Recognizing Ear Infection Symptoms in Infants

Most babies experience ear infection symptoms two or three times a year before the age of two making ear infections one of the most common infant illnesses. As with all infant sicknesses, it can be difficult to tell what is bothering a child too young to talk. Luckily there are a few ear infection symptoms that directly point towards the ailment at hand. If your baby is displaying any of the following symptoms, it is likely that an ear infection is the reason and you should give a call into your pediatrician's office right away.

Crankiness/Crying More Than Usual

The first sign that something is wrong with your child will probably be increased crankiness or crying. Parents often have a feeling that there's just something wrong before any other symptoms of illness are evident. Of course, crankiness or crying alone doesn't signify an ear infection but it may be the first clue that your baby is becoming sick. If it is an ear infection that is making your child cranky, usually one or more additional ear infection symptoms will also be present. When your baby starts acting more cranky than normal, the best thing to do is keep an eye out for other symptoms of illness.

Fever - Usually Higher Than 101 Degrees

On those days when your infant seems out of sorts it is a good idea to take the child's temperature, just in case. If the fever is higher than 100.5 in an infant younger than 6 months or 102 degrees with a child over 6 months of age, you should call your pediatrician for advice. Fever is the body's way of trying to fight an infection or virus so a high fever is a definite symptom that an illness is present. There are many ways to treat fever in infants and small children including over the counter fever reducers like Motrin and Tylenol. My pediatrician would often recommend a lukewarm bath if medications didn't seem to be working. Beware though, that although you treat the fever, you are not treating the illness. You want to be careful about suppressing the fever so much that it can't do it's job - fighting the infection or virus.

Tugging At Ears Or Draining Liquid From Ears