A child’s ear shoots: why and what to do

Causes

There are many reasons why a baby's ears may hurt. These are structural features of the auditory organs, various infections and injuries.

Runny nose

In newborns who do not yet know how to blow their nose, an infection from the ear cavity can easily get into the ears, which is explained by the connection of all ENT organs. If there is an infection in the nasopharynx, it can spread to the Eustachian tube, and from there to the middle ear area. An inflammatory process begins in the ears, which leads to severe pain.

Breast milk getting into your ears

Ears often hurt in babies who are breastfed in a horizontal position. This occurs due to milk flowing into the nose and from there into the Eustachian tube. Milk is a good breeding ground for bacteria, so otitis media develops very quickly.

Ear infection

If your child has a cold, this can also lead to ear pain. Complications of colds are associated with imperfections of the immune system and structural features of the ENT organs.

Foreign objects

The cause of ear pain in a child may be a foreign body. As the baby grows older, he becomes more and more curious, so small details from toys in the nose and ears are not uncommon. Parents should not try to remove a foreign body from the ear canal on their own; this should only be done by a doctor using a special tool.

A child’s ear can also hurt when water gets into it. This phenomenon is often observed after swimming in open water.

Treatment of ears in children

For shooting pains in the ears, treatment should be prescribed immediately, since complications after mastiditis can be very severe - facial paralysis, meningitis. An otorhinolaryngologist usually prescribes antibiotic therapy, physiotherapeutic procedures, and ear drops. Treatment is individual.

If the pain occurs suddenly and at the wrong time, for example, at night or on vacation, far from medical care, parents can help the child alleviate his condition. You need to give your child a warm compress on both ears. It is dangerous to instill boric alcohol into the ear until an accurate diagnosis is determined; it is better not to do this.

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The phenomenon is extremely unpleasant. Especially if it concerns your child. It is impossible to look at his suffering when there is a “shooting” in the child’s ear. The situation is aggravated by the fact that this usually happens at the wrong time - most often at night. And the child urgently needs medical attention. Parents are often lost and don’t know what to do, how to help, how to alleviate the baby’s condition. Let's consider the causes and possible treatment for a child with a “shooting in the ear” condition.

How to tell if your child has ear pain

It is not difficult to understand that a small child has ear pain if you listen carefully to his complaints. Even very young children make it very clear to their parents that something hurts them. Signs of a sick ear include the actions of the baby. The baby rubs the ears, pulls them back, or often presses his hands against the ears.

Symptoms of otitis include pain in the ear when pressing on the tragus. If a child’s ear hurts, he will try to remove the adult’s hand or begin to worry. This simple method allows you to accurately find out whether a child’s ear hurts.

If you suspect otitis media, a sick baby should have its temperature measured. Quite often, temperatures exceed 39 degrees. Hyperthermia always indicates an inflammatory process.

How is shooting pain treated in a child?

If a child has a shooting ear, how to treat it at home? First, you can try to reduce the pain. If there is no temperature, a warm compress is applied. To do this, take water and vodka in a 1:1 ratio. Gauze is soaked in the resulting liquid and wrung out. Apply baby cream to the area around the ear. Gauze is applied to it. The compress is wrapped with a bandage and lasts for an hour.

Another method uses table salt, previously fried in a frying pan until golden brown. Then it is poured into a cloth bag, which is pressed against the sore ear. Keep until completely cool.

When a child has shooting, it is often due to a runny nose. Therefore, to normalize breathing, the nose is cleared of mucus, and then drops of “Tizin”, “Nazivin” and their analogues are instilled into the baby.

Inflammatory processes in the ears are relieved with a solution of boric acid, chloramphenicol or furatsilin alcohol or Otipax. But a strict dosage must be observed. If a child’s ear shoots, how to relieve pain? For this purpose, Nurofen, Analgin, Efferalgan and their analogues will help.

But all medications must be prescribed by a doctor. Treatment is strictly individual and is based on many factors. If a child is prescribed antibiotics, they are taken for a course of five to ten days. In case of damaged eardrums, Otipax is contraindicated. Therefore, other drugs are prescribed. After instillation into the ear, they are stopped with a cotton swab soaked in boric alcohol.

A prerequisite for treatment is rinsing the nose with saline solution and removing mucus from the sinuses. And then - instillation of drops. The rising temperature must necessarily go down. For swelling of the nasopharynx, Sinupret is most often prescribed. Antihistamines are prescribed to relieve ear pain.

Associated symptoms

You can recognize that a small child has ear pain by the accompanying symptoms. Otitis may manifest itself as follows:

The child becomes restless, his sleep and appetite are disturbed.
The baby always lies on the side where the ear is inflamed.
Redness and peeling of the skin around the sore ear.
Inflammation of the lymph nodes.
The baby loses interest in his favorite toys.
Purulent discharge appears from the ear canal.

If the baby has purulent discharge from the ear, this indicates advanced disease. In this case, serious treatment using strong antibiotics is necessary.

Parents need to be wary if vomiting and dizziness occur. This indicates damage to the inner part of the ear, which is responsible for the functioning of the vestibular apparatus.

What to do if ear pain is not due to illness?

When a child’s ear shoots, what should one do if this is not a consequence of a disease? In this case, the most likely cause is a foreign object entering the ear canal.

The first step is to examine the child’s ear. If there really is something in the ear canal, then you cannot remove the object yourself. Otherwise, the foreign object may sink even deeper into the ear. In this case, you must urgently contact a clinic or emergency room.

If ear pain appears after swimming and the cause is water and not inflammation, dry heat will help the diseased organ. Any medications are excluded. At most, heated salt is applied to the ear. The dry compress lasts for 10 to 15 minutes. A down scarf or knitted cap is placed on top of the heating pad. But before the procedure, you need to make sure that there is no fever or pus leaking from the ear.

To prevent your child’s ears from hurting due to water, after bathing they are thoroughly wiped with a towel, a cotton pad or dried with a hairdryer at a distance of a meter from the head. It is not recommended to use cotton swabs to remove water. Earwax should not be completely removed. This is a microflora for beneficial bacteria and a barrier against moisture that could get into the ear.

How to help your baby

If the parents determine that the child is bothered by ear pain, then he needs help. Quite often, children's ears begin to hurt at the most inopportune moment - at night, on holidays or in the country. What to do in such cases? Helping your child is as follows:

The patient is given painkillers based on Paracetamol or Ibuprofen. For young children, they are given in syrups or used in rectal suppositories. Such medications will help not only relieve pain, but also reduce high fever.
If there are no signs of damage to the eardrum, then Otipax is instilled into the sore ear. If there is purulent discharge, it is strictly prohibited to drip such drugs, as this can lead to hearing impairment. Before you start using ear drops, you should consult your doctor and carefully read the instructions.
Vasoconstrictor drops are instilled into the nose of a sick baby. They help relieve swelling and reduce the feeling of pressure in the ear cavity.

Dry heat will help reduce ear pain in a child. To do this, you can use a hard-boiled egg or a bag of heated salt poured into a bag or cotton sock. Warm the ear for 20 minutes. You can iron a diaper folded several times and apply the crumbs to the sore ear, usually after a few minutes the pain subsides.

It is strictly forbidden to warm the ear if pus is leaking from the ear canal. In this case, heating can lead to the spread of infection to healthy tissue.

First aid - a child has a shooting in his ear

You, like no one else, know what pain shooting sensations in the ears can cause, so take immediate action to solve the problem.

The question arises, how to treat when a child’s ear shoots?

To alleviate the condition, give your baby a compress that will reduce pain.

. Here are a few effective warming lotions:

Buy gauze at the pharmacy
and fold it to make a tight bandage.
Next, you should prepare the solution itself. It contains vodka and ordinary water
, mix them in a ratio of one to one.
Soak gauze in the mixture and squeeze thoroughly.

To protect your baby's delicate skin, apply cream to and around the ear.

and only then put the bandage on your ear.
To consolidate the effect, tie a warm towel around your ear. Keep the compress on for an hour.
Another method is considered effective

Fry table salt
in a large frying pan until the temperature reaches
65 degrees
Celsius. As a result, it should acquire a golden color.
Pour the resulting mixture into a fabric bag.
Place the resulting compress on the sore ear and hold until the salt cools down.

After the procedures, measure the baby's temperature. If it is more than 36.6 degrees

in Celsius, soak a cotton pad in and insert into the infected ear.

To consolidate the result, cover the area with a dry disc on top.

It is known that after using this method the pain will subside, but not forever.

The methods listed will only help temporarily to alleviate the child’s general condition.

After visiting a specialist, you will be prescribed more effective ointments or drops.

If your baby suffers from a runny nose during an ear infection, try to get rid of it as quickly as possible.

If pain occurs after bathing, dry your child's ears thoroughly. This can be done using cotton towels or cotton pads.

How to treat a shooting ear in a child

After examination by a specialist, drug treatment

. Let us examine in detail the question of how to treat a shooting ear in a child.

First of all

check the child’s general condition and signs of a runny nose or flu.
Then they help normalize breathing by clearing the nose. This usually happens with the help of vasoconstrictor drugs such as Nazivin, Vibracil or Tizin.
In order to relieve pain in the ears, the doctor prescribes individual remedies, depending on the child’s illness. However, there is a general treatment plan

In severe cases, a course of antibiotic therapy

To relieve ear pain, take "" or boric alcohol.

In addition,
Nurofen or Analgin Efferalgan are prescribed.
Provided that there is no damage to the eardrum, "", "Otinum" or "Otofa" are prescribed.

Provided there is no fever, warming lotions are allowed.

If you notice that your child feels better, do not stop treatment. Otherwise, the disease may take a chronic form.

Folk remedies

If the disease is at the very initial stage, and the child is still very young, traditional medicine

.
several effective and efficient recipes
in traditional medicine Heat camphor oil

and inject three drops into the sore ear a couple of times a day. The method is considered one of the simplest, but truly effective.

To alleviate the child’s condition, prepare a beetroot compress.

To do this, peel it and cut it into cubes.
Boil the beets in a liter of water.
To improve the effect, add three large spoons of honey
.
Beat the resulting mixture with a blender and place on the bandage. Apply to your ear for an hour and a half.

There are also longer courses of treatment. For example, propolis tincture

, but the course of treatment should be
10 days.
For treatment, take 10% extract

and mix with
olive oil
in a ratio of one to two.
Soak cotton pads in the resulting mixture and place in your ears for 2.5 hours.
If your child suffers from ear infections from birth, prepare him a lemon balm tincture

To do this, you need to grind the grass leaves to a homogeneous mass.
After this, mix in a glass of vodka
.
Place the glass with leaves in a dry and dark place for one day.
Then place two or three drops in each ear.

For very acute diseases, as well as a compress of chopped onions,

To prepare it, chop the onion and add butter to it.

Soak a cotton swab in the resulting mixture and insert it into the ear for several hours.

. Repeat the operation for five days.

If the patient's hearing has noticeably decreased and the shooting sensation increases, use calamus root

To do this, add one tablespoon of the plant to a glass of water.

How else to help your child

If your baby’s ear starts to hurt after a walk in windy weather, you can help him in the following ways:

Place a couple of drops of heated vegetable oil into the ear canal. This treatment method was successfully used by our grandmothers.
Place a cotton swab dipped in camphor oil into the sore ear.
Heat the pillow with an iron and place the child’s sore ear on it.

Children over 5 years old can insert a cotton swab dipped in garlic juice diluted with water into the ear. Such turundas should be kept for at least half an hour.

A crushed geranium leaf inserted into the ear canal helps a lot. This plant has a pronounced antibacterial effect.

First aid for ear pain, if there is no fever or injury

If a child’s ear shoots, first aid, if it is not possible to immediately go to a doctor (this happened in a village, far outside the city, etc.), should be provided by the parents. If the temperature does not rise, and there are visually no signs of injury or a foreign object in the ear, it may be an infection or a cold.

In this case, you need to put “Snoop”, “Naphthyzin” drops or similar drugs into your nose. Place the child in a dry place. But it is not recommended to use a hot water bottle or heating pad to warm the ear until examined by a specialist. Dry cotton wool is applied to the sore spot. Then it is covered with a piece of polyethylene, and on top is a scarf or cap.

If available, you can use antiseptics. The sore ear is lubricated with Chlorhexidine or Miramistin. A turunda moistened with the listed preparations is inserted into the hole in the shell. The child is given a painkiller: Ibuprofen or Paracetamol.

General recommendations

You can check whether your child’s ear hurts by simply pressing on the tragus. If your baby's ear really hurts, then he should be given more fluids. Due to the liquid, the mucous membranes are moisturized and toxic substances are quickly removed from the body.

Chamomile tea, which has an anti-inflammatory effect, will help reduce ear pain in your baby. To make your child drink it with pleasure, you can add a little honey.

If your child is bothered by ear pain, then you should avoid walking in bad weather. If it is necessary to go outside, the baby is put on a hat.

You can’t keep your baby in a draft. Even if it is warm outside, you should not arrange a play area in front of two open windows.

using folk methods?

If a child shoots, is it folk remedies? There are many time-tested recipes:

Camphor oil. It is heated and placed in the ears while still warm.
Beet. Helps eliminate pain. It is done in the form of a compress. The beets are peeled, cut into pieces and boiled in a small amount of water and honey. Then the pieces of the vegetable are taken out, kneaded and laid out in a gauze bandage of several layers. The compress is applied to the sore ear.
Propolis tincture. Helps well with otitis media. A 10 percent extract is mixed with olive or corn oil 1:2. Gauze flagella are immersed in the resulting mixture. Then they are pressed out and inserted into the ears for three hours. The course of treatment is daily for two weeks.
Onion. If otitis has passed into the purulent phase, then this is treated with a compress. A gruel is prepared from onions, to which butter or linseed oil is added in small quantities. Tampons are impregnated with the resulting composition. They are then inserted into the ears for a short time.
Air. It helps with hearing loss. To restore it, take one tablespoon of crushed plant roots and pour a glass of water. The mixture is then boiled for 30 minutes. The broth cools down, and the child should drink it 3 times a day before meals, one tablespoon at a time.
Warming up with a cotton swab. It removes the shooting well. A cotton swab is dipped into the heated water. And it is immediately inserted into the child’s ear. It lasts for 30 seconds and the procedure is repeated again. Warming is carried out 4 times in each ear, 3 times a day.

Compresses

Warming compresses will help relieve severe ear pain in a child. But it is worth considering that such procedures cannot be carried out at high body temperatures and with purulent discharge from the auditory canal . You can make salt and alcohol compresses.

Salt compress

Prepare a saline solution from a teaspoon of table salt and a glass of hot water. A piece of cotton cloth or gauze is soaked in the solution, rolled into a rope and wrapped around the auricle. Cellophane is placed on top of the wet fabric and everything is insulated on top with a layer of dry cotton wool.

The compress should be kept for at least one and a half hours. After this, the compress is removed and a light cap is put on.

Alcohol compress

An alcohol compress on the sore ear will also help reduce pain. They apply it by analogy with a salt compress. It is worth considering that vodka or medical alcohol is first diluted with hot water.

Some mothers are afraid to give vodka compresses to their children, believing that they can lead to intoxication of the body. But doctors consider such fears to be unfounded.

It is not difficult to determine that your baby has ear pain; to do this, you just need to press on the tragus and observe the reaction. If the baby begins to get nervous, then you can suspect inflammation of the middle ear.

Treatment of ears in children

Many adults are familiar with shooting pain in the ear. Everyone remembers these painful and very unpleasant sensations. However, if a child has a shooting ear, it is doubly painful. Colds, such as a runny nose or flu, are often the cause of a sore ear. The virus, entering the child's auditory tube, causes unbearable pain.

Let us recall that, due to age, a child’s auditory tube is several times shorter than that of an adult. This causes frequent colds. Pain in a child is most often rapid and unexpected. The disease tends to occur in the dark. The main question remains, what to do if a child’s ear shoots?

Any part of the three existing ones can become inflamed: the outer ear and the inner. If your child has recently suffered from viral diseases, monitor the state of his health, and in particular his ears.

If you notice the first symptoms of any complication, be it shooting ears, treatment will be more effective and faster at the very beginning of the disease.

When a child has a weakened immune system, fluid and mucus accumulate

.
In a healthy body, it exits through the Eustachian tube further into the outer ear. However, with a poor immune system, mucus passes by, accompanied by sharp and shooting pain.
This can be either the onset of the disease or secondary inflammation. In any case, consult a qualified physician for diagnosis.

Unfortunately, pain in children is accompanied by a more pronounced shooting effect than in an adult.

Pay attention to the nature of the disease: if the attacks are severe and prolonged

then, most likely, the child has developed inflammation with otitis media.

The causes of the disease usually lie in a runny nose, flu or other inflammatory processes in the nasopharynx.

The main cause of shooting ear and otitis as a consequence is a runny nose

Children usually do not have the habit of blowing their nose, so they suck all the mucus back.

Getting into the Eustachian tube, the liquid provokes the appearance of viruses and bacteria.

It is important to monitor the symptoms of the disease:

the patient begins to hear sounds worse;
feeling of stuffiness;
elevated temperature;
discharge from the ears.

If you notice these symptoms, begin treatment for your child immediately.

Usually the doctor prescribes treatment with laser, lotions and additional compresses.

If the disease develops into more serious diseases or previous treatment has no effect, the child is prescribed antibiotics

Start treatment in a timely manner, otherwise you will not be able to avoid such diseases

, How:

Inflammation of the meninges. They are especially common in children under the age of 6 years.
Infectious process in the mastoid process. In this case, a process may appear behind the ear.
Inflammation of the inner ear.

Causes of the disease

However, lumbago in the ears can be caused not only by otitis media. The reasons may be the following

during air travel, when pressure drops and rises sharply, the Eustachian tube becomes clogged, which causes shooting sensations in the ear;
large accumulation of water in the middle and inner ear. Most often it happens in the summer, when the swimming season in lakes and ponds has opened;
Pay attention to the condition of the child's teeth. Eliminate the possibility of caries or gum inflammation;
put a hat on your child in the cold season, as well as when it is windy outside;
Protect your child from drafts. They become a common cause of ear inflammation;
inflammation of the mucous membrane of the pharynx;
ear injury due to;
foreign object in the ears;
frostbite of the ears.

If you notice the listed signs, start treatment, but after you consult an otolaryngologist.

One of the common causes of acute and shooting pain in a child can be wax plug.

Sulfur has a yellow tint.

In order to make sure of the diagnosis, you need to go to a doctor for diagnosis.

Usually, in this case, the child is prescribed instillation of hydrogen peroxide, two drops twice a day.

Many parents love this product because of its ability to gently and painlessly soften wax buildup. After softening, sulfur is removed on its own, significantly reducing pain.

Sometimes a specialist prescribes specialized drops, for example

Do not remove the plug yourself. So, you can cause serious injuries and provoke complications of the disease.

If the pain is caused by water or a foreign object

Before starting treatment, carefully examine

ear.

There is a possibility of a foreign object entering the ear canal

d. It can provoke severe pain.

If you notice a foreign object, do not make sudden movements or try to remove it yourself.

This way you can push the item even deeper.

First of all, go to the nearest emergency room, where you will receive specialized care.

If the pain is systematic and occurs after taking water procedures, wipe the child’s ear dry with a towel. Next, make a warm compress with salt or a heating pad.

Apply it to the infected ear for
15 minutes
. At the end of treatment, put a warm hat on the child.

How and with what to treat

In the hospital, the baby will be examined, the real cause of the ear pain will be identified and appropriate treatment will be prescribed. Those parents whose children often have ear pain know that, along with drug therapy, experts often advise using folk remedies. When used correctly, you can speed up your child’s recovery and avoid future complications.

Drug treatment

1. Antibiotics (penicillin injections) are prescribed for 7–10 days for infections and inflammations. If you refuse such therapy, otitis may result in meningitis, mastoiditis, or brain abscess.

2. Ear drops:

"Otipax" - prescribed for otitis media as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug, contains lidocaine, which often causes allergic reactions in children;
"Otofa" - used to treat acute diseases of the middle ear, contains a powerful antibiotic rifampicin;
"Garazon" is a medicine with anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects;
"Otinum" - has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, is contraindicated in children under 1 year of age;
"Sofradex" is a powerful antibiotic;
"Remo-Vax" - prescribed to remove sulfur plugs.

3. Treatment with Vaseline oil or hydrogen peroxide is carried out when removing the wax plug from the child’s ear.

4. Rinsing the ear canal is prescribed for fungal infections. Vishnevsky ointment, hydrogen peroxide and pine nut oil are also used for disinfection.

Folk remedies

The most effective recipes at home:

Heat almond or nut oil until warm, drop 1 drop three times a day into the sore ear.
Pour dry crushed chamomile (1 teaspoon) with hot water (1 glass), cover, and leave until the infusion becomes warm. Strain. Gently rinse the sore ear twice a day. This folk remedy works especially well for purulent discharge, otitis media and other inflammations.
Dilute honey with water in equal proportions, bring to a boil, place a thin but wide slice of beetroot in it, and cook for half an hour. Cool, wrap in gauze and apply to the ear that hurts. This compress of beets boiled in honey helps speed up recovery from almost any illness.
Pour fresh lemon balm (a sprig) with hot water (1 glass), cover, and leave until the infusion becomes warm. Strain. Gently rinse the sore ear twice a day. Melissa infusion can also be given to a child orally, as tea, but only if he is not allergic to it.
Mix honey and alcohol tincture of propolis in equal proportions. Place 1 drop warm three times a day into the sore ear.

You need to be extremely careful with folk remedies and not use them on the advice of your neighbor grandmothers: only as prescribed by a doctor. Otherwise, you can provoke the development of complications such as deafness, pathologies of the eardrum, and hearing impairment. To avoid them, it is much easier to remember preventative measures rather than to bring the matter to unbearable pain.

Take care of your children's ears: make sure that nothing gets into them, keep your baby's head warm at all times, strengthen his immunity so that no infections affect his little body. This is the only way to get into those lucky 25% of children who don’t know what ear pain is.

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Irina 10/03/2016 A child has an earache. What to do?

Dear readers, today we will talk about what to do when a child has ear pain. If this happens on an ordinary day, then, of course, any wise parent will go with the child to the clinic or call a doctor at home.

But what if the pain overtook you on a weekend, at night, or at this time you are far from home? An adult can endure it until the morning, but ear pain in a child is a special case! Prolonged suffering will cause trauma to the baby’s delicate psyche, and timely assistance not provided can cause the disease to worsen. Every parent should know how to provide first aid to their baby without causing harm.

Today on the blog I want to present you an article by otorhinolaryngologist Svetlana Ershova. You are already familiar with it from the article Ear Hurts. What to do at home. Svetlana has to work with both adults and children, and today she will tell us how to provide first aid if a child’s ear pain takes you by surprise.

Good day, dear readers of Irina’s blog. If you or your loved ones have small children, then pay attention to the information presented in this article. At the first complaint of ear pain in a child, you need to make an appointment with an otolaryngologist. Only an ENT doctor (not a pediatrician!) using special instruments can examine the eardrum, make a diagnosis and prescribe the correct treatment.

But there is no need to panic if you find yourself far from civilization and your child complains of ear pain. You yourself can help your baby if you know the basic rules of first aid.

In my opinion, the main commandment of a doctor is “Do no harm!” should become a commandment for every parent. You should know the main points when self-medication can harm your baby, and avoid them.

What should you not do if your child’s ear hurts?

Prescribe antibacterial drugs to your child on your own.
Clean the ear with tweezers or a cotton swab (cotton swabs are not intended for cleaning ears, but for removing makeup - read on the packaging).
Place alcohol-based drops into the ear if the eardrum is damaged.
Make a compress or warm the ear with dry heat without a doctor’s prescription.

Causes of ear pain in children

The structure of a child's ear is somewhat different from that of an adult. Due to the underdevelopment of the cartilage, the auditory (also known as Eustachian) tube in children exits directly into the nasopharynx. Therefore, as soon as the baby begins to have a runny nose, there is a high risk of mucus flowing into the auditory tube and, as a result, the development of otitis media.

To avoid this, you need to prevent the occurrence of colds whenever possible. And if a runny nose continues for more than three days, then be sure to show the child to an otolaryngologist.

Attention! Treat your child’s runny nose in a timely manner and then you will forget about otitis media forever.

To understand how to provide first aid to your baby, you need to know what caused this problem. Ear pain in a child can occur for the following reasons.

Getting a foreign body or insect into the ear;
Trauma (barotrauma, fall from a height, damage to the ear canal with a sharp object);
Water getting into the ear;
Otitis (inflammation of the ear canal and eardrum);
Eustacheitis (inflammation of the Eustachian tube);
Infectious diseases;
The first signs of a cold (ARVI);
Sulfur plugs;
Hypothermia.

How to provide first aid to a child with ear pain?

Parents often cannot determine why their baby has ear pain, so to provide first aid for ear pain, you need to use only those methods that will not harm the little body.

Nasal drops and painkillers

If you complain of pain in the ear, you need to drip vasoconstrictor drops into your nose and give any painkiller that is in your first aid kit. If your baby is allergic, you can give him an antiallergic drug prescribed by his attending allergist.

If an insect gets into your child's ear

If an insect gets into the ear, it does not pose any danger to a healthy ear, much less to the eardrum. But a fly or cockroach can move its legs and touch the eardrum, causing severe pain and dizziness. To alleviate the baby's suffering, you can drip warm oil or alcohol-based drops into the ear and immediately go to see a doctor to remove the insect.

Foreign body in a child's ear and ear injury

If a foreign body gets into the ear, as well as in case of injury or suspected injury, self-medication is strictly forbidden. You need to immediately go to see a doctor, and if this is not possible, then call an ambulance.

In my practice, similar cases often occur; I have to remove various foreign bodies from the ear of children (balls, pieces of eraser, cotton wool). One day, parents brought a 5-6 year old boy with complaints of hearing loss. Upon examination, I found a pea in the ear canal that blocked the ear canal. The pea was removed, and the boy began to hear better.

What to do if you suspect otitis media in a child?

There are times when parents cannot immediately get to the doctor, what should they do then? Let's discuss the moment of instilling boric alcohol into a child's ear. After all, this is an old, proven remedy.

Is it possible to instill boric alcohol for ear pain in a child?

To provide first aid in “field” conditions (when it is not possible to see a doctor), you can use the most common 3% boric acid, it is sold in a pharmacy without a prescription, it is advisable to have this drug in your first aid kit. You need to warm the medicine to room temperature, soak a turunda twisted from cotton wool in it and place it in the sore ear for 2-3 hours.

Despite the fact that many experts have abandoned this drug due to its alleged toxicity, 3% boric acid is an excellent antiseptic and does not cause harm if used correctly. I prescribe this drug to my patients and treat my children with it.

I can assure you that no drug has yet surpassed boric acid in terms of therapeutic effects; the drug has an excellent warming effect and has a local antiseptic effect. Moreover, each bottle contains only 3% boric acid, which is dissolved in 70-degree alcohol. This is a negligible dose that will not harm your baby.

When should you not instill boric alcohol into a child’s ear?

The only reason why boric alcohol should not be used for ear pain is perforation of the eardrum, when purulent or mucous contents are released from the ear. Therefore, if you have examined the baby’s ear and are sure that there is no discharge or perforation of the eardrum from the ear, then you can use 3% boric acid.

How to drop boric alcohol into a child's ear?

You need to heat boric alcohol to a temperature of 25-30 C, moisten a cotton swab and place it in the ear canal, this way the medicine will warm and disinfect the sore ear.

Attention! If you want to help your child cope with ear pain, find an opportunity to immediately show him to the doctor!

I worked in different regions of Russia and I know that huge distances between settlements often do not allow people to receive qualified medical care in a timely manner. For example, we had to hospitalize a child with otitis in one of the regions of the Leningrad region. The parents had to travel about 6 hours to the nearest ENT department, and they did everything possible to alleviate the baby’s condition during this period.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, I hope that my recommendations will help you provide first aid to your baby before he is examined by a doctor.

And finally, I want to invite you to watch a very short video from Dr. Komarovsky. What to do if your child has an earache. Let's briefly summarize our conversation.

With wishes of health to you and your children, Svetlana Ershova, otorhinolaryngologist.

I thank Svetlana for her simple, understandable advice to all of us on what to do if we are faced with the problem of ear pain in a child. And I want to share our story with you.

I experienced severe pain in my daughter’s ear when we first went on a trip with them, or rather flew. And during landing, my daughter just almost screamed and cried so much from pain in her ear. No amount of swallowing and breathing movements helped. And when we went through passport control after landing, the pain never went away.

I still remember this picture. And I didn’t have anything suitable in my first aid kit. As soon as we got to the pharmacy, we immediately bought boric alcohol, I gave it to her, and the pain immediately went away. Then they called the doctor, of course. She prescribed drops for us. And since then, it is precisely this ear that blows out a little, or a runny nose lingers, and immediately bothers her. We know the problem, it is very protective of the ear. Those. This moment of pressure change during landing had such an impact on the eardrum.

Dear readers, I wish everyone only health. Protect yourself, your children and grandchildren from colds, dress for the weather, and be wise. If ear pain bothers your baby, take the time and definitely show him to the doctor!

And for the soul, we will listen to Vladimir Kabatov today. Autumn Woman . So many feelings, harmony, tenderness...

First aid for ear pain

So, what should parents do if they find themselves in a situation where immediate contact with a doctor is impossible for one reason or another, and the child’s ear hurts badly? The first aid that you can give him is to alleviate the symptoms and provide peace to your sick child.

The procedure should be as follows:

Carry out a thorough examination of the ear. You may be able to detect a foreign object in the ear canal, then you should try to carefully remove it by tilting the child with the affected ear down. But be careful: there is a possibility of pushing this item even deeper.
If there are no external visible injuries, and the child’s temperature is normal and there are no discharges, then the child’s blood pressure needs to be measured. If it is increased or decreased, then you need to give the baby an appropriate drug that normalizes blood pressure, in doses prescribed for children.
Try applying gentle pressure to the tragus (the outer cartilage at the bottom of the ear). If the child does not show any concern and is not in pain, then most likely this pain is an echo of some other pain, for example, toothache.
If ear pain is accompanied by an increase in temperature and/or fluid secretion, then this is a sure sign of an inflammatory process. In this case, you need to give your child an age-appropriate pain reliever or fever reducer. Many medications already combine these two characteristics, for example, children's Paracetamol, Nurofen, Ibuprofen.
You should also definitely put vasoconstrictor nasal drops into your child’s nose. This should be done in any case, even if there is no hint of a runny nose. The fact is that such droplets will narrow the blood vessels, and this, in turn, will reduce the pressure in the ear canal, and the pain will subside a little.

Many mothers immediately look for something to drip into the ear for pain in their child. We strongly recommend that you do not use anything until you consult a doctor. The baby may have damage (perforation or rupture) to the eardrum. In this case, getting any liquid inside, especially alcohol-based, can only aggravate the situation and lead to irreparable consequences.

Is it possible to apply compresses?

If everything is clear with drops and alcohol solutions (you can’t drop them into a child’s ears without a doctor’s prescription), then the situation with warming compresses, which were especially popular before with our grandmothers and mothers, is completely different. Doctors are not clear on whether they are beneficial. The most important and unconditional truth is that under no circumstances should you make compresses or apply any kind of heating at all if the child has a fever or there is discharge from the ears. If these symptoms are not present, then when a child’s ear hurts, a compress can still alleviate his condition somewhat.

How to make the right compress?

Take a thick napkin or gauze folded in several layers and make a hole in it under the auricle.
Take vodka or any medical alcohol, diluted to 40% content, dilute it with a little more water and heat it slightly. There is no point in heating the alcohol solution too much, because the alcohols will evaporate and the compress will have zero benefit.
Soak gauze or napkin in the heated solution and squeeze thoroughly.
Lubricate the skin around the ear with baby cream and apply gauze, inserting the auricle into the slot. Place polyethylene or compress paper on top, also with a slot.
Place a layer of cotton wool on top of all this and secure the structure with a bandage.

This warming compress should be left on for about one hour. Heat will help relieve pain and allow you to calmly wait until you visit a medical facility.

In addition to warming compresses, you can also use just dry heat, that is, simply insulating the child’s ear with cotton wool or a warm scarf or handkerchief. Let us repeat that any heating (and dry heating too) is contraindicated if the child’s body temperature rises or if there is purulent or other discharge from the ear.

Be sure to visit an otolaryngologist.

Even if the pain in the child’s ear has gone away after first aid has been provided, you still shouldn’t relax and let everything take its course. If you do not want complications or any other serious consequences, then seeing a doctor is a must. You can visit your local pediatrician, but it is better to immediately go to a specialized specialist - an otolaryngologist. Only he, using a special medical instrument - an otoscope - can determine the cause of ear pain and prescribe the correct treatment.

In fairly mild forms of the disease, the doctor usually prescribes local drug treatment at home, prescribing anti-inflammatory drugs that relieve pain, lotions, compresses, ointments, etc. Sometimes additional methods are prescribed, for example physiotherapeutic procedures - ultraviolet irradiation or phototherapy. A complex of vitamins may be prescribed to generally strengthen the immune system.

If a bacterial infection is detected, an antibiotic is prescribed for ear pain in a child. Penicillin injections are usually prescribed and given over 7-10 days. Parents should not be afraid of this, because it is much better to drink or take a course of antibiotics than to then deal with the dangerous and sometimes inevitable consequences of their own fears. If you refuse antibiotic treatment, ear disease can develop into meningitis, mastoiditis, or even result in a brain abscess. It is unlikely that you need such sad consequences.

In some cases, when fluid or pus accumulates inside the ear, but it does not come out naturally, hospitalization of the child is recommended, followed by opening the abscess.

The most common childhood diseases

When babies are 2 years old or younger, they are very prone to various ear diseases that develop due to the presence of an inflammatory process in the middle or outer ear. The most common disease is otitis media. The infection enters the hearing organ through the Eustachian tubes. Children's ears are very vulnerable to infections.

Otitis media causes severe pain, accompanied by throbbing, ringing in the ears, deterioration in the quality of hearing, the presence of fever, and sometimes even a ruptured eardrum and bleeding.

Otitis externa is characterized by inflammation in the ear canal, located from the outer ear to the eardrum. The infection that causes the disease may be fungal or bacterial in origin. Often the disease begins with the presence of microtraumas of the skin. This sometimes happens when the ear canal is cleared of wax. The second reason for the development of the disease is water ingress. The third is the presence of an allergic reaction to the irritant. Otitis externa often resolves without outside intervention.

Symptoms of the presence of an infection of the outer ear are swelling of the outer part of the auditory organ, itching or aching pain when chewing, and purulent discharge may appear. It is also characterized by temporary hearing loss.