As I am writing this, my shoulders and arms are still aching from carrying Ziggy so long. He has been terribly cranky for the past couple of hours and has been having trouble sleeping. I am actually like a walking zombie right now for not being able to sleep well last night. Ziggy kept waking up. Well, can you really blame him though? My poor baby has an ear infection.
It started last Monday when I noticed he was feverish. I checked his temperature and it did show that he had a low-grade fever. I thought it was just a regular flu. His temperature, though, spiked up that night and that’s when he started having trouble sleeping. The next day (which was yesterday), although his temperature already went down, we still decided to take him to the doctor for a check up because he was still really cranky and clingy. Also, he puked a little after breakfast. Good thing we had him checked out. The doctor found out that Ziggy has an ear infection.
I was surprised about the ear infection because that has never happened before with either of my girls. This is also Ziggy’s first one and so I didn’t know what to do about it. So, naturally, I asked the doctor a lot of questions and did more research when I got home. Here’s what I learned about toddler ear infections (also known as acute otitis media):
- Ear infections are fairly common among babies and toddlers because their eustachian tubes in their ears and shorter and smaller. This means that it’s easier for fluids to build up in there, which can breed bacteria and cause infections.
- Most kids will have at least one ear infection by the time they’re two years old (gasp!).
- The bacteria that causes ear infections are the same ones that cause your usual cough and colds.
- Bottle-feeding a baby while he’s lying down may cause ear infections (guilty!).
- Boys are more prone to ear infections than girls (poor Ziggy!).
- Second-hand smoke can increase the risk for ear infections.
Well, at least this incident has taught me something new. Ziggy’s on antibiotics now, which he hates because it’s hard to swallow and tastes bad. His fever’s gone so that’s one thing off my worry list. Let’s hope he gets well soon. We could all use a good night’s sleep.
Sources: http://www.whattoexpect.com/childrens-health-and-safety/childhood-ear-infections.aspx
http://www.whattoexpect.com/toddler-health/chronic-ear-infections.aspx
Hey Ice,
Ear infections could be acute or chronic and there are a lot of symptoms, it’s good that you had Ziggy checked immediately after showing some symptoms. There are also a lot of ways to prevent it from happening (again).
Cheers!