The first thing DS teacher said to me today was "I think he has an ear infection, he's been pulling at his ears a lot"... but DS is his normal self, no fever, not fussy. I have been noticing that he's been playing with his ears A LOT in the past month or so but he's also teething pretty hard too. Could that be why he's pilling at his ears? Or should I get his ears checked out for a possible infection? (heaven forbid, the last one was a nightmare!)
Re: Pulling on ears A LOT..
My daughter has been pulling on her ears a lot too and people kept telling me she had an ear infection. I didn't believe it, since there were no signs of any illness. Her pedi said her ears were perfectly clear at the 9 month check-up and that babies just like to play with their ears (same as they play with their feet).
If you are worried, get it checked out. But tugging on the ears does not necessarily mean anything is wrong.
i could have written this post minus the scabs!
Babies that young can't identify where their pain is coming from.
More than likely, your LO is just having fun exploring his head and face and found new things to play with!
Like BoM said, if there's no fever, there's probably not an ear infection.
As a pp said, supposedly young babies cannot localize pain. I heard this from a pedi we saw when mine was not available, and this is the only time I've heard it, so take it with a grain of salt. So, according to him, if their ears hurt, they aren't going to know to pull on them.
My dd pulls/plays with her ears constantly right now. I think it's more like, "Wow, I have toys on the side of my head!"
My DD has had a couple of ear infections with no fever, just fussiness.
DD has an ear infection now and did not have any fever. She had goopy eyes and then started tugging on her ears a day or two later. Took her in Sunday...ear infection.