesn't know how to swallow a pill yet.

I cannot take the "cillins", but I take the "myocins" and the Z-pack.

Can't recall what my son got this past week--but it wasn't a cillin like last time. They switched it up to lower the chance of developing a resistance to antibiotics. It was a liquid--and he didn't think it tasted as bad as the amoxicillin. He hated the amoxicillin. We alos use a very skinny syringe (only holds 1ML) and I have those saved from other times. He can't due the big fat droppers they provide. Too much too quickly.

 

[CharityLynn]

Yeah did that once she hated it lol...its payback i used to be a pain about liquid meds too. Karma strikes again! My son is actually really easy when it comes to taking meds but not my daughter.

 

[momof5boys]

As for getting her to take medicine, you could just get an antibiotic shot if she is really difficult. But she is old enough to learn to swallow pills. Get some skittles or M&M's. Have her practice swallowing them. If they start to dissolve in her mouth they won't taste bad. Once she can swallow them a few times she will have the confidence to swallow pills, and no yucky tasting liquid medicine. I have done this with my kids and kids at work. Had half the staff cheering on a kid that was horrible with meds, after he swallowed the M&M! He was so proud of himself and took his antibiotic pill no problems!

 

[CharityLynn]

Thats not a bad idea Momof5boys.

I worry when it comes to swallowing pills she will be like me too. I couldn't get the hang of it..not until I get monthly cycle then I learned real quick how to swallow an Advil lol

 

[minkydog]

If her ear is still hurting over night I'd take her in tomorrow. Many kids don't run fever with ear infections. Christian didn't. We found out later that he had had multiple ear infections and it cost him some hearing. He has moderate, unfixable hearing loss in both ears now. I'm here for my Bad Mother of the Year award.

Give her some Motrin every 6 hours and let her have a warm pack on it, if that helps.

 

[mickeyboat]

I would give her some Tylenol and Sudafed, have her sleep at an incline, and take her to the doctor tomorrow.

DD10 is just getting over an ear infection, and she was in a lot of pain early Sunday morning. Motrin didn't touch the pain. She didn't start feeling better (no pain, no fever) until Monday night.

It took several days of fussing over taking her meds (liquid) until she started taking it without complaining. I need to teach her to take a pill. Thanks for the M&M suggestion.

 

[binny]

Another question- how do you get your child to take their medication? My daughter is allergic to Penicilan so no yummy amoxicilan for her. She is a pain (as in sit on her, hold her arms down, plug her nose, squeeze the syringe in her mouth) to give medicine to. She takes chewable motrin/tylenol without a problem. She doesn't know how to swallow a pill yet.

My Dr told me to have them "practice" by swallowing an M&M or a tic tac. That way no medicine is lost and they get comfortable with it.


Hope everyone feels better soon! We are dealing with some nasty here too DD, DH and I all have Strep pneumonia which is a lot scarier than it sounds but is still bad. We are going on anti biotics now to try to get rid of it.

 

[PatsGirl]

As for getting her to take medicine, you could just get an antibiotic shot if she is really difficult. But she is old enough to learn to swallow pills. Get some skittles or M&M's. Have her practice swallowing them. If they start to dissolve in her mouth they won't taste bad. Once she can swallow them a few times she will have the confidence to swallow pills, and no yucky tasting liquid medicine. I have done this with my kids and kids at work. Had half the staff cheering on a kid that was horrible with meds, after he swallowed the M&M! He was so proud of himself and took his antibiotic pill no problems!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, where is that bowing smilie when I need it. DS couldnt' take a pill until he joined the military and then had no choice. DD still doesn't do pills but alas, I may finally have a fix for that!!!!

 

[golfgal]

We did the M&M thing too. We started with the mini ones and moved up to the regular sized one. One tip, if it is a pill, have her tip her head back, if it is a capsule, have her tip her head forward. At age 7 she should get the hang of it pretty quickly. Most liquids are flavored now, if not, you can ask for flavoring if she can't get the hang of swallowing tablets.

 

[mjkacmom]

Thats not a bad idea Momof5boys.

I worry when it comes to swallowing pills she will be like me too. I couldn't get the hang of it..not until I get monthly cycle then I learned real quick how to swallow an Advil lol

I used tic tacs. I am guessing it is an ear infection, common with colds, but about 80% of them are viral, so it might clear up on it's own. My pediatrician will write out a prescription, but will tell me to hold off on filling it for a few days if my child isn't in too much discomfort, to see if it clears (if it's viral, the antibiotic is useless).

 

[golfgal]

I used tic tacs. I am guessing it is an ear infection, common with colds, but about 80% of them are viral, so it might clear up on it's own. My pediatrician will write out a prescription, but will tell me to hold off on filling it for a few days if my child isn't in too much discomfort, to see if it clears (if it's viral, the antibiotic is useless).

That's the first time I have heard that. Yes, colds are often viral but I have never heard that ear infections are viral.