How to check if your baby's ears hurt?

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How can you tell if your child has ear pain?

All young mothers try to protect their child from drafts and take care of his health. But it is not always possible to keep track of the child and the baby gets sick. And if a baby at three years old can still show and tell what hurts him, then an infant will not do this.

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Therefore, it is important for every parent to know how to determine if a child has ear pain.

Almost every second child has ear problems. Often ear pain is the result of complications from a cold or dental disease. Often, after an acute viral illness, a child may develop otitis media.

Symptoms of ear disease in children

But things are not always so simple. It happens that otitis media passes in a latent form, without manifesting itself in any way until the moment when pus is discovered when cleaning the ears. If this happens, you should immediately call medical personnel and provide the child with bed rest.

A common symptom in children, ear pain, can be caused by the following factors:

  • inflammatory disease of neighboring organs;
  • pathology of the neck, blood vessels or brain;
  • damage to the nervous system;
  • tumors.

Reference. With any disease, the pain has a different character: stabbing, shooting, pressing. Often accompanied by additional symptoms.

Many parents do not know what to do and how to understand that their child has an earache. To determine a child’s symptoms, you need to know the child’s behavior in a standard situation.

Parents must be alert to changes in behavior, especially if he becomes moody and constantly cries. An additional sign of ear pain is constant scratching of the sore ear.

A simple way to detect pain in the ear area in a child is to apply moderate pressure on the tragus. If the action is painful for the child, he will try to remove the parent's hand. Thus, inflammation can be noticed at the initial level.

It is also worth paying attention to how the baby behaves during the period of falling asleep. If he cannot fall asleep for a long time and tries to find an optimal position, then it is possible that this action is aimed at alleviating the painful sensation. In this case, it is worth installing a thermometer. Often this disease is accompanied by an additional symptom – fever.

Important! The parent should carefully examine the baby's ear opening with a flashlight. Even minor redness may indicate that the child has an earache. Such symptoms are a sufficient reason to call medical personnel to your home.

Symptoms of ear disease in infants

It is quite difficult to notice the symptoms of the disease in infants. Experiencing acute pain in the ear, babies are capricious and restless, and practically do not sleep. But at this age, babies can cry for various reasons, so you need to pay attention to other symptoms. How can you tell if your baby’s ears hurt?

The following factors clearly indicate that the baby is experiencing discomfort, in particular ear pain:

  • refusal to accept a bottle;
  • refusal of breastfeeding;
  • high temperature 39–40 degrees;
  • discharge from the ear in a baby;
  • poor sleep and crying at night.

To check the symptoms of a baby, you should use a similar method - press on the cartilaginous joint of the ear. The baby will move his head and turn it to minimize pain.

If you take the baby in your arms, he will most likely calm down, as his body acquires a vertical position, which alleviates the pain.

Important! If you suspect otitis in an infant, you should immediately contact medical personnel. After all, at this age, all diseases develop quickly, which leads to negative consequences in the future.

How to relieve ear pain in a child

Before treating your ear yourself, you should consult your doctor. But, as a rule, the child experiences pain at night. The shooting pain causes discomfort to the baby. That's why he doesn't let his parents sleep.

To relieve pain, you should make a warm compress from several layers of gauze. It must be moistened with a solution of vodka and water in a 1:1 ratio. You can apply such a compress only after lubricating the ear with Vaseline or cream. This must be done carefully, while the ear canal must be open.

If the solution gets on the sore ear, it will increase the pain. Drops should not be placed into the ear opening. The applied compress is covered with a layer of cotton wool and wrapped with a bandage. This method allows you to relieve pain until the morning and allow the tortured child to rest.

Attention! If pus is already flowing from the ear, then such a compress cannot be applied. It is better to use a cotton swab with a solution of boric alcohol.

Knowing how to check and find out if a child’s ear hurts, it will not be difficult to notice the symptoms in your baby. But it is worth remembering that it is better to prevent any disease than to treat it later.

Ear inflammation is a negative factor that can lead to irreparable consequences. To get rid of such a danger, you should maintain hygiene and treat treatment with full responsibility.

It is necessary to prevent inflammation and try to minimize hypothermia in the child. It is worth watching out for small objects getting into your ear. And for this you do not need to leave the child unattended.

Directory of main ENT diseases and their treatment

All information on the site is for informational purposes only and does not claim to be absolutely accurate from a medical point of view. Treatment must be carried out by a qualified doctor. By self-medicating you can harm yourself!

Source: http://gorlonos.com/ushi/kak-opredelit-chto-u-rebenka-bolyat-ushi.html

Otitis media in a baby, how to recognize it

Ear inflammation is one of the common diseases of infants. This pattern is explained by anatomical, namely physiological, immaturity of the middle ear, in particular the Eustachian tube. Therefore, pathogenic microorganisms from the nasopharynx almost freely enter it along with water, breast milk and formula. As a result, ear inflammation develops - otitis media in infants.

With the onset of the disease, the baby begins to be capricious, worry and refuse the food offered. At this point, it is important to show the child to the doctor, since otitis media in newborns and infants can lead to complications such as meningitis.

It is necessary to catch the disease at the very beginning and not be afraid of the antibiotics that doctors often prescribe, since the potential complications of otitis media are much more dangerous.

Causes of otitis media in children

The main causes of otitis media in children under one year of age are:

  • colds, infection in the nasopharynx (otitis media is a secondary complication of this infection);
  • domestic trauma (careless cleaning of a child’s ears with cotton swabs, etc.);
  • getting milk or artificial formula into the middle ear;
  • the presence of adenoids, which, as they grow, can partially or completely close the passage to the middle ear; Read more about adenoids→
  • allergic reaction;
  • hereditary predisposition to frequent otitis (features of the structure of the ear in family members);
  • congenital anomalies of the bronchopulmonary system;
  • weak immune defense;
  • high pressure on the eardrum (may occur when flying on an airplane, etc.).

There are also objective reasons that explain the development of otitis media in a child:

  1. Infants are more likely than adults to develop mucus in the nasal cavity. In addition, babies cry every day; during crying, secretions are instantly produced by the nasal mucosa and most of them end up in the middle ear. When bacterial microflora attaches, an inflammatory process develops with further formation of pus.
  2. Babies regurgitate leftover food almost every time after feeding. They, like mucus from the nasal cavity, also enter the Eustachian tube, the fluid in which accumulates freely and quickly due to its anatomical narrowness and underdevelopment, which is due to the age of the baby.
  3. And lastly, again due to age, infants do not know how to blow their nose. Accumulated mucus becomes a source of inflammation and discomfort. It is important for parents to learn how to properly and regularly clean the child’s nasal cavity from the first days of life.

Symptoms. How to recognize otitis media in a baby?

Ear inflammation manifests itself clearly, and, what is most interesting, the disease develops suddenly: that is, a few hours ago the baby was healthy and cheerful, but now he has a fever, and he reacts to everything by crying.

The symptoms of otitis in an infant are almost impossible to confuse with another disease, since they are specific:

  • in the evening the baby’s temperature rises to 40 degrees, he screams loudly and turns his head;
  • the sucking reflex increases pain, so the child flatly refuses the breast or bottle;
  • vomiting may begin, which is not related to indigestion or food poisoning;
  • there are signs of a cold, a prolonged runny nose;
  • The child often breathes through his mouth.

If parents cannot observe the signs of otitis media in their infant for a long time, then soon discharge may be noticed near the auricle. These are traces of pus and they mean that purulent otitis has opened with a rupture of the eardrum.

Parents' task: if fluid appears from the ear cavity, immediately call an ambulance and go to the hospital.

In fact, the symptoms of otitis in an infant are difficult to miss and ignore, although sometimes a specific form of the disease occurs - catarrhal otitis, which usually occurs without any symptoms.

But in general, the signs of otitis in an infant appear in a complex. In order not to confuse them with colic and other diseases, doctors advise pressing on the cartilage of the auricle - if the baby starts crying sharply, then his ear is really inflamed.

Diagnosis of purulent otitis in infants

The purulent form of otitis develops rapidly - within 7-9 hours. Therefore, if parents do not know how to recognize otitis media in an infant, or if any of the above symptoms of pathology appear, it is necessary to show the child to an otolaryngologist as soon as possible.

The doctor will make a diagnosis after examining the middle ear and prescribe appropriate treatment.

Before being examined by a specialist, it is under no circumstances recommended to begin self-treatment with drugs intended for the treatment of otitis media. Self-medication can make it difficult to diagnose the disease and harm the child.

Before consulting a doctor, it is allowed to give the child only antipyretic drugs based on Paracetamol to reduce the temperature and reduce pain.

Treatment of otitis media in infants

Once it has been possible to determine otitis in an infant, it is necessary to immediately begin treatment. Otitis media should be treated by a doctor. Inadequate and untimely initiation of treatment therapy can cause hearing loss and other dangerous complications.

Therefore, there is no need to experiment on your own child and blindly trust traditional therapy or the advice of a pharmacist at the nearest pharmacy.

The course of treatment usually boils down to the following points:

  1. Prescription of antibiotics for a period of 5-7 days: Amoxiclav, Ceftriaxone, Cefuroxime. The dosage of the drug is selected individually, taking into account the child’s weight. Most often, antibiotics are prescribed intramuscularly, but if necessary, the doctor can inject the drug directly into the ear or into a vein (depending on the complications of otitis media).
  2. Prescription of ear drops: Otipax, Otinum. The drug is used under the supervision of a physician. 4 drops are instilled into each ear canal 3 times a day. Before the instillation procedure, the drug should be slightly warmed up by dipping the medicine in warm water or holding it in the palms of the hands for several minutes. The duration of treatment is regulated by the doctor, but it should not last more than 10 days.
  3. Prescription of vasoconstrictor drops: Nazivin for Children. The drug is used before feeding the child and before bedtime. Instill 1-2 drops up to 3 times a day for no more than 7 days. The drug is necessary to narrow blood vessels and maintain patency of the Eustachian tube. In addition, it relieves discomfort in a child associated with a runny nose.
  4. Prescription of antipyretics: Children's Panadol, Nurofen, Calpol. It is prohibited to use drugs based on Aspirin and Analgin in pediatrics.
  5. Prescription of antihistamines: Suprastin, Zodak. These drugs will help eliminate general intoxication of the body.

In most cases, otitis media is treated at home, after consulting a specialist. In case of complications, treatment is carried out in a hospital.

With a purulent form of otitis, a minor surgical intervention may be necessary - paracentesis. With this procedure, the doctor will remove accumulated pus from the eardrum area.

It is not recommended to supplement the treatment prescribed by an ENT doctor with such traditional methods as alcohol compresses, warming up the ear, homemade ear drops and much more.

For example, an alcohol compress on the ear area can actually relieve pain and normalize well-being in some children, while in others it can lead to the transformation of catarrhal otitis into purulent one, followed by rupture of the eardrum.

Prevention of otitis

Prevention of ear inflammation in infants involves proper child care. To clean the ears, only ear sticks with stoppers should be used.

You cannot insert the stick into the ear canal itself; you can only clean the outer canal and the auricle itself. After feeding, the baby must be picked up vertically each time and carried in this position until burping, so that the remains of artificial formula or milk do not fall from the nasopharynx into the Eustachian tube.

Usually, otitis media appears in a baby after a runny nose. Timely treatment of nasal congestion is the best prevention of inflammatory processes in the nasopharynx and middle ear. To prevent mucus from accumulating in the child’s middle ear, it is important to give him water often: in this case, it will be able to come out and not block the auditory tube.

When bathing your baby, you need to make sure that no water gets into his ears. Swimming in open reservoirs is prohibited for children under one year of age.

At any time of the year, during a street walk, the baby should wear a hat appropriate to the weather conditions on his head. In windy weather, it is better to avoid going outside. The temperature in the room where the child is located should vary within degrees, and the room should be regularly ventilated.

When treating a runny nose, cold or otitis media, it is important to avoid swimming and walking, as well as contact with sick children.

If possible, you should continue breastfeeding your child at least until he is one year old. Mother's milk protects the baby from infections and improves the functioning of his immune system.

In addition, the immune system is strengthened by hardening, gymnastics, and frequent exposure to fresh air. While feeding, it is better to hold the baby upright (as far as possible, of course). This position prevents milk from entering the Eustachian tube during sucking.

If otitis media develops due to the presence of adenoids, they must be removed surgically. The fact is that the adenoids are located in close proximity to the Eustachian tube, and as they grow, they close the lumen of the auditory tube, which causes otitis media.

Treatment of otitis in infancy should be carried out under the supervision of a physician. The main task of parents is to provide proper care for the child, follow the recommended dosage of medications and monitor the baby’s reaction to their use.

Self-medication of otitis in the case of infants and newborns is unacceptable and dangerous to health.

Usually, the doctor prescribes antibiotics to treat otitis media. The baby should feel better in an hour. If after this period there are no signs of recovery, you must urgently contact your doctor.

After completing the course of treatment, the child also needs to be shown to a specialist, since the disease may not be completely cured the first time. Untreated inflammation can lead to a new outbreak of infection after several weeks or even months.

Author: Olga Rogozhkina, doctor,

especially for Mama66.ru

Useful video on the causes and treatment of otitis in children

I don’t understand the wording: “...a specific form is catarrhal otitis media.” After all, first otitis media is catarrhal (the onset of the disease), and then (if not treated) it becomes purulent. And the main thing in this matter is not to miss the moment, otherwise it will be more difficult to treat later. This is exactly what happened to my daughter several times. With catarrhal otitis, the ear also hurt and the child cried a lot. But there was no increase in temperature. As the doctor told us, we most likely have otitis associated with the physiology of the child. We were treated for a long time. For prevention, I let my daughter drink frequently, nibble on an apple and carrots. The doctor said that you need to inflate balloons and drink from a straw. We have been suffering from this problem for several years now. I check for otitis this way: I press on the tragus of the ear and, if there is inflammation, the child will react.

Source: http://mama66.ru/detskie-bolezni/otit-u-grudnichka

How to check if your baby's ears hurt?

It was two years ago. Midnight was approaching. I still couldn’t calm the child down and put him to sleep. The baby is worried and cries, refuses to breastfeed, and I can’t find a place for myself, not understanding what’s bothering him and how I can help.

Even the most attentive mothers cannot always understand what is bothering their babies. In infancy, children cannot yet localize pain, much less report it. It’s good that then a good friend came to visit me, who herself had more than once known the joy of motherhood and faced most childhood illnesses and troubles. “Most likely, otitis media,” she said calmly and headed to the phone to call an ambulance.

Not everyone has such an experienced friend, so today I want to tell you how to check whether a baby’s ear hurts, and what to do in this case.

How to check if a baby's ear hurts?

The prevalence of otitis (ear inflammation) in children is clearly illustrated by statistics: by the age of 1, every 2nd child has already had it. By 2 years this figure increases to 90%.

In young children, due to the lack of speech contact and the inability to determine the source of pain, diagnosing otitis media is extremely difficult. However, it is important to identify and treat this unpleasant disease in time, because otitis media can lead to serious complications, including the development of meningitis or complete deafness. How to check if a baby's ear hurts? Here are the main symptoms that parents should pay attention to:

1. Nonspecific manifestations: fever, anxiety, crying of the child, inability to sleep normally, refusal to breastfeed. Often the baby experiences pendulum-like head movements.

2. Please note: the baby tries to lie on the sore ear, and in this position he is much more willing to take the breast.

3. Children older than 3 months begin to grab and rub the sore ear, so it becomes much easier to determine the source of the pain.

4. Press on the tragus - a cartilaginous outgrowth opposite the auricle (see picture). In acute otitis media, even the slightest touch to the tragus can cause a sharp cry or crying in the baby. It is most informative to carry out this technique on a sleeping child.

5. Sometimes the first sign of ear disease in a baby is hearing loss. If previously the baby actively responded to the mother’s voice, but now this does not happen, this is a reason to suspect otitis media.

6. Leakage of pus, blood or clear secretion from the ear canal. Often otitis media is asymptomatic, signaling itself only in an advanced stage - when the eardrum ruptures.

How to check whether a baby’s ear hurts: factors predisposing to otitis media.

Before checking to see if your baby has ear pain, think about whether your child is at risk for developing otitis media. If one or more of the following signs are present in your situation, then even if the child’s temperature rises and the child becomes restless, otitis media should be suspected.

1. How was your pregnancy? Were there any complications during childbirth? Intrauterine infections, prematurity, and prolonged labor predispose infants to ear diseases.

2. The baby has allergies (in particular, food allergies).

3. Has your baby had a viral or bacterial infection in the near future? In infants, the auditory tube is shorter and wider than in adults. This facilitates the spread of infection from the nasopharynx to the tympanic cavity. If the child has recently had a runny nose, nasal congestion, or inflammation of the tonsils, the likelihood of otitis media is especially high.

4. Does your baby often sleep on his back? Prolonged stay in a supine position worsens blood circulation through the microvessels of the mucous membrane of the respiratory and auditory tracts. As a result, local immunity and self-purification are reduced, and infectious processes develop.

5. With the growth of adenoid tissue, the likelihood of otitis also increases.

Have you checked: the baby's ear hurts. What's the plan of action?

You should immediately contact your pediatrician. In the evening and at night, an ambulance is called. The treatment recommended by the doctor is carried out in two directions: local and systemic.

Local treatment involves facilitating the outflow of fluid from the tympanic cavity and accelerating the resorption of inflammatory exudate. To achieve the first goal, vasoconstrictor drops (Nazivin, Naphthyzin, Galazolin in children's concentrations) are used; to achieve the second goal, warm compresses and physiotherapy are used. Often, a solution of boric alcohol or antibacterial drugs (Otofa, Sofradex, Polydex, Anauran) are instilled into the ear of infants.

Systemic treatment. Involves taking antibiotics. Prescribed by a doctor for severe and moderate otitis. The drug of choice is Amoxicillin (often with clavulanic acid). For allergies to penicillin, modern macrolides (Azithromycin, Roxithromycin, Josamycin) are used, however, they should be prescribed before the age of 6 months. should be done with caution.

Now you know how to check whether a baby’s ear hurts, and how to behave if there are suspicious symptoms. Be attentive to your baby!

Source: http://maamm.ru/index.php/item/3-kak-proverit-bolit-li-ushko-u-grudnichka

How to tell by symptoms that your baby has ear pain

Otitis media, or ear inflammation, is common in infants. This is due to the fact that their ear canals and septa are poorly formed, through which microbes penetrate from the nasopharynx when a runny nose or sore throat appears. Sometimes milk and water may get in during bathing. All this leads to the onset of an inflammatory process in the middle ear. Let's take a closer look at what otitis media is and how you can determine that a baby has ear pain.

What is otitis media

Otitis is an inflammatory process occurring in the ear. It has three main sections, an important part of which is the Eustachian tube. Connecting to the middle ear, it regulates air pressure from the sides of the eardrums. Additionally, the Eustachian tube opens and closes the passage, releasing accumulated fluid and germs.

When a child catches a cold and mucus begins to accumulate in his nasal cavity, if there is a large accumulation, it penetrates through the Eustachian tube into the middle ear and accumulates there. This condition leads to an inflammatory process.

There are catarrhal and purulent otitis media. With the first type, the child’s ears begin to hurt sharply, and with purulent type, mucus and pus put pressure on the eardrums, causing pain. Sometimes at night, under their pressure, the membrane ruptures, and the accumulated fluid comes out, easing the patient’s condition.

Otitis media is rarely an independent disease. It occurs as a complication after a cold, ARVI, or various inflammations that occur in the nasopharynx. It can occur in different parts of the ear - outer, inner and middle. But otitis of the middle part of the auricle is the most difficult to cure, since it gives the most complications.

Causes of otitis media in infants

Newborns and infants are most often susceptible to otitis media, which is due to a number of reasons.

  1. Babies develop too much mucus in the nasal cavity. The reason is that babies cry a lot, and this immediately leads to fluid accumulation.
  2. Babies who regurgitate food they have just eaten can clog the middle ear passages with milk.
  3. During infancy, the tubes in the ear are still short, which leads to the entry and accumulation of fluids.
  4. Babies do not know how to remove mucus accumulated in the nose on their own, so germs easily get into the ear.

Symptoms of otitis media

Finding out that an infant is bothered by inflammation and has ear pain is not easy. But the sooner the diagnosis is made and treatment begins, the faster and with a minimum of complications the recovery will occur.

Any attentive parent notices that the child expresses concern by pointing to the ear, because the disease most often manifests itself with certain signs.

The following symptoms are distinguished.

  1. The child behaves excitedly, turns his head, cries, and the temperature can rise to 39 °C or higher.
  2. It is known that when sucking, the pain intensifies, so the child grabs the breast and stops eating again, turns his head and cries.
  3. To clarify, you can lightly touch the sore ear in the cartilage area, and the baby will definitely let you know about it.
  4. If purulent otitis is observed, then after a while discharge from the ears becomes noticeable - especially after a night's sleep, when dried pus remains.

But there are some forms of otitis media that are not easy to recognize. They often make mistakes when making a diagnosis. Otitis is similar to intestinal dysfunction, which may be accompanied by vomiting.

Treatment of otitis media in infants

If you have signs of otitis media, you should consult a doctor. This inflammatory process cannot be treated independently, especially in infants, as it is dangerous for complications. Other vital organs may also be affected.

The cause of otitis media is an infection that, if treated too late or improperly, can penetrate the brain, heart and lungs. The child may even go deaf.

With purulent otitis, there is a danger of purulent meningitis and sinusitis, so doctors prescribe antibacterial agents. Parents, if possible, should help their child overcome the disease as quickly as possible and alleviate his condition.

Folk remedies

You can partially relieve pain in the ear if you apply dry heat to it - for example, a large cotton swab that is placed in a cap.

A semi-alcohol compress, which disinfects and warms, can be beneficial. But it is permissible to use it only when the child’s body temperature is normal. To do this, take warm vodka, soak a small gauze cloth in it and place it on the ear. The top is covered with cotton wool and a cap is put on the child to secure it in place. This compress is kept for no more than 2-3 hours.

There are other ways to alleviate the condition using folk remedies. So, a gauze napkin should be moistened in aloe juice and placed on the ear along with cotton wool. Many mothers use geranium leaves, which perform an analgesic function and relieve swelling.

Use of prescribed drops

For otitis media, your doctor may prescribe ear drops. But parents should not choose them themselves, but only follow the instructions and instill them correctly, observing the dosage.

The rules for instillation are as follows.

  1. You can only put warm drops in your ear. They are heated by placing the bottle in warm water.
  2. The child is placed on his side, with his fingers pulling the earlobe and opening the passage wider.
  3. Then you need to drop the prescribed number of drops with a pipette and insert a small piece of cotton wool into the ear, covering the passage.
  4. If there is discharge from the ear, it must be removed using cotton wool, but only from the outside.
  5. If the child’s body temperature is above 38 °C, it is necessary to give Nurofen in syrup or place a suppository in the anus as prescribed by the doctor.

Treatment of ear inflammation should not be delayed, otherwise the infection will spread to the throat and nose and take on a chronic form.

Prevention of otitis

With proper care for your child, this disease can be avoided.

  1. You need to pay attention to his ears. They can be cleaned with ear sticks that have a limiter, since they cannot be inserted deeply.
  2. When the baby suckles, it is advisable to hold him in an upright position for some time so that the remaining milk from the nasopharynx does not get into the ear canals.
  3. Most often, otitis media in children occurs after a runny nose, so at the first signs of nasal congestion it is necessary to begin treatment using nasal drops. When the nose is stuffy, the child begins to sniffle, and the infection spreads to the ear. In order for accumulated mucus to pass through the nose more freely, it is necessary to give the child water more often.
  4. To keep your child from catching colds and getting sick less often, you need to adhere to the temperature regime in the children's room. The optimal air temperature is °C. It is necessary to ventilate the room more often, moving the child to another room during this time.
  5. When the ear hurts, during walks the child is put on a warm cap, covering the ear with a cotton swab. If otitis occurs in the summer, even in hot weather you need to wear a thin cap and try not to walk in the wind.

It is important to promptly determine the presence of an inflammatory process in the ear, become familiar with the symptoms, consult a doctor and begin treatment.

Good afternoon everyone, we recently struggled with this problem. My son was 6 months old and he constantly pulled his hand, I didn’t pay much attention to it - I thought that he was playing like that. After a while, the temperature rose, a cough and a runny nose began. We went to the doctor and he told us you have bilateral otitis media. We were in the hospital for a week, they gave me drops, antibiotics, and thank God everything went away.

It turns out that there are really many causes of otitis media, and I thought that my child caught a cold while out for a walk. It looks like we had a complication after ARVI, this fits best. Indeed, even a child is able to indicate that the pain is in the ear, and so it was.

Source: http://grudnichky.ru/zdorove/kak-ponyat-chto-bolit-uho.html

How to check if a baby's ears hurt?

Clarifying the diagnosis is an important factor in the patient’s recovery. Diagnosis of any disease begins with clarification of complaints. Having clarified them, the doctor proceeds to an objective examination. Diagnosis of diseases in newborn children is complicated by the fact that they cannot express their complaints and, therefore, determine the location of the disease. Parents and doctors should rely on indirect and objective signs of the disease.

In cases where there are objective signs of the disease, diagnosis is simpler. The presence of a cough, runny nose, dyspeptic disorders or changes in the skin allows one to immediately suspect one or another pathology. It is much more difficult when the affected organ is not accessible to visual observation.

Signs of otitis media

The main complaint with otitis media is ear pain.

Its intensity can vary, from heaviness and noise in the ear to throbbing, shooting pain that interferes with sleep and normal activities. The next sign is ear congestion and decreased hearing, sometimes even its complete absence. However, the disease is more often characterized by asymmetrical lesions, so patients do not always note the presence of this symptom. The functionality of the second ear compensates for the shortcomings of the affected one.

One of the symptoms of otitis media, which can be easily determined using a simple mercury thermometer, is an increase in body temperature of several degrees.

However, the presence of hyperthermia is not a pathognomonic symptom of otitis media.

An increase in body temperature is observed with any inflammatory or infectious process, endocrine disorders, oncopathology, etc. In addition, a sluggish course of otitis may be characterized by normal temperature readings.

Another important and very informative symptom is suppuration. This symptom manifests itself as sticky, yellowish discharge from the external auditory canal. Their presence characterizes the development of purulent inflammation of the middle ear. However, it is wrong to consider this symptom permanent even with such development of otitis, since the outflow of pus can occur not only through the injured eardrum, but also through the auditory tube. No discharge from the ear canal is observed.

Thus, objective signs of otitis media, such as fever or suppuration, are not constant. The earlier treatment is started, the more effective it is, and the lower the risk of developing severe complications. In order for the patient to receive timely, qualified consultation from a specialist, in the case of ear inflammation, a large role is given to the patient’s subjective complaints. Determining the location of the disease greatly simplifies the diagnosis of the disease.

Difficulties in diagnosis in newborns

Adult patients and older children can clearly indicate the location of the disease and describe the pain. How can you tell if your baby has ear pain? This is a really difficult problem, since children at that age cannot express their complaints. At the same time, treatment tactics directly depend on the nature of the ear inflammation, catarrhal or purulent, as well as the condition of the eardrum, whether it is intact or perforated. For otitis, timely consultation with an ENT doctor is very important. It is the otolaryngologist who is able to clarify the diagnosis and prescribe the correct treatment. Parents in this situation should suspect otitis media as soon as possible. To do this, they must know how to check if a baby’s ears hurt.

Showing anxiety

First of all, you need to pay attention to the patient's condition. A typical sign of many infectious and inflammatory diseases is weakness and malaise. Such patients are lethargic and drowsy. If there is pain in the ear, the child is restless. He tosses around in bed, twists his head, and periodically screams.

Similar symptoms can develop in the presence of abdominal pain in children. However, in this case, the onset of anxiety is more often associated with food intake. You may also experience rumbling, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation. Older children may try to point to the location of the disease, trying to touch the ear with their hand or scratch it.

Objective signs

There is an objective sign of how to determine that a baby’s ears hurt. To confirm the diagnosis, finger pressure is used on the tragus of the ear. Carrying out such manipulation leads to an increase in air pressure in the external auditory canal. This, in turn, puts additional pressure on the eardrum and the tympanic cavity, the mucosa of which is already involved in the inflammatory process. In the presence of otitis media, this action leads to increased pain and is the answer to how to find out that a baby’s ears hurt.

To determine whether a baby's ear hurts, careful observation of the child is necessary. Like any disease, otitis media is characterized by malaise, lack of appetite, and poor sleep. However, in infants, decreased appetite is also due to increased pain during sucking movements. Feeding a baby in the presence of inflammatory processes in the ear looks like the child begins to eat, then refuses it with a cry. Attentive parents may suspect the development of otitis media in a child based on this very sign.

When a baby's ears hurt, the symptoms of the disease are similar to the signs of otitis media in adults:

  • development of pain syndrome;
  • hearing loss;
  • temperature increase up to 10 degrees.

Ear inflammation in infants is a secondary disease, a complication of ARVI and other pathologies of the ENT organs.

Many diseases of the nasopharynx are accompanied by obstruction of the auditory tube. As a result, congestion forms in the middle ear cavity. Consequently, runny nose and nasal congestion are also concomitant signs of otitis media.

The importance of otoscopy

You can reliably find out whether a baby’s ear hurts only after consulting an otolaryngologist and conducting instrumental diagnostics and otoscopy. It is by the condition and external signs of the eardrum that the otolaryngologist draws conclusions about the presence of one or another form of otitis. The unchanged shape of the eardrum, with a smooth shiny surface, without traces of ulceration or thickening, indicates the absence of inflammation of the middle ear in this patient.

Diagnosis of external otitis

Instrumental diagnostics are not required to detect external otitis.

The presence of an infiltrate or purulent focus can be determined visually by an ENT doctor by examining the external auditory canal or pinna. In this case, the symptoms of otitis media are hyperemia and swelling of the affected ear. However, otitis externa is an extremely rare pathology for newborns.

Understanding that a newborn child has ear pain is an important task facing parents and pediatricians. Timely consultation with an otolaryngologist will help reduce the risk of complications and improve the child’s condition in a short time.

Author: Gaevaya Natalya

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    How to determine that a child has ear pain: basic recommendations and rules

    The main concern of young children is the occurrence of pain in the ear. The reasons for the development of this phenomenon can be varied. But every parent should know how to determine if a child has an earache.

    Several recommendations for identifying pain in the ears

    Children under the age of five are more susceptible to inflammation in the ear. The thing is that the structure of a child’s ear is different from the ear canal in adults. Therefore, often in childhood, after suffering from the flu or a cold, they develop otitis media. It is worth noting that illnesses associated with the ears can lead to serious complications, so it is necessary to identify this pathology as quickly as possible.

    Parents should learn a few rules for identifying ear pain in children:

    1. The ear canal in children under five years of age is wide and short. As a result, infection and fluid penetrate into the middle ear much faster, which leads to the development of an inflammatory process. In this case, the disease begins to manifest itself rapidly, and in the absence of adequate treatment causes serious consequences.
    2. Children may become restless when eating. Infants completely refuse breast milk. The thing is that the movements that occur during chewing cause a strong feeling of pain. If a child refuses to eat, you should not force him.
    3. It is worth carefully monitoring the baby’s condition. We need to think about how he could have gotten sick. Perhaps he had previously suffered from a cold or flu, or hypothermia may have occurred due to weakened immune function. Otitis appears quite often as a complication. One hit of mucus from the nasal passage into the ear is enough.
    4. It is necessary to monitor the child's movements. If the ears hurt, the baby will tug at them, fiddle with them, or lie down on the sore side. The child may also become very moody, restless and have difficulty sleeping. The painful sensation may either subside or recur again, which causes significant discomfort.
    5. You need to take the child's temperature. Often with otitis media it rises to 39 degrees.
    6. Parents need to lightly press on the tragus, which is located on the child’s ear. If the baby's ears hurt, then when pressure is applied, the sick child will cry. The tragus is the tubercle of the ear that opens the external auditory canal.

    As soon as the parents have been able to check the child’s ear, it is necessary to call a doctor. He will conduct an examination and prescribe treatment.

    Causes of ear pain

    A child may experience pain in the ear for several reasons:

    1. Because of otitis.
    2. Because of a sore throat.
    3. Due to a complicated course of a cold or flu.
    4. Due to ear injury.
    5. Due to penetration of a foreign object into the ear.
    6. Due to stagnation of earwax.

    If a child develops otitis media, the patient will complain of shooting pain, fatigue and general malaise.

    Often, otitis media also exhibits other symptoms such as:

    • Peeling and eczema formation in the outer ear.
    • Discharge of greenish, yellowish or whitish fluid. However, they may have an unpleasant odor.
    • Increase in body temperature up to degrees.
    • Manifestations of purulent conjunctivitis.

    At the same time, the baby refuses to eat. The first step is to call a doctor. Before the doctor arrives, you can resort to some methods. If there is no increase in temperature, then you need to take a piece of cotton wool and roll it into a turunda. Then soak it in boric acid tincture and insert it into the sore ear.

    Since otitis media is a bacterial infection, broad-spectrum antibiotics are prescribed in the form of Augmentin, Amoxiclav, Amoxicillin. The duration of the treatment course is five to seven days.

    If your baby has a sore throat, the symptoms will appear as:

    • Temperature increases up to a degree.
    • Severe redness of the throat.
    • Rash formation on the larynx and tonsils.
    • Enlarged tonsils and lymph nodes.
    • Loss of voice.

    The pain can radiate to the ear and head.

    Treatment process

    The treatment process consists of:

    1. Gargling with furatsilin or saline solution.
    2. In lubricating the tonsils. If the baby is still very small and does not know how to gargle, then it is necessary to lubricate the oral cavity every two to three hours.
    3. In the use of antiseptics for irrigating the throat. Children under three years of age are prescribed Miramistin. Older children are recommended to use Hexoral or Tantum Verde.
    4. Taking antibiotics.

    The duration of the treatment course is on average seven to ten days.

    A baby's ear can develop as a result of the appearance of new teeth. In this case, the child will have a fever, a runny nose and drooling profusely. To eliminate the problem, it is enough to give an anesthetic or lubricate the gums with a special gel.

    Adverse consequences

    If pain in the ear occurs as a result of an infectious disease in the form of otitis or tonsillitis, do not hesitate with treatment. These diseases can cause adverse consequences. The main complications of otitis media include:

    1. Meningitis or encephalitis. The inflammatory process spreads to the meninges.
    2. Chronic sinusitis. The inflammatory process progresses to the paranasal sinuses.
    3. Chronic tonsillitis. Characterized by bacterial infection of the tonsils.
    4. Decreased visual acuity.

    With angina, complications may arise in the form of:

    1. Chronic tonsillitis. Relapses with this disease occur at least three times a year.
    2. Myocarditis. Damage to the heart muscle.
    3. Rheumatoid arthritis. The patient's joints are affected.
    4. Pyelonephritis. Damage to the urinary system and kidneys.

    In order not to bring your child to such a state, it is necessary to consult a doctor in a timely manner and follow all his recommendations.

    Source: http://lordok.ru/uxo/deti/kak-opredelit-chto-u-rebenka-bolit-uxo.html

    Earache in babies: how to determine?

    Children are more likely to develop ear diseases than adults. In almost all children under the age of three, some part of the ear (middle, outer) becomes inflamed. This is due to the fact that the baby’s ear has a special anatomical structure.

    Ear diseases can cause severe complications, including hearing loss. Therefore, every parent should know how to determine that a child has ear pain.

    The problem is that a very young child cannot independently say what worries him.

    If the child can talk, he can tell his parents that he has the following symptoms:

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    • sensation of pulsation in the ear;
    • severe or moderate itching;
    • pain;
    • burning.

    It is more difficult to determine the presence of otitis media in an infant. Parents should constantly monitor the behavior of the baby, because ear inflammation develops rapidly.

    You need to especially carefully monitor a baby who the day before suffered an infectious or bacterial disease, such as:

    This is because the eustachian tube of a baby is shorter than that of an adult, making it easier for bacteria or viruses to enter the ear from neighboring organs.

    You can check whether your ear is inflamed by pressing on the tragus (the cartilaginous protrusion on the front of the auricle). If a child's ear is inflamed, he will begin to actively act up and pull away. If the baby does not react at all, the ear is healthy, and the cause of the disease is in another organ.

    You can find out that your baby has an ear infection by the following signs:

    1. The child is capricious for no apparent reason, more than usual.
    2. The baby refuses to eat or eats poorly because chewing causes severe pain in the ear.
    3. If one ear is inflamed, the baby will try to constantly lie on it, because this will calm the pain a little.
    4. Increase in body temperature to critical levels.
    5. Inflammation of regional lymph nodes (in the neck and under the lower jaw).
    6. Redness in the area near and around the ear.
    7. When pus begins to ooze from the corners of the eyes and ears, this indicates the presence of purulent otitis media caused by Haemophilus influenzae infection - these are very serious and alarming symptoms.
    8. When fluid begins to leak from the auricle, this means that otitis media has started, and treatment should begin immediately.

    Parents need to be wary if symptoms of coordination problems are added to the above manifestations:

    For the treatment and prevention of acute and chronic otitis and other ear diseases in children and adults, Elena Malysheva recommends a proven, reliable remedy based on only natural ingredients, no chemicals! After talking with people who have experienced this method, we decided to publish a link to it.

    • unsteady gait;
    • the baby’s inability to grab a finger or rattle;
    • nausea, vomiting.

    These symptoms indicate that the infection process has started, and the viruses have affected the vestibular apparatus and will soon reach the brain.

    Any disease in a child’s ear can cause dangerous complications (hearing loss, deafness), because the cells in this area are sensitive and do not recover.

    Therefore, it is very important to understand in time what is troubling the child, to verify the presence/absence of pathologies and, if necessary, to begin immediate treatment.

    Factors contributing to the development of ear diseases:

    1. Past inflammatory diseases.
    2. Ear plug.
    3. Children often insert a foreign object into their ear.
    4. Feeding the baby in a horizontal position. In this position, liquid food can enter the inner ear through the short eustachian tube.

    How to help your baby?

    In this situation, self-medication is strictly prohibited. This is due to the fact that a variety of viruses, bacteria or fungi can be involved in the triggering of otitis media, and in each individual case appropriate treatment is required.

    It is necessary to treat “grandmother’s recipes” for treatment with special caution, because they may not only not help, but also cause harm.

    Therefore, at the first manifestations of an ear infection, you should consult a pediatrician or otolaryngologist.

    Features of treatment

    If the ear infection is caused by the presence of a plug or foreign body, then trying to remove it on your own can cause damage to the eardrum, moving the foreign body even deeper.

    Treatment for any ear inflammation may include:

    • warming compresses (contraindicated for purulent inflammation of the ear);
    • instillation of anti-inflammatory drops;
    • laying ointments or gels;
    • if the child suffers from pain and discomfort, the doctor may prescribe painkillers;
    • antipyretics – when body temperature rises.

    What to do before the doctor arrives in order to help and not harm? First aid includes the following actions:

    1. Give the child painkillers and reduce the temperature if necessary (Nurofen, Panadol).
    2. Ear pain during inflammation is caused by the fact that the auditory tube becomes inflamed and the internal pressure of the middle and inner ear increases. In order to alleviate this condition, you can drop vasoconstrictor drops into the baby’s nose, which are used to relieve a runny nose (Nazivin).
    3. If a child regularly suffers from allergic reactions, it is necessary to give him an antihistamine (Cetrin, Diazolin) to relieve swelling caused by an allergic reaction.
    4. It is important to examine your baby's ear for any discharge. If you notice exudate, carefully remove it with a clean cotton swab.
    5. If you have acute pain and fever, if you do not have the necessary medications, call an ambulance immediately.

    What is forbidden to do if your ears hurt?

    These actions can be harmful:

    1. Under no circumstances should you use traditional medicine recipes.
    2. You cannot use the advice that friends and acquaintances give you based on personal experience.

    The only thing a parent can do is give painkillers and antipyretics, also drip vasoconstrictor drops into the nose and call a doctor. This is where the parental ambulance ends.

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    I’m not used to trusting any information, but I decided to check and ordered one package. I noticed improvements after the first use. After several days of treatment, the acute pain in the ear and congestion disappeared, and the temperature subsided. I began to sleep better, the noise in my head disappeared. Try it too, and if anyone is interested, below is the link to the article.

    Judging by the fact that you are reading this article, you know firsthand what it is:

    • excruciating pain in the ears.
    • acute headache, pain radiating to the jaw.
    • stuffiness and discomfort in the ear.
    • constant noises and crackling.
    • copious discharge of sulfur, formation of plugs, purulent discharge.

    How much effort, time and health have you already spent on ineffective treatment? After all, sooner or later the SITUATION WILL GET WORSE and everything can end very BADLY, up to complete LOSS OF HEARING.

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    The purpose of the portal OLore.ru

    – provide relevant and useful information about the diseases treated by an ENT doctor (otolaryngologist). The pages of our website contain information about the main symptoms of diseases of the ENT organs, as well as methods of their treatment - both in medical institutions and at home. It should be noted that the authors of the project work on the articles with a medical education (you can see information about the editorial team on the “About the site” page), so the main task of the portal is to provide reliable information that will allow you to promptly detect the problem and seek qualified help in a timely manner.

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