Child with frequent ear infections???

[pnelson]

Does anyone have a child with frequent ear infections? If so, is there anything that can be done prior to a Disney trip to prevent one? He's usually fine within a day of taking antiobiotics but I worry that an ear infection would prevent us from flying?? Has anyone had any experience with this??

One more thing to worry about-a child getting sick just prior to our trip!!!

 

[crisi]

My daughter did.

We eventually put tube in her ears - they were wonderful.

You can have your doctor prescribe a prophyaltic antibotic - but my advice would be not to. Our daughter ended up with a penicillin allergy - quite possibly do to the amount of penicillin she had during her frequent ear infections. Thats not good, since there are a lot of infections that respond best to penicillin based meds - and she can't have any of them - so if she ends up with a strep or staff infection that is antibotic resistant, the number of medications she can take has been drastically reduced.

We are kind of hoping that she really isn't, and that she just had a coincidental rash and hives....but its difficult to test for until she is a little older.

 

[Mady/Sophiemom]

Since your flying, you might look into geting earplanes ( they are like earplugs, but equalize the pressure, so that your ears don't plug up and hurt) They come in adult and child sizes.
They will not prevent an ear infection, but often children who get ear infections, are more bothered by the pressure changes.

I have a daughter who is constantly with an ear infection, and/or Strepthroat. I mentioned it to her pediatician, and she prescribed an antibiotic, at half the dose, to prevent an infection and swimmer's ear.

Hope you have a great trip

 

[campingcorgi]

Maybe you'll get lucky (or unlucky) like us and your child will get an ear infection right before the trip. We went to the Dr. Monday and she'll be on antibiotic till June 2nd. We come home June 10--hopefully we will make it a week after the antibiotic. I say hopefully, because she went only 10 days between this one and the last.

We've done the tubes--they are out now. We'll see how the ears go this summer.

Good luck to you--I know that worry!

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Ask the doctor about a decongestent. Some Dr belive in the theory of using decongestents to help prevent and relieve presure with a ear infection. It seemed to help my DS when he was little and had SO many infections. We also did a whole year of low dose septra. He was not a good canadate to be put to sleep for tubes and this was our prodacal for him. worked well and he did outgrow them pretty much with time.
Good luck, I have been there!!!


Jordan's mom

 

[deirdrefitch]

Since your doctor is familiar with your daughter's ear problems, I would call the doctor. Tell him/her your concern, and ask if he can give you a presciption you could fill to take with you just in case the ear problems occur. My pediatrician use to do this when my children were younger. My youngest son was prone to sinus infections, and respiratory infections due to asthma and allergies.
I never had to use the antibiotic on a trip, but it was like having insurance for just in case.

 

[vicb]

This happened to us... our DS age 6 at the time came down with sinus and both ears infected right before we left! We were able to get 3 doses of anitibiotic in him before we flew, also used earplanes and Afrin nasal spray (that worked great!) He was a trooper and did just fine. The travel day was a bit tiring for him but a good nights sleep and he was off and running in Epcot the next morning!

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Amoxicillin comes in powder form which is mixed with water to make the suspension. This prolongs the shelf life, so you only mix it when you want it. My daughter was plagued with ear infections and we always had a couple of bottles around for emergencies. Ask your doc.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Our DD came down with an ear infection during our last trip (she was almost 2 years old). She was fine before we left, but we flew and I didn't give her decongetent 1st. She had a high fever that came and went. Calling our doc at home was no help. We ended up at Centra care and they took good care of us. The year before she had the infection before we left, but it turns out she was allergic to the peniclin and we ended up at Centra care for Cortizone! Our goal for next trip is no Centra Care!

I vowed to bring the antibotic with us a head of time for out next trip, but our doc said she couldn't do that. I wish I had taken her to the Doc before we left, but she seemed fine. Next time I plan on taking her for a check up the day before we leave just to be sure and discussing our concerns with her ahead of time. (or with another doc!)

 

[Pretzel]

Im not a child -17- but I do get frequent ear infections-idiot doctor suggest not getting ear wet, yah that really helps thanks- i found that i was willing to go through the pain at disney-its a lot of pain, waking up from sleep etc- if i had a good pain killer. You might be able to get some from the doctor. I have also heard of drops that can dry out the ear if you child gets ear infections from wet ear. Most doctors here dont prescribe medicine in advance, but it wouldnt hurt just to ask. Also for some reason the plane didnt bother me at all.

 

[NotUrsula]

Guiafenesin will keep the ears clear, and analgesic drops and ibuprofen or tylenol will do the rest. I have well-nigh constant ear infections, and I've been mostly avoiding antibiotics for several years now; I don't want to become resistant. The trick with going the no-antibiotic route is that the person should still see a doctor if the pain doesn't begin to improve in 3 days, or if there is a high fever present. I would discuss this approach with your pediatrician; you can't do it without the help of a doctor in the US, because the pain drops are a prescription drug. Some won't trust parents to carefully monitor the improvement, and think that you have drops to mask the pain, that the infection could do serious damage to the hearing before you checked back in again.

You can also, as previously mentioned, get an antibiotic ahead of time, if your doctor will prescribe it just in case. If the ped. will prescribe over the phone, but just not in advance, get the number for your local Walgreen's Rx and keep it with you.
That way the ped. can call the Rx into Walgreen's, and they can transfer the scrip to the branch in Lake Buena Vista for filling. Most insurances that use Walgreen's allow any branch to fill the scrip, and if not, amoxicillin is relatively inexpensive in any case.

Drops that will dry up external water in the ear are available OTC. These are usually a good idea for a child that spends a lot of time in swimming pools, as they help to prevent swimmer's ear.

 

[JANNYANS]

I had guests in my home over Easter and the DS developed an ear infection during the stay.They were not allowed to fly back to UK until it had cleared.It meant staying on an extra 4 days in a grotty hotel near the airport .They spend extra $$ but could not really go anywhere in case they were ready to fly at short notice.So an ear infection may stop you flying as the consequences of doing so could result in permanent ear damage apparently.