Symptoms that your Child Might Have an Ear Infection

Dr. 假面: One of the most common reasons a parent brings their children to the pediatrician is because they're concerned their child has an ear infection. I'll talk about the symptoms to watch for and what to do if your child does have one on today's Scope. 我是辛迪·盖尔纳医生.

播音员: Health tips, medical views, research and more for a happier, healthier life. From University of Utah Health Sciences, this is 范围.

Dr. 假面: Parents come in all the time saying their child has been pulling on their ear and they know this means they have an ear infection. 好吧，没那么快. Kids pull on their ears for a lot of reasons, ear infections only being one of them. 其他原因是长牙, 鼻塞或过敏引起的耳压, 因为这感觉很好, 尤其是当孩子们累了的时候.

There are a lot of nerve endings in the ear and that's why it's such a popular place for massage therapists and acupuncturists to work on. So other than pulling, your child has no other symptoms. 耳朵感染? 也许不是. 但是如果你的孩子也发烧了, 感冒有一段时间了吗, isn't sleeping like they normally do and are just plain cranky, 那么是时候去检查一下你的耳朵了.

不管很多人怎么想, going outside in the wind or cold without a hat on won't cause an ear infection. 耳朵感染s happen behind the eardrum, not in front of it where the cold and the wind would hit. An ear infection is caused by bacteria and it's a common complication of a viral cold. Nasal congestion and mucus block off the tube that connects to the middle ear to the back of the throat. 那是咽鼓管. And then the ears can't drain properly if that's blocked. 这就形成了一个液体池, 哪里是细菌的孳生地, 因此, 感染就产生了.

Sometimes, kids have what are called serous ear infections. That means there's fluid behind but it's not all gross, 这种液体通常几个月后就会消失. 这种感染不需要抗生素.

Kids between six months and two years are most likely to get ear infections, but they're actually pretty common until age eight when the internal anatomy of the ear starts to change and they aren't as prone to infections. Most kids will have at least one ear infection and over 25% of these children will have repeated ear infections. 在一小部分儿童中, the pressure in the middle ear fills with puss and that causes the eardrum to rupture and drain. It's usually just a small hole, which heals over the next three months.

现在, you find out your child does indeed have an infection, you need to be sure your child takes the antibiotics prescribed by the pediatrician and finish the entire course to make sure all the bacteria is treated. 泰诺和布林也能缓解疼痛.

Some people talk about putting warm oil into the ear, but that's not a good idea. 如果鼓膜破裂, follow up in three weeks to make sure the infection is gone and the eardrum is healing. 耳朵感染s seem like a rite of passage for some kids. I've had parents try looking in their child's ears with a flashlight to see if they have infections. 把孩子的耳朵检查交给专家. 是儿科医生, we get really good at looking in ears and seeing if there truly is an infection or not.

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