Ear infection without a fever, and other medical ?s (long-ish)

dee12807 · February 2012

DS has had a head cold since Sunday. Yesterday H had the chance to stay home so I had him take DS to the pedi, but mostly because he's had a rash on his belly for about 5 months now (we'll come back to that later...). So the pedi says that DS has a slight ear infection in his left ear. He has had no fever though, so that kind of caught me off guard. I guess I'm just confused because I thought that the first sign of infection is a fever???

Oh, and the rash on the belly - it's at his waist line (say between his belly button and left hip). We've been trying everything to get rid of it and nothing is working. The pedi said twice before that it's eczema and it's in a bad spot, blah, blah, blah... so she looked at it again with the same answer. This time she gave us prescription cream for it. But I'm confused - it's a .2% hydrocortisone cream. The OTC one that I use for my bug bites (I'm allergic to mosquito bites...) is a standard 1% creme. Would the 1% be too strong for DS? Why would she give such a low dose?

I could probably call the pedi and ask her, but I figured I would try you ladies first TIA for any insight!

bosha711 · February 2012

DS had a double ear infection & no fever.

regarding the rash meds, maybe it's just a different formulation & dosage & in a strength safe for toddlers. I wouldn't necessarily compare it straight to your OTC cream. I'm not too sure, though.

I hope he feels better soon!

watermellens · February 2012

ditto Bosha - my DS has an ear infection and no fever. He's on antibiotics now. Hope he feels better soon!

Serendipity117 · February 2012

When O had an ear infection he didn't have a fever either. As for the cortisone, we used the 1% otc kind, per pedi, for almost a year. We recently just switched to a stronger rx steroid. I would just use what was prescribed. Like pp said maybe the formulation is different from the otc to the rx. I'd call if I had questions though.

lrn327 · February 2012

C's had several ear infections with no fever. It just means you caught it early and that's a good thing!

As for the rash, I think C had the same thing. Pedi said it was a contact rash from the diaper waist band. Basically the diaper rubs on the belly pooch and the friction causes the rash. Our instructions were to use 1% hydrocortisone just before bed and then slather aquaphor over it at each diaper change. We also gave him some nakey time in the evenings. He'd had it for a few weeks but it went away within like 2-3 days of this treatment. Hope LO's feeling better soon!

MommaEA · February 2012

Sometimes ear infections show no symptoms. I see a lot of PK kids for speech that had frequent ear infections b/c they can go unnoticed. Hope he feels better soon!

bumpuser260585 · February 2012

DS has had an ear infection with no fever before too. He's also had horrible skin since birth almost. Per our pedi, we use the otc 1% hydrocortisone cream. It really helps, I usually notice a difference after 1 day.

pitterpatter129 · February 2012

Nate has had chronic ear infections and rarely has a fever with them. In fact, a lack of appetite is about the only difference we ever notice, even with double infections.

Nate also has eczema (on his face and back of his legs). We were told to use a 1% hydrocortisone on it sparingly and lotion everyday. I think they probably just don't want to cover the baby with a higher percentage steroid cream if the lower dosage will work. My sister's kid had to have one higher than 1% prescribed for his face, but they told her to only use it as a last resort; apparently the steroids are bad for babies. I'm trying to remember why they told her that, but I can't remember what the side effect was.

lulu8109 · February 2012

DS also has eczema. I'm pretty sure that the OTC creams are not as strong as the prescription creams. Though it sounds weird that your OTC is 1% hydrocortisone and your Rx is .2%. You could also ask the pharmacist.

DS has two prescription creams: fluticasone (.05%) and and alclometasone (.05%). The fluticasone is a stronger steroid than the alclometasone.

S/o what pitterpatter said... Our pedi rec'd using the OTC 2x a day max and only using prescription creams if those don't work or if the eczema is pretty bad. My pedi said that it could cause the skin to darken and harden where too many steroids were applied.