Ears

My poor kiddo’s ears. He had an ear infection over Labor Day weekend. A round of antibiotics and much cuddling later, we thought his ear was better. Fast forward to this weekend. I was mentioning to my mother-in-law that I thought something was up because Jack kept playing with his ear. Not tugging or pulling or seemingly in pain, but it just seemed odd behavior for him. On Sunday, he was sleeping more than normal too. He would be awake for an hour and then need to nap. I kept saying to my husband and my mother-in-law that I thought his ear infection was back. “No, no” was Lynn’s response.

Momma knows best.

Sunday evening, Jack slept pretty well. He woke up around 1:00am for a feeding and something wasn’t right. He was crying quite a bit. I brought him out into the living room where my husband was playing a video game and we both looked at each other and said “It’s back”. Crying is not typically in the middle of the night for Jack. The rest of the night was spent sleeping on the couch upright so he didn’t have the extra pressure on his ear.

I brought Jack to the sitter’s as normal and as soon as the pediatrician’s office opened, I called. Thankfully, they were able to see Jack early that morning.

Sure enough, his ear infection never healed. It lingered in the left ear even after the antibiotic, and now, he has an infection in the right ear as well. The pediatrician’s exact words were “He has a pus pocket in the right ear”. My poor kid. Since the last medicine didn’t work and Jack is limited to what he can take (because of his gag and puking issues), she prescribed a stronger antibiotic that he only needs to take once a day. Hopefully, this one works.

The rest of the day was spent at home, snuggling my sleepy baby. He felt fine, not fussy or grumpy. I did make sure he had some Tylenol since he had a slight fever. Sleeping was a little bit of an issue because Jack was only comfortable upright. Which means I had to sleep upright with him on the couch. You gotta do what you gotta do.

My sweet boy is doing much better Whether or not he is going to have chronic ear infections remains to be seen. Both my husband and I had chronic ear infections as children. I worry that we have doomed him to the same fate. If his ear infections continue or don’t seem to clear up, we might need to consider having tubes put in. Medication after medication and my child being in constant pain seems much more stressful on Jack than a minor surgical procedure that could help him for years.

Having a baby really has kicked my instincts into high gear. I never thought I would have the “mommy” feelings and know when something is wrong with my child, but I surprised myself. I know when something is wrong with Jack and have to often convince others of this. So next time I think something is wrong with my boy, back off folks. Because likely, Momma is right.