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Ear infections occur in children from 3 months to 7 years, more particularly those in community. At first, the child has a cold. Then it is nasopharyngitis, because the nose communicates with the throat and the ears. Then these are nasopharyngitis germs that pass through the eustachian tube and cause ear infections. When the common cold causes inflammation in the ear and fluid gets lodged behind the eardrum, it is called otitis media. In some cases, this fluid will become infected: it is acute otitis (or suppurative).
What are the symptoms of otitis media, acute or serous?
The diagnosis is made after examining the ears with a otoscope, but some signs do not deceive.
In acute otitis, the child may not have any particular symptoms, but most often he has a fever (average temperature of 38 ° C but can reach 39 ° C in infants). At night, he vomits, he has diarrhea and possibly conjunctivitis. When the eardrum spontaneously perforates, you may even find a halo of pus in the morning in bed. It is often this event that alerts parents. Your child tends to scream as soon as you put him to bed and calms down when you hug him because when he is lying down, the pain is intolerable to him.
In case of serous otitis (or seromucous). It is much less spectacular and can even go unnoticed. The main symptom is hearing loss (up to 30%) in both ears. With the key, if it is not treated, a possible delay of language.
How to relieve a baby with a sore ear and eardrums?
To ease baby’s crying, we can try him gently massage the protruding part of the small bone which sits behind the ear for a few minutes.
Antibiotics, remedies, drugs: how to treat an ear infection very quickly?
Antibiotics are recommended to treat acute ear infections. We need them associate with analgesics to relieve pain and fever. In eight days, everything is back to normal.
Serous otitis, on the other hand, does not require treatment and spontaneously heals in the vast majority of cases, provided that the ear has time to dry out between two acute ear infections.
However, beware of recurrences! Indeed, sometimes acute otitis heals but the fluid accumulated in the ear does not dry out. Result, another microbe grows there immediately and causes a new infection. On the one hand, this liquid prevents the eardrum from vibrating and therefore transmitting sounds, and on the other hand, the infernal cycle of recurrent ear infections begins …
About the ear drops, it is only your doctor who will be able to assess whether they may be dangerous or not. Indeed, if the eardrum is open it may be contraindicated.
You have to blow the child’s nose as soon as he is able.
How to cure recurrent ear infections?
To prevent the child from being permanently on antibiotics and to help him find good hearing, we must intervene. Before the age of 6 months, the doctor may perform a paracentesis. It is a puncture of liquid using a fine needle. This sample quickly relieves the child and allowsidentify the germ in question and better adapt the treatment.
In older children (the ideal age is around 2-3 years), doctors preferremoval of adenoids (adenoidectomy) and especially the installation of transtympanic aerators (yo-yos) under general anesthesia. These small devices allow the eardrum to remain in communication with the outside. They usually fall off spontaneously six to twelve months later. And the child regains good hearing in the days following the operation.
How to avoid otitis in infants or children?
Don’t let it set in: at the first sign of a cold, take matters into your own hands to prevent it from degenerating into an ear infection. Blow your child’s nose as often as possible to clear the phlegm that is clogging him. Make him morning and evening washing of the nasal cavities with a seawater spray or physiological serum.
Ventilate the house every day to renew the air, humidify the atmosphere in your room by placing a bowl of water on the radiator, and avoid smoking in your presence, because tobacco irritates the mucous membranes. Finally, see an ENT doctor. If your child has recurrent ear infections, his hearing should be monitored regularly by a specialist.