The day passed perfectly, the kid is merry and healthy, but by the evening he was sad, and at night - the temperature, heat, runny nose and pain in the ear. Quite a typical situation. And, alas, not every mother decides to call an ambulance or call a doctor in the middle of the night. So, the child's ears hurt - what should I do?
Pain in the ears is one of the most common complaints of babies. Often the child has an earache at night, accompanied by intoxication and colds. What are the reasons? There are several of them, and the most frequent is an inflammation of the middle ear( otitis) that has arisen as a continuation of a cold disease. Especially often this happens in newborns. During a runny nose, the baby always lies, the mucus dries abundantly into the middle ear through a special canal - the eustachian tube that connects the nasopharynx and the ear canal.
In children older than one year, the cause of earaches can be injuries, water or foreign body ingestion( that's why warnings about small parts are written on toys).
If a child often has sore ears, a possible cause is a chronic inflammatory process in the nasopharynx. Pain in the ear can cause a furuncle in the ear canal, inflammation of the tonsils( tonsillitis, tonsillitis).Also, toothache can give or, as doctors say, irradiate in the ear.
A frequent cause of ear pain in newborns is otitis caused by ingestion of breast milk during feeding from the nasopharynx cavity to the middle ear all over the same Eustachian tube.
The child's ears hurt - what to do before a professional examination by a doctor?
First of all, you should try to find out if your ear hurts. The older child himself will indicate the place of pain, and the baby will only cry. But! Pain in the ear is, as a rule, shooting character, so the baby will cry with attacks, all the time reaching for the sick ear. And independently to establish a source of pain it is possible simple pressing on a tragus - a dense ledge on the bottom part of an auricle. When otitis or other painful process is in the ear, this action causes acute pain, which means, crying and the corresponding reaction. If there are any discharge from the ear( purulent, mucous, bloody), then, as they say, the cause of the disease is obvious.
If a child has a pain in his ears, what should he do?
It is necessary to lubricate the skin around the auricle with a baby cream, and put a compress from the gauze pad with a weak aqueous solution of vodka on top. Caution - the auditory opening must remain open! On top of the compress can be warmed with a handkerchief or cotton wool. If the nose is stuffy, then you can use vasoconstrictive drops, and at high temperature( more than 380 ° C) give antipyretic. Then you should seek medical help!
If the child has sore ears, do not do
. Do not apply any bandages and compresses, especially those covering the ear canal, if the child has any discharge from the ear. You can not prescribe ear drops and antibiotics on your own. Contraindicated use of UHF.In the ear cavity, tampons and turundas can not be placed, no matter how "healing" the substance they are not smeared.
In conclusion, you can say: if a child has ears hurt, what to do - the doctor will tell.