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Any adult who has had an ear infection knows how painful it can be?all the more reason why it hurts to see your baby with one. Unfortunately, baby ear infections are extremely common. ?Most kids?up to of 80 percent?will have one by age four,? says Sheila Jacobson, a paediatrician at Clairhurst Pediatrics and part-time staff paediatrician at Toronto?s The Hospital for Sick Children.
An ear infection is a viral or bacterial infection in the middle ear. It usually begins with a cold or allergies, which can cause the eustachian tubes?a passage between the middle ear and upper throat?to get blocked. The result: fluid build-up in the areas just behind the eardrum, and the pressure from the inflammation is what causes all that pain. Kids under age two are unable to simply say, ?My ear is killing me,? making an infection difficult to detect. Jacobson says to look out for fever, especially if preceded by a cold, as well as crying, clinginess, loss of appetite and irritability. Children with an ear infection often won?t sleep well, either, as pressure in the middle ear on the eustachian tubes increases when they?re lying down. And if you see fluid or pus draining from your child?s ear, it?s a sure sign of infection. You may also notice your child pulling on or rubbing their ear.
The good news is that most ear infections disappear on their own. Some may require antibiotics, although Jacobson prescribes the wait-and-watch approach, as recommended by the Canadian Pa...