Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Head, Shoulder, Knees and...ears

So, this past week had three kids at the pediatrician for 3 separate ear infections.  Cole has his second in less than a month and the twins each had their second in approximately two months.  All three got the standard Amoxicillin prescription since they didn't seem to be kicking these on their own.

The past few nights Sarah has woken up screaming and ended up in our bed.  Where she has proceeded to scream for 20 minutes at a time, head butt us, kick and scream.  Last night she was finally able to verbalize what was bothering her - she grabbed her ear and yelled "OW OW OW OW OW".  Okay, we got it.  Back to the pediatrician today (for those keeping score, this is visit 5 in 6 business days for 3 kids) and one eardrum is bulging with a raging infection and the other was so much more infected that the doctor just winced looking at it.  She's now on a stronger antibiotic and we were smart enough to give her Motrin before she went to bed.  Hopefully she'll start feeling better soon and Mommy will get over the guilt of not realizing before last night that her ear was getting worse.

3 comments:

MentalMom said...

Call the doc back and tell her you want a scrip for Auralgam (or its equivalent). Combined with Motrin it can usually get you through a bad night.
Any child/family prone to ear infections should have it in the house. Anesthetic ear drops are hardly a controlled substance, there is no reason for you not to have a bottle, with refills.

Poor kids. I feel their pain. You know it.

Karen said...

Thanks for the heads up, I will definitely call. Poor child was up last night again every hour on the hour and that was with a full dose of motrin. I know that you are the expert on this and was actually going to reach out to you today about it so your timing is perfect.

MentalMom said...

If the kids have already had amoxicillin more than once for ear infections they shouldn't be getting it anymore. It is likely to be ineffective.
The best abx after multiple and severe infections would be Omnicef.

If you continue to have a bad winter it might be time for a trip to our friend, Dr F. :(