Twin Baby Ear Infection - It Could Be a Long Night

A healthy baby can be somewhat challenging when experiencing a single ear infection but when both ears are infected, things really get crazy. An ear infection is actually a common problem that children experience, which is painful and often produces a low-grade fever. With the interior of the ear now swollen and painful, it is common for the child to be cranky, which means for you as the parent it would likely be a very long night.

The most important thing you can do is learn about the signs of ear infection problems so if you notice a change in your child's behavior an ear infection could be the culprit. Because there is intense ear pain, you would expect to see your baby tugging on the ear so if both ears are infected, then the tugging would be see on both sides. With this, the baby is simply trying to do something to ease the nagging pain.

Ear infection in babies can also be detected by the change in behavior. Again, because of the pain, children become irritable, cry, whine, have difficulty sleeping, show no interest in eating or drinking a bottle, etc. In fact, if the infection were in both ears, your baby would probably cry if you were to put any pressure on the ears accidentally. For instance, if your baby tried to lay his or her head down while you held him/her, it would likely be too painful.

Because the type of bacteria that causes ear infection in your baby is the same as what causes problems with the gastrointestinal system, you would also expect to see a chronic problem of diarrhea. Another of the common ear infection symptoms is a lack of appetite. For one thing, the child does not feel good so there is no interest in food. However, the process of chewing in a toddler or sucking on a bottle in a baby would increase the level of ear pain. Of course, if the infection in babies were in both ears the child would have no interest in eating or drinking.

If the twin ear pain in your baby were serious, you would probably notice a white or yellow colored fluid oozing from the ear. In some cases, a slight odor would also be detected. Of all ear infection symptoms, this one should never be ignored since this is a sign the infection has become so serious a hole has developed in the eardrum. With this, your child needs to see a doctor right away. Typically, after the infection is treated and the problem resolved, the hole would heal but there are some cases when additional treatment is needed.

Okay, so now that you know the most common signs of ear infection problems but you also need to know what to do as a parent. In most cases, your baby would get better without antibiotics but if your child is over six months and the problem is severe, medication may be required.

Otherwise, the doctor would likely advise you to keep your baby cool, control the fever, use a warm or cool compress depending on the one that helps most, and make sure the baby is getting adequate fluid to avoid becoming dehydrated. Of course, if the baby still has an ear infection or ear pain after three days, then something more would need to be done.