How can a parent tell if a young baby has an ear infection?
Babies may be fretful. They may cry out in pain. They may pull at the ear, but without pain, this usually is part of discovering the earlobe. Red ear lobes have nothing to do with middle ear infections. A more reliable sign is persistent, thick, nasal mucous or red watery eyes. Crying when sucking the bottle, or swallowing, may represent pain caused by pressure on an inflamed eardrum. In short, almost any symptom in a very young child such as crying, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or listlessness may represent ear infection. If persistent, any of these symptoms require examination. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for the first symptom to be pus draining from the ear canal. What happens if an ear infection is not treated? Antibiotics were not developed and widely used until the late 1940’s. Unfortunately, deafness due to untreated ear infections was fairly common. The following occur without treatment: • Eardrum perforation, following build up of pressure behind the eardrum occurs. While t
