Diagnosis: Swimmers Ear in Both Children
Kelton had a pretty good case of it and Kaylen has a mild case. They both have drops to put in their ears 4 times a day for 5 days. No swimming or water in the ears until the medication is finished. Then, we need to be really careful to dry their ears (even blow drying them) to keep the moisture in their ears down.
Here's hoping for a more peaceful night of sleep tonight....or at least by tomorrow night.
4 comments:
We have 1 son who is prone to swimmer's ear. We now put drops of alcohol in his ears after every single time he swims. Also? At least for Kelton? Put his ear on a warm-temp (I think I used medium heat) heating pad for about 15 min. before you put the drops in. When you have a bad case, your inner ear swells up and the medicine doesn't get inside, it just rolls out. The heat will help reduce the swelling so the drops go way in. I drove 2 of our 4 kids from Utah to Texas when we moved 4 years ago, with my son just diagnosed with swimmer's ear. It was the quietest trip I'd ever made with the kids, but once we reached our destination, he was good to go swimming again! Good luck!
Thank you for the tips! I've never dealt with this before so I am eager for any info I can get on it that will make it easier for the kids and hopefully it keep from happening again. How do you use the drops alcohol? Is it just rubbing alcohol or do you get something specifically for drying the ear?
Thanks again!
It's rubbing alcohol and you can use a q-tip and put in 3-4 drops after swimming.You put them in the ear canal and wait a few seconds and then have then gently tilt their head toward the ground and the water should come out. You can also use ear plugs or cotton balls while they swim.The is an over the counter swimmers ear solution you can buy its in with the ear products;I got it at walmart if you don't feel comfortable using the alcohol,its handy to carry with you. Technically they can swim if they keep their heads out of the water. Some of our kids handled it some didn't.
Kerry is correct, just plain ole' rubbing alcohol. Since we have so many kids, we just bought a dropper at the store to put them in all of the kids' ears - and a handy hair-band to keep the dropper attached to the alcohol bottle. Don't go camping/swimming without it! I remember I got swimmer's ear in high school - not from swimming but from not drying my ears properly after taking a shower! And it HURTS! It's like the whole side of your head is throbbing with stabbing pains. It took some research on the Internet about the heating pad, though, because after 3 days of meds, my son wasn't getting better (and we were enroute to Texas). Major score in Albequerque with an all-night Walgreens right next to the hotel we stayed in. Also, you may want to test your pool for bacteria. That's how my son got it - it wasn't from not getting the water out of his ears but from the bacteria in the pool. You can buy an inexpensive kit at Wally World to test your water.
Post a Comment