Grommets are special ventilating tubes that stop fluid from building up behind the eardrum and help preserve hearing. Many children who get recurrent ear infections have grommets put into their eardrums to prevent infection. Your GP will need to monitor your child during this time to check that it’s getting better. Glue ear generally improves within three months. Some children with recurrent ear infections or glue ear might need a long course of antibiotics. Putting cotton wool in your child’s ear or cleaning discharge with a cotton bud can damage the ear. Often your GP will want to see your child again when your child has finished the treatment, to make sure the infection has cleared up.ĭecongestants, antihistamines and corticosteroids don’t work as a treatment for middle ear infections. Stopping too soon could make the infection come back. Most children improve after a few days of antibiotic treatment, but always make sure your child finishes the whole treatment, even if she seems better. If your child still has pain and is unwell after 48 hours, is particularly unwell or is less than 12 months old, your GP might prescribe a short course of antibiotics, usually penicillin. Your GP might suggest some anaesthetic ear drops if your child has severe pain. You can give your child paracetamol in recommended doses to help with pain. Symptoms of middle ear infection usually improve by themselves within 24-48 hours, so antibiotics aren’t often needed. Your child can have a formal hearing test at any age. If your child has had several ear infections, or if your doctor thinks there might be a chronic infection or glue ear, the doctor might organise a hearing test. It’s usually a painless test that takes just a couple of minutes. This test measures how much your child’s eardrum can move, and it can help the GP work out whether the ear is normal.
The GP will look carefully at the inside of your child’s ear using an instrument called an otoscope. has swelling behind the ear or the ear is pushed forward.is generally unwell, has a fever or is vomiting.You should take your child to see your GP if your child: Does your child need to see a doctor about a middle ear infection? Glue ear might be associated with varying degrees of hearing loss, which might lead to behaviour, language and educational difficulties. Sometimes ear infections don’t cause any specific symptoms.Įar infections that keep coming back might lead to ‘glue ear’, which is a thick, glue-like ooze in the middle ear. The burst eardrum usually heals naturally. This helps to relieve the pressure that has built up in the ear from the infection, and eases the pain. There might be a thick and sometimes bloody discharge from your child’s ear. Some children might suffer severe and intense pain in their ears. Symptoms can also include fever, runny nose, irritability or loss of appetite.īabies might cry a lot and pull at the affected ear, especially at night when lying down. They might feel off balance and have trouble hearing. Most children with a middle ear infection complain of earache, or of a feeling of fullness or pressure in the ear. The ear has three main parts – the outer ear (the ear canal and ear lobe), the middle ear (behind the eardrum, and linked to the throat), and the inner ear (which has the nerves that help to detect sound). The medical name for middle ear infections is otitis media. More than 80% of children will have had one by the time they’re three years old. Middle ear infections are very common in young children. The infection can be caused by either a bacteria or a virus. About middle ear infection or otitis mediaĪ middle ear infection is an infection in the fluid behind the eardrum.
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