Okay--kind of a gross question, but here goes: my 11 month old had tubes put in her ears in January and has never had any problems with them. This weekend, though, one started draining brown, waxy fluid--inside her ear is all crusty with it and when she sleeps on that side there is a quarter size or bigger spot on her sheet from it, so it is still draining. Any ideas? She also started a high fever yesterday evening--but she has had this fever on and off for almost two weeks. We will go to the dr tomorrow, but any ideas would be appreciated! Thanks.

By Trina~moderator on Sunday, April 18, 2004 - 12:28 pm:

I have no experience with ear tubes, but twice my son has had the brown ear discharge on his pillow. Both times his ear drum had burst from an undetected ear infection. I felt AWFUL but he never had a fever and didn't complain until it was too late. In the same ear both times. Scary, but his ear drum healed. However, now it's weak and will be prone to burst again if we don't catch an ear infection soon enough. Thankfully, since we've gotten his asthma under control he has had NO more ear infections. YEAH!

Do you have a ped. on call on weekends in your area? You may want to bring her in today instead of waiting until tomorrow. Call your ped's office and see what they suggest. {{{HUGS}}}

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, April 18, 2004 - 12:49 pm:

Trina's right, it could be from a burst eardrum due to infection. Two of my kids had tubes in their ears. Jeff had them 3 different times. That same thing happened with him when he had an infection. Definitely let your pediatrician see your DD. Good luck!

By Missymelissy on Sunday, April 18, 2004 - 12:59 pm:

Sounds like an ear infection -- get her to the Dr. asap. Give her Tylenol/Motrin to bring the fever down until you get to the Dr.

By Emdee on Sunday, April 18, 2004 - 01:51 pm:

Thanks--I don't know of anywhere to take her today, so I guess I will take her tomorrow am, unless she gets worse. She actually doesn't act like she feels that bad when she has the Motrin. It is really weird because I just had her at the dr 1.5 weeks ago for the fever and he couldn't find anything wrong with her at the time--I guess it snuck up some time after that!

By Tink on Sunday, April 18, 2004 - 02:44 pm:

I am the queen of ear infections and that is more than likely a burst eardrum. An infection can literally creep up overnight and the fever that she had doesn't have to be connected to her ear. At this point waiting the 12 hours or so until you can get to the Dr. probably isn't an issue. Once the fluid is draining and the pressure is relieved, your DD is probably feeling alot better. Try not to get water in her ears (you are probably already doing this b/c of the tubes) and Motrin will help. Good luck. A warm washcloth held against her ear, if it does hurt, might help.

By Renee on Sunday, April 18, 2004 - 10:26 pm:

My son just went through this last week. He had infection because the tube was clogged with the wax. Our dr prescribed him with ear drops to help clear the blockage (I think it was debrox which is OTC) and then ear drop for the infection and then liquid augumentan antibiotic.

I hope everything is ok with your lil one. Keep up with the motrin for her pain.

By Emdee on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 09:09 am:

Well, I took her to the ped yesterday and he put her on some antibiotic drops for her ears. I guess the tubes will drain like that--I still don't understand but I will just give her the drops. I don't think he thought the high fever was related (my dd gets fevers and sick all the time, many times unexplained fever). I just assumed the two were related this time. Anyway, thanks for all the advice!

By Conni on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 10:19 am:

Hope she is feeling better soon!

By Debbie on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 10:35 am:

Emdee, my ds had tubes in his ears a few years ago. The drainage means that she has an ear infection. It is the fluid that they get from the infection. The tube is there to drain it. The tubes help relieve the pressure and pain when they get an ear infection, so that is probably why she didn't act sick. My ds only got one infection when he had the tubes. You do need to call the doctor when/if it starts to drain, so she can get the antibiotic ear drops and regular antibiotics to clear it up. Did your doctor put her on an antibiotic to get rid of the infection??? Did your see your ENT or your ped.? If you saw your ped., you might want to call your ENT that put the tubes in. Good luck to you. My ds's tubes fell out last summer. He has not had an ear infection since. I hope your daughter is the same.

By Cat on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 - 10:54 am:

Robin has had tubes twice now and once with his second set he had ear drainage. I thought it was just the tubes draining and didn't do anything about it except clean his ear. Turned out the tube had clogged and his eardrum burst. BAD mommy moment. The ped couldn't see the tube when he checked it and said it was probably just not visible through the ear wax (ds is a wax making machine). So we saw the ENT and he found what was really wrong. I'd really try to see the ENT. Peds are great, but they're not specialists. Good luck and let us know how your dd's doing.