Every mom gets a question like, how to know if the infant has ear infection.
Immediately you can observe a great change in your infant’s mood if he/she has an ear infection or any other illness.
Your baby starts crying more than usual.
Usually ear infection strikes your infant after a common cold or sinus infection. You can notice some symptoms in your infant if he got ear infection:
- Usually the baby grabs, pulls or tugs at his ears. This indicates that your infant is in some trouble.
- Diarrhea viruses that affect ear infection also affect the gastrointestinal tract and triggers diarrhea.
- Whitish or yellow colored fluid comes from the ear, but this is not the case with every baby. Leakage from the ears is a sure sign of infection. Sometimes, it also indicates a hole in the ear drums.
- Reduced appetite and ear infection can lead to gastrointestinal upset. The condition makes your baby very difficult to swallow and chew.
- A foul smell emanating from the baby’s ear.
Reason behind the development of ear infection in your infant:
Usually, the development of fluid and bacteria in the area around the baby’s ear drum can also cause ear infection. Generally the fluid that enters the eardrum leaves more quickly through the Eustachian tube.
Whenever your baby gets cold, sinus infection or during the allergy season, the Eustachian tube becomes blocked. With this, all the fluid that enters the ear drum gets blocked in the middle ear. This leads to the development of bacteria.
When the infection becomes severe, it causes swelling in and around the ear drum and finally leads to pain. Most generally, infants are very susceptible to the ear infection, because their Eustachian tube is short and horizontal, so bacteria can easily enter from the nose and throat to the middle ear.
Helping an infant with ear infection:
Most of the studies showed that 80% of the ear infections can go away on their own, but if the infection persists for one or two weeks, it is better to consult your child’s physician or an ENT specialist.
- Generally, the doctor suggests you to use antibiotics to fight against the ear infection.
- There is vaccination available to treat the disease in children less than 2 years. This vaccine helps to protect against the most common bacterial causes of ear infection.
- You can also prefer laser surgery if the infection is most frequently occurring in your infant.
So, to prevent the infections that irritate your child, get the vaccinations up to date, breastfeed your baby for at least six months, limit the exposure to tobacco smoke etc [Link between ear infection and tobacco smoke].
