Child Health Advice: Ear
These guidelines (topics) are intended to help you determine how sick your child is and if you need to call your child's doctor. Their second purpose is to help you treat your child at home when it is safe to do so.
IMPORTANT! Your doctor's advice and your good judgment should always take precedence over information in these guidelines.
- Congestion
- Blockage of ear tube (eustachian tube) during nose allergies, a cold or airplane / mountain travel.
- Discharge or Drainage
- Drainage of substances with varied colors and consistency from the ear canal.
- Ear Injury
- Bruises and scratches of outer ear, blood clot of outer ear, ear canal bleeding due to scratch of ear canal.
- Earache (Ear Pain)
- Pain or discomfort in or around the ear. Child reports an earache. Younger child acts like he did with previous ear infection (e.g. crying or fussy).
- Pulling at or Itchy
- A child repeatedly pulls, tugs, pokes or itches the outer ear or ear canal.
- Swimmer's Ear
- When water repeatedly gets trapped in the ear canal, the lining becomes wet and swollen. This makes it prone to superficial infection (swimmer's ear).