Is there a correlation between ear infections and a child teething?

[fufflebum]

Just wanted to post this to see if others have experienced the same as me with their children.

My DS is 15 months and currently cutting his upper and lower molars. When this happens he seems to get gooey ears with a slight discharge. In the past I have gone to the GP and have been prescribed anti biotics. However he never seems bothered by his ears and I am wondering this time whether I should try and see if his ears will heal without treatment from the GP.

He is not bothered by the discharge but his gums are very red and swollen and he is showing other signs of teething (excessive dribbling and putting everything in his mouth)

Anyone else have experiences or advice to share?

[fufflebum]

Anyone?

[blinks]

if he seems well in himself i would just observe for signs of illness.

my DD has had a couple of infections but had more obvious signs like not sleeping/irritable and was obviously in pain.

[poppy34]

my dad (who is a gp) reckons in his experience yes- also seems to coincide with teething in my very limited experience but I don't think it's a universal thing .

[PerfectPrefect]

I always got earache as a child whenever I cut any teeth. Whether it was actually an ear infection or not I don't know.

[PerfectPrefect]

[fufflebum]

Thanks everyone so far. I know when I have spoken to GPs about other things linking with teething (smelly nappies for example) I have been told there is no correlation. But in my experience as a parent I disagree!I will give him a few more days as he does not seem to be that bothered by his ears and he is teething at the moment.

I just do not want him to keep having antibiotics if it is teething that is causing it.
Any others views/experiences are helpful.....

[SweetApril]

Fufflebum only just seen this so probably a bit late but IME there is a correlation. My DD had six ear infections over a course of about nine months up until she was 18 months. In retrospect I think that only one was not connected with teething. I gave the antibiotics because I was so worried about the high temps but I probably wouldn't do it again (although it's easy to say that in retrospect!). She didn't have a discharge but very red, inflamed ears inside. And, as you say, she wasn't ever bothered by her ears at all.

I received a real mixed bag of advice from the medical profession - GPs and nurses in my health centre had very different opinions on whether antibiotics should be given or not but every out-of-hours GP we saw prescribed antibiotics - so I found it really difficult to feel confident that I was doing the right thing.

Anyway, hope your DS is much better now. HTH.

[missingthemountains]

according my DS's ENT consultant there is a definite link. When babies are teething they produce lots of extra fluids all over the place, hence the dribbling and the sore bottoms (lots of stomach acid). they also produce more fluid in the ear and if they have small eustachian tubes (tube that goes from ear to throat) they can get blocked easily and get infected.

AB's never did a thing for DS1 so he had grommets put in at 10months - worked like a dream for us

the only AB's that might work is a 6 week low dose course of trimethoprim.

HTH

[fufflebum]

Thanks for the advice sweetapril and missinfthemountains. My son has been having intermittent discharge for about 10-14 days with no other symptoms. He is cutting molars at the moment, top ones just peeping through and bottom ones very red and swollen some days.

I have resisted any AB as I think it is teething related. Just worried as we are flying on holiday in the Summer and do not want to have to postpone due to this.

Any other opinions especially as we are going to be flying in August?

[missingthemountains]

get the tympanotry (sp?) of his ears checked - this will make sure he is able to equalise the pressure in his ears when flying - otherwise I think he may scream....