It was sort of serendipitous. I was on the way to taking my daughter to the clinic for a fever and I was listening to the CBC. They were talking about integrative medicine and one example was ear infections and the use of antibiotics, probiotics, etc… In a recent Finnish study, parents were given an antibiotic prescription (therefore empowered by having it), but asked to wait a couple of days to see if their child improved before filling it. They were only needed in ~1/3 of the cases as a child’s immune system will fight it off much of the time.
As it turns out, my daughter has ear infections (I didn’t suspect is as she hadn’t been showing signs of ear pain – though she just got two premolars with more on the way.) The doctor automatically prescribed amoxicillin. I filled the prescription and came home to look up more info. What I’ve found confirms that antibiotics are not necessary in up to 4/5 of cases and it may be prudent to wait. Any thoughts? Would you wait?
On one hand you want to be able to trust your doctor (though this was just a clinic doctor not our regular one), but I feel as though I have to take some things with a grain of salt. You want to do what is right by your child, and that includes not giving medicines that aren’t necessary (especially ones that can lead to more resistant strains with overuse), but there is also that feeling of helplessness in wanting to do something to make them better. It’s hard to know what instincts to trust.
Most ear infections are viral and go away after 3-4 days. Antibiotics would not help and the overuse of antibiotics does compromise the immune system.
I am really on the fence about that. I had many, many ear infections as a child and young adult in an era when ear infections were relatively rare. I lost my hearing entirely in one ear as a result of the scar tissue. Eventually, I had an unorthodox treatment that resulting in a return of my hearing (this was not the expected outcome BTW).
I have indeed read studies where they just give pain medication and the problem clears up in most cases. I also know that the rate of ‘ear infections’ skyrocketed in the late 80s, so something certainly was up. I would certainly be willing to try the pain meds vs. antibiotics, but I’d also try to get an evaluation as to why I had problems vs. today’s children.
Yes, I’d wait. I’ve done the same research and found that it’s best to wait 4/5 days and then medicate if necessary.
I have always waited to see if it would improve on it’s own before using antibiotics with my children. I’ve found that *most* ear infections tend to improve without them although dr’s (even those who tout not using antibiotics for viral infections) still tend to hand them out like candy for it.
If it doesn’t start to improve in 3 days or so, a child starts running a fever or you can’t control it with tylenol/advil, or the condition gets worse…then it’s usually time to get them checked out and see about antibiotics.
Wow, i’m going through the EXACT same scenario right now!! I brought my son to the docs yesterday b/c he’s got this horrible cough and runny nose. She told me that the cough is due to post nasal drip (which i assumed) but he had fluid in both ears (which i didn’t knw b/c he didn’t touch his ears at all), she said that one ears fluid was yellowish and that is infection. She gave me a pres. for amox and told me that i could either wait a few days and see if he gets worse before filling it or fill it right away and see how it works. The reason she gave me this option is b/c he’s only 13 months and has had amox twice before, so his resistance might be low now and in the future. I decided to wait, not filling hte prescrip. But today he’s worse, crying constantly and tylenol is the only thing calming him. I’m going to fill the prescrip. My advice to you would be, if she can deal with the discomfort, let her fight it off on her own. If she’s in pain, give her the antibiotics.
I never chance taking the risk that an ear infection will go away on its own. Contrary to that belief, many ear infections do NOT go away on their own and do need to be treated. Untreated ear infections will lead to major damage.
My daughter was born with a cleft lip/palate and is very prone to ear infections because of the cleft. I can’t avoid treating her being that it’s too much of a risk. Being that I am left partially deaf in one ear due to an untreated ear infection, I am very diligent about having my children treated with antibiotics. I am not a waiter in the case of ear infections.
Most ear infections are NOT viral, they are bacterial, which is why they even use antibiotics. but, in a vast majority of case, the bacteria is mild and the body is able to fight it off itself. As long as it is not causing your daughter any actual discomfort, I personally would wait a day or two and see.
My son was sick once, we took him to an after hours clinic where the doctor told us he had an infection in each ear and gave us antibiotics. we gave them to my son. The next day we took him to our actual pediatrician how examined him and said there was NO sign of an ear infection at all and that the medicine would not have worked that quickly. Not only that, but my son now had a rash from head to toe from an allergic reaction to the meds. Now I am always cautious, obviously the doctors are the expert, but if I ever get an answer I am not comfortable with I ask questions and demand info before I am satisfied.