Ear infection not completely cleared up with antibiotics--what now?

[southernmama59]

I need some help thinking this through. My youngest son is nine months old. He had a cold along with pink eye last week. He had off and on fevers between 100 and 102. On Saturday (April 24), he was diagnosed with AOM in his right ear. They prescribed Amoxicillin. We asked about waiting a couple days. By the next night, he was pretty happy, but was running a fever again. We gave him his first dose of Amoxicillin.

He reacted to the medicine with a rash and swollen eyelids. They switched us to Zithromax. Within 24 hours of starting antibiotics, he was fever free.

We finished the Zithromax on Friday (April 30). That's when he started pulling on his ears! This morning (May 3) he woke up with pink eye again. (We had treated this with drops for seven days, finishing almost a week ago.) Ugh. Off to the doc's office we went. More drops prescribed for pink eye. Ear check--ear is not completely infection free. He's been pulling on BOTH ears, but only one has infection.

So she wants to go to Omnicef. I'm reluctant. She says it's OK to wait it out a bit and that I'll KNOW if he needs something more. Fever returning, really irritable, etc.

What are your thoughts, o ear infection experts? :P

Is it unwise to wait it out at this point? Since he had a clear diagnosis, etc? What about the pink eye coming back? I've heard the same bacteria that causes pink eye can be at play for ear infections.

I just don't know what to think.

We've avoided antibiotics as much as we could, but because he was so young and the fever wasn't resolving...anyway, I can't undo what I did, I can only make the best decision going forward and I don't know what that is right now.

Any thoughts are welcome.

[sbgrace]

The biggest thing for me would be what she saw when she looked in those ears. Since he's not running a fever (right?) I think there is a very good chance there is just residual fluid and that is normal at this point in an ear infection. It sounds like his ears are no longer infected to me.
Are you doing probiotics? If not do that for sure.
Ear pulling has been shown definitively (in studies) not to be indicative of ear infections. Babies just do that as part of exploring. So don't take the ear pulling into account.

I'd fill that script and then hope I didn't need it. If he comes back with pain and fever I'd do it and I'd assume I"m dealing with resistant bacteria unfortunately as well. Hopefully it won't come to that.

[southernmama59]

Well, she said that his left ear had fluid, but his right ear was still showing signs of infection. My three year old was also diagnosed with AOM last week, but we waited it out. When she checked him again today, she said they both had fluid and one looked a bit red, but that she didn't think his were infected anymore. Which makes me take her "still infected" diagnoses for the baby more to heart, I guess. So, what if it IS still infected?

As an aside, she wasn't the one who diagnosed the three year old initially, though.

[southernmama59]

Oh, and no, as of right now he's not running a fever.

[sbgrace]

Hmmm...that's more tricky then. Still, with no fever, I don't think I'd do that new antibiotic. Hopefully his body will fight off anything remaining.

If you do end up needing it you might contact me. We went through an antibiotic resistant infection with my son. Not fun and involves some sometimes tough decisions.

[mbravebird]

Could you try some lymph massage to clear the ears? I've been trying that with my son. He had an ear infection that resolved on its own (fever went away the next day), but he's still been rubbing at his ears off and on since then, and I've been thinking it's fluid.

I'm assuming you've tried the garlic/mullein drops already? Garlic can sometimes get even antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They're at your local health food store.

My son won't let me do the lymph massage, so I'm thinking we need to get a craniosacral appointment. Do you have access to a craniosacral practioner? They can really help ear infections and/or fluid buildup.

[southernmama59]

I live in an area where there IS no local health food store. And certainly not a cranial--um--what did you say? LOL. I'd have to order some online--any in particular you'd recommend? I've made my own garlic oil, but haven't used the mullein and I think I'd like to try the combo.

Oh, and I called the doc back to ask her some more questions. I wanted her to describe the ear she saw to me. She said there's still pus behind the eardrum. She said that if she were to choose better or worse, she'd say it has improved some. So, what does the pus thing mean? Ugh.

[sbgrace]

To me that means the infection is resistant to that antibiotic. Which is a mess if he fails the next too. Your doctor obvisouly felt you were safe waiting it out. So I'd follow that advice and do what I could to support his body getting over this (breastfeeding, probiotics and/or probiotic foods, lots of skin to skin cuddling, massage to drain ears). I'll try to explain the massage I was taught. You massage in long downward strokes--think moving fluid down. Massage along the side of the face--starting at the temple or even above, down past the ear, down the side all the way through the neck to the collar bone. You can do behind the ear too. That behind part should feel solid--not spongy or soft. It should also not be painful to him. You can also try to open the ear but I can't remember how it goes for kids-it may be pull out and back straight or it's an angle. I can't remember. He'll be happy if you do it right as it will feel good.

Bodies can often fight off ear infections. My son fought off an infection that had failed two antibiotics when he was 18 months. However, knowing what I know now I would have made different choices for him then. We waited it out too long. It could have gone bad (though it didn't) and I feel now we were too risky with him.

I wanted to say something else so you have the information/it doesn't change my thoughts. Pink eye with an ear infection is highly suggestive of non-typeable HiB bacteria. So I would assume this is a resistant bacterial infection. That does not mean his body won't fight it off (my sons both recovered from that infection without antibiotics). But I do think you need to know--if you do see a fever again I would start the antibiotic without hesitation.

[MommyMatsumoto]

Have you tried going to a chiropractor? A simple adjustment can work wonders for ear infections.

[Momo123]

I am in a similar situation with my DS and found your post. He had an infection a month ago where I waited it out and used natural methods, then went to Omnicef and that didn't work so the ped had to give abx shots for 3 days. He still had fluid left in one ear but no infection after the treatment. Last week he developed another ear infection with cold symptoms where I tried to let it run its course for 3 days with natural support, but he still had a fever and was miserable so now he is on Bactrim but today is day 3 and while the fever is down, I'm wondering if the abx is not working because he's still nightwaking frequently and at night sticks his fingers into his ears while crying. I've tried homeopathy, craniosacral therapy, garlic/mullein drops and the massage but I'm nervous that he won't be able to fight this off then what? The ped mentioned ear tubes but I really would like to avoid it if possible. He has some food intolerances but he doesn't consume any of his triggers so I'm not sure what else to try...

[girlsmamma2]

similar situation here also, just posted a new thread about HIB ear and eye infections. My ds was given Omnicef also, I was suuuuuper hesitant but our fp said if it's was hib that amoxicillin wouldn't work so I didn't want to give him something hoping it would work, although the research on the internet says it will, but I found one thing that went with what she said and so i went with it. I also found info that said hib is one of the bacteria they find when pink eye and ear are related so I'd assume that is what your son has.

Omnicef for my son started working right away and he felt better. He didn't even feel that bad but I could tell it was working. He stopped saying "what? what? what?". His ears were totally plugged and pus filled. About the 3rd dose he got a spotty rash and I got concerned so I called and they switched him to Amox. THEN i got worried it wouldn't cover it like my original doc said. So after 2 doses of amox I switched him back to Omnicef. Rash never came back, very strange. But I think for him it's working. Now we are on the verge of some loose stools so I'm having him eat blueberries, probiotics, bananas, yogurt. Everything to keep things normal. Then when my dd developed the same thing a different doc was going to go with Amox but I actually requested Omnicef. I wanted this S**t gone. I was worried enough about having them on their first ever antibiotic. She felt better after the first couple doses just like him so hopefully it's working. But i'm just as worried about her tummy.

Did you do the HIB vax? for my 2 that have this I didn't, for my oldest who doesn't have this I did and my youngest is i assume being protected from having nursed up until a few days ago. bad timing. I tried to pop him back on today but i don't have much milk left.

i know you are in a tough spot. For me hib scares me even though it's not type b, still scares me. The pinkeye progressed quickly and nastily. His eye was just red when I made the appt, by the time we got there, a few hours later it was covered in pus. I assumed this is what a bacterial infection can do so i accepted the meds. my dd is older and even though could have made it through maybe with her ears draining, i was still nervous and wanted to protect my littlest one so i took the meds. i am counting the days until they are off of them and hope to god this thing is gone. i'm kicking myself for not doing the vax because being on antibiotics is a valid reason for me to do a vax, especially if it's frequent. we go in friday for a check and i have lotsssss of questions for our regular doc. i hate, hate, hate this. this is the time of year i usually feel like i can relax and i'm super stressed because i've got two kids with HIB at home. they are fine but I'm still worried. i feel like we are a statistic.