Rest assured that there are several things that you can do to help get through the 24 hour period before antibiotics have a chance to take effect, to reduce the pain your child feels.
Self-Care Tips
It can be hard for parents to leave their child when they aren’t feeling well, but remember that unless you take care of yourself you will be unable to appropriately care for your child.
Take a Break
Consider allowing a trusted adult to watch your child on occasion. Caregiver burnout is a very real condition that can cause depression, physical and mental exhaustion, irritability, and can even make you more prone to becoming ill yourself. Despite your best efforts, experiencing these symptoms will have a negative effect on your sick child. Taking the time to workout or see a movie will prevent caregiver burnout and ultimately make you a better caregiver.
Don’t Get Frustrated
If your child has been diagnosed with an ear infection, they have probably been fussy for several days due to the pain they are experiencing in their ears. You may feel frustrated as a parent that you did not know that they were having ear pain. This is completely normal to feel frustrated with yourself, but know that you are not alone.
Caregiving Tips
Ear pain can occur for a number of reasons. Fortunately, you can take steps to make your child as comfortable as possible.
Physical Accommodations
For the typical bout of an ear infection, you will not have any physical accommodation to make other than resting up. However, if your child suffers from recurrent ear infections, you may need to monitor their speech and hearing.
Either your primary care provider or an ear, nose, and throat specialist (ENT) can evaluate your child for chronic otitis media, or fluid in the ears, and determine if you need continued follow-up hearing exams or therapy with a speech-language pathologist.
Practical Tips
Treating your child with acetaminophen or ibuprofen will be a life-saver at the start of the ear infection. It will also be helpful for you to apply a warm or cool cloth to the affected ear. During this time, you should also:
avoid getting water inside the earsavoid cleaning ear wax outavoid putting anything in your ears like a cotton swab
These relief tips will help you control ear pain until antibiotics have taken effect.
Administer Medications Appropriately
In many cases, ear infections require the administration of antibiotics. These medications work best to decrease the length of time that your child is sick when they are given appropriately. This means that they are given as prescribed, on time, and for the entire length of time that your healthcare provider has instructed. Watch your child for negative side effects or signs of an allergic reaction such as hives or a rash and notify your healthcare provider if you are concerned.
See a Specialist
If your child doesn’t seem to be getting better or seems to have an excessive number of ear infections it’s a good idea to visit an ear, nose, throat doctor (an otolaryngologist).
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In most cases the ear infection will get better without treatment, but if it lasts longer than two to three days or more severe symptoms appear, then antibiotics like amoxicillin may be prescribed. Contact a healthcare provider if you have concerns about an ear infection.
