My DS has had a double ear infection for about a month. He had a 10 day course of Amoxil which didn't help (it usually does the job). He is now taking Cefzil for another 10 days (he hates the taste of this one and fights us tooth and nail). Anyway, he is so incredibly crabby!!! and doesn't feel like doing anything except watching videos. He has trouble sleeping and is now throwing himself out of the crib (we are converting the crib to a bed tonight so he won't break an arm or leg throwing himself out of the crib) I called the doctor this morning who said since he has had the infection so long the medicine will take 5 days, at least, to work.

I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions to make him more comfortable (Tylenol and Motrin don't seem to work). Or suggestions on getting him to take the medicine. Oh, DS is 2 years old.

Thanks.

By Fraggle on Monday, September 29, 2003 - 05:14 pm:

I have a few suggestions on helping him to take the medicine-my youngest DD is 2 and she has to take a horrible tasting antibiotic daily for the past year and a half-here are some things that work-
try putting sprinkles (you know the kind that go on ice cream/to decorate cookies) in the medicine (either in a medicine dispenser, cup, teaspoon-whatever you use)

try mixing in some chocolate or strawberry syrup to the dose of medicine

change the way you are giving it to him-if you are using a spoon, change to a sm. medicine cup

Let him hold the spoon, cup, whatever and take it himself-you might lose some so be careful

I know he is two-but you can also try a medicine dispenser that is like a pacifier (can be found in the pharmacy)-it works in a pinch with my 2 year old-when she absolutely refuses any other way.
Hope this helps and that he is feeling better soon!
-Meredith

By Eve on Monday, September 29, 2003 - 05:22 pm:

When the Motrin and Tylenol aren't helping my DD, I usually put a little olive oil in a dropper and warm it by rubbing in my hands, and then I just put a drop in her ears. She screams, but always falls asleep and seems relieved afterwards. It helps to relieve the pressure that builds up in the ear. This is foolproof in our home. I hope your DS is feeling better soon!

By Mommyathome on Monday, September 29, 2003 - 06:25 pm:

Ditto Eve! We do the exact same thing at our house

Meredith...the idea with the sprinkles is a cute one. I'm going to try that next time we are in a medicine routine.

Good luck with your DS Merno. Hope he is feeling better sooN!

By Trina~moderator on Monday, September 29, 2003 - 06:54 pm:

We've never tried the olive oil trick but there are ear drops our ped. gives us to relieve the pain. Have you tried alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hrs.? Of course, check with your doctor first. We've had good luck getting the kids to take medicine by mixing it in a small cup with juice or chocolate milk.

Hope your DS is better soon!

By Bellajoe on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 08:41 am:

Merno, I still don't have any advice of my own. But The suggestions the ladies here gave sound good. Won't hurt to try them.

I hope DJ feels better soon!

By Tammylynn on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 09:54 am:

My kids always seem to feel better when they lay their head on a heating pad set on low.
I hope he is feeling better soon!!

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 02:24 pm:

My mom did the heating pad trick when my sister's and I were little. It did make sore ears feel better.

By Merno on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 08:27 pm:

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I never heard of the olive oil trick. We can give that a try.
Trina, do you know what the drops are called?

He was a little better today and isn't fighting the medicine quite as vehemently, hopefully he is feeling better. It is so hard to tell since he doesn't talk. Which leads me to another question.

Do any of you have kids with tubes in their ears? If so, how many ear infections a year did they have and what determined the tubes are necessary? Since Ds doesn't talk we wonder how well he hears. We know he can hear in general and had a hearing test tell us the same thing. We are wondering the quality of his hearing. The doctors never mentioned tubes, but we wonder if it is good idea.

Thanks.

By Debbie on Tuesday, September 30, 2003 - 08:40 pm:

My ds had tubes put in his ears right before his 2nd birthday. He had constant ear infections from fall until spring. He would get one, it would move into the other ear and then it would take forever for the fluid to go away. He had one every month for about 6 months. He did have a lot of hearing loss because of all the fluid. However, it did come back once the tubes were put in. He was barely talking when they were put in and about 2-3 months later he never stopped talking. Definitely a result of all the ear infections. Putting in the tubes was the best thing we ever did. They stayed in for a little over a year. In fact, they both fell out over the summer. He has had only one ear infection since they were put in and that was when he was really sick with a major case of the flu.

Good luck to you. Hope this helps.

By Kernkate on Wednesday, October 1, 2003 - 07:41 pm:

Last month my 3 yo DD had an ear infection which seemed to take forever to go away. After 2 courses of antibiotics and drops for the pain, the name of the drops we used were "AURALGAN" a generic name, but made by Bausch and Lomb. Her infection was gone.The drops worked wonders...I would put the drops in and the pain was gone.
I always put DD medicine in her juicy juice, made it so much easier for her to take.
Hope your little guy is feeling better soon.

By Merno on Thursday, October 2, 2003 - 05:12 pm:

Thanks for the information. I scheduled an appointment for Ds to see the specialist to see if tubes are warranted or would help.

Is the Auralgan OTC or is it prescription?

By Mommymindy on Friday, October 3, 2003 - 10:58 am:

Ear infections are awful! They hurt them so bad! My daughter once had to go through 5 antibiotics befoer the infections went away! Most of these infections are already too resilient for Amoxil! If you really can't get him to take the meds. you can have the Dr. change it to something else or go back to the office & get a shot. The only bad thing about the shot is that you might have to go to the Dr. office 2 days in a row to get 2 shots of the medicine, but it's much easier than fighting with him to take the meds. 2 or 3 times a day! There's also one of the antibiotics, i forget which one, that is once a day only! It should get better soon! We almost got tubes in my daughter's ears, the Dr. said "in 2 weeks when you come back, if she still has this infection, we are going to talk to the ear nose & throat specialist about tubes" and thank God, she didn't have the infection when we went back

By Colette on Friday, October 3, 2003 - 12:59 pm:

See if you can get the bausch and lomb drops from your dr. they work quite well.

By Mommyathome on Friday, October 3, 2003 - 03:32 pm:

Merno, I don't know where you fill your prescriptions, but Albertsons pharmacy has like 50 flavors that they add to liquid medicines. When we have to have a prescription for the kids filled, and we can't wait to do mail order like we usually do, we always go there. We read through the list of flavors with whichever child we have that is sick and let them pick the flavor. Then we call it the "watermelon medicine" or the "cotton candy" medicine and they take it just fine. We've been doing this since DD was about 2 and 1/2.

Good luck at your next appointment. Tubes aren't so bad. My best friends little girl had tubes put in and it helped her sooo much.

Good luck at the doctor

By Kernkate on Friday, October 3, 2003 - 06:05 pm:

Marianne, Auralgan is prescription. I would recommend it very highly...ask your doctor for his opinion.
Hope your DS is feeling better.

By Merno on Tuesday, October 7, 2003 - 09:45 pm:

He is feeling much better. And he stopped fighting the medicine and takes it without a problem now. I think as he felt better he became less crabby about it.

Robin, we go to Kroger for Rx and they have a huge list of flavors too. The Cefzil started out as a sickeningly sweet bubble gum flavor which he fought. So, figuring it couldn't hurt to try something else we changed had the pharmacist add grape to the medicine. Which made the medicine smell like Bubblicious grape bubble gum. Oh well. The doctor gave us some tips on how to get him to take it and said if we still couldn't get him to take it we could change. Fortunately things did get better.

If he gets another ear infection I will definately ask for the ear drops. I've asked for something in the past but they have said there really isn't much that helps, now that I know that there is and what to ask for I will be prepared. Thank You!!!!