The day passed perfectly, the kid is merry and healthy, but toIn the evening he was sad, and at night - fever, fever, 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 commoncomplaints of kids. 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 pain in the earthere may be injuries, water ingress or foreign body (for prevention of such cases, warnings on the presence of small parts are written on toys!).
If the child often has sore ears, a possible cause- 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 pain in the ears of 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, we must try to find out,whether the 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's ears hurt, what to do
It is necessary to lubricate the skin around the auricle with a nurserycream, and put a compress from the top of the gauze napkin with a weak aqueous solution of vodka. 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 vasoconstrictive drops can be used, and at high temperature (more than 380C) give antipyretics. Then you should seek medical help!
If a child's ears hurt, do not do it.
Do not impose any bandages andcompresses, especially closing 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 the child has ears hurt, what to do - the doctor will tell.