Ear infection?

manalouise

How many of you have dealt with an ear infection? My son is 11months and I don't believe he's ever had one. But lately he's been incredibly fussy and absolutely nothing makes him happy. He eats fine, sleeps fine (for the most part, he's not a great nap taker), and otherwise shows no other symptoms. But once in a while he'll pull at his ear, it's almost like he plays with it more than anything else. I'd hate to take him to the doctor to explain that he's "just fussy" with not other symptoms, but what if he has an ear infection and I don't know about it? What have your experiences been with symptoms?

meganandchase

We like Baby 4-1-1 and use it a lot for this type of question.  According to them, if the baby is just fussy and pulling his ear, it's almost never an ear infection.  Is DS teething?  Usually something like a cold or allergies leads to an ear infection.

My DS had 8 ear infections before getting tubes and DD has had three.  For the most part, they act normal, maybe a little fussy, but not much.  The only reason we took them into the doctor each time was because they had a fever that lasted longer than a typical cold fever. 

amandafisher

My DD #2 does this once in a while...our first DD had so many ear infections and ended up with tubes so we usually take DD#2 in only to find out it is not an infection but fluid instead....usually clears up.

bear99

I would definitely take him to the pedi. Better safe than sorry. My little guy had an ear infection around 9 months and showed absolutely no signs watsoever. We were lucky that it happened around his 9 month check up so we were able to catch it. Trust your gut. If he is not acting like himself, get it checked out.