Does this sound serious?

[PeachBaby]

Does this sound serious? DS (16 months) was at the hospital on Monday to get blood drawn. Monday night I noticed that he was playing with his right ear, just a bit, not enough to worry me but enough for me to notice. Tuesday morning he woke with a swollen eye that was pinkish all around the skin surrounding the eye. At first I thought it was a reaction to food intolerance since that is what we are majorly dealing with currently. The swelling and pinkness kind of faded throughout the day. He still occasionally played with his right ear though. Then this morning, Wednesday, he woke with a more swollen right eye which was again pink. The swelling went down, but the pink is still there. So I am not sure what to think. He just now played with his ear when it suddenly occurred to me, what if it is not food intolerance (which is always first on my mind since that is our big battle), but something he caught at the hospital? I immediately put breastmilk in his eye. I also learned that some people put BM in the ear, but I am not sure if putting liquid in an ear is okay. Is it? Most importantly on my mind is that I am wondering if this is serious, an ear/eye infection, or what? Would anyone happen to have any ideas? He didn't have a fever. He seems for the most part -- considering his food intolerances -- okay.

Thank you in advance for any insight! I hope I can figure out what this is and what to do. I will call the hospital tomorrow since it is now 10 pm.

[balancedmama]

Sounds like it could be the start of pinkeye. Not sure about the ear...could be teething or ear ache.

[sbgrace]

It sounds like pink eye to me. There is a bug (non-typeable HiB) that often causes pink eye and an ear infection but it's highly unlikely to have an ear infection (let alone bacterial) without a fever. So I'd assume (likely viral) pink eye at this point and treat that. If he develops fever I'd think infection (ear or otherwise). If he does get an ear infection most doctors would say you can wait and see for 48 to 72 hours and most kids will recover (bacterial or viral) in that wait and see time period without antibiotics. My son got over non-typeable HiB ear infection in a bit over 24 hours.

[PeachBaby]

Thank you very much for your input. This morning he woke up much better, no swollen eye, and I think the skin around his eye has pretty much faded. (It's actually not the whites of his eyes that were pink, it was the skin around his eye, like how a raccoon has black around his eyes). Keeping an eye on it, but I think it's healing already. Thanks!