My almost 11 month old baby was diagnosed with an ear infection on Sunday. She was given Amoxicillin Sunday night, Monday morning, and Monday evening (at this point). She slept great Sunday night (after a HORRIBLE Saturday night). Last night (Monday night) she screamed in pain. We gave her Tylenol and the numbing drops (Benzocaine) that were prescribed. She finally slept for awhile but then woke up a couple of times early this morning and is still pulling on her ear and crying in pain.
I understood that the pain would let up after 24 hours of getting the Amoxicillin. And to be honest, I gave her some of her sister's Amox. during Saturday night (half the dosage she currently has.....so technically she had her first dosage about 18 hours before Sunday night's official dosage. Her older sister who is 3 was also diagnosed with her first ear infection this week, too.
Do I need to take her back in and see about getting a stronger dosage? Is this normal for her to still be in pain?
Thank you in advance!
Very normal! Give it a few days for it to kick in..In the meantime give some generic tylenol or motrin for pain. Poor baby. Hope she's better soon :)
It can actually take many days.. . Especially if it is an extremely severe infection.
Just check in with the nurse, so that they are aware.
Did they give you some of the ear drops to numb the pain?
Up to 80% of ear infections are viral, and most will resolve in roughly the same amount of time with the same amount of pain whether you give antibiotics or not. Not that you shouldn't ever give antibiotics for ear infections, they are sometimes warranted. Just know that they're not magic, and it'll take time. If she spikes a fever *after* being on antibiotics for 48 hours, then it's worth a call to your doctor. She's old enough for ibuprofen, that will be more effective on the pain (and longer acting) than the tylenol.
It sucks when they're sick, and in pain, and there's not much you can do. My thoughts are with you and your family, wishing you a peaceful night of sleep soon.
I am a veteran of many ear infections and, in my experience and the information from our pediatrician, antibiotics need 24-48 hours to start fighting the infection.
However, it isn't the infection itself that is causing the pain...it is the fluid build up in the ear. The antibiotics will start working on the infection and alleviate some of the pressure but the fluid could remain for several days (weeks! yikes!) and cause varying levels of discomfort.
I would give her the prescribed dosage today and call the doctor in the morning if you don't notice an appreciable improvement.
If the ear infections are chronic, you might consider asking your doctor about using Mucinex (guafenisin) to help manage the situation. Along with a lot of water, a few days of Mucinex at the onset of the congestion that signals my daughter is about to get an ear infection, we've been able to avoid all but one full blown ear infection in the last year. Our ENT has been quite happy to use this routine to avoid a THIRD set of tubes.
There are also a number of alternative therapies available and I know a number of people that have had success. Alas, none worked for us, but I would certainly explore them again if I had another child with ear infection problems.
I am not your mother, so I am not going to scold you, but tsk tsk (you know what I mean).
It can take a while for the pain to go away. My son sometimes bus his ears even after finishing a full course of antibiotics because he still has fluid that is lingering. If her fever comes back whie on it or shortly after finishing it give your doctor a buzz. I found that the gentle naturals ear drops work better for pain then the benzocaine drops.
I agree with what's been said. I'll also add that they've done studies on the correlation between ear pain and touching the ear on children under the age of 2. They found that until around the age of 2, babies/toddlers pull on their ears the same whether they have an ear infection or not. I remember that whenever I get worried about my baby pulling on her ears. Hope she's feeling better now!
I would just give the nurse a call. My son had ear infection after ear infection and we had to go through the whole scheme on antibiotics.
normal to still be in pain no unusual no on that too take her back to the doc mine had to have ear drops and a medication with a double antibiotic in it.i would take her to an ent she may wind up needing tubes anyway. my youngest son for some reason is resistant to the antibiotics. his older brother wasnt. she is going to need something more and ask about a decongestant even if she is not congested.
