Pink Eye and an ear infection

I got the dreaded call today from daycare that Lucas has pink eye. He was fine in the morning but by mid afternoon it had developed. I took him to the pedi and he also has a double ear infection. I feel horrible. How could I not know about an ear infection? He is on an oral antibiotic that will clear up both the eye and the ear. Do I need to do anything to the eye itself? Clean it any particular way? I am praying that Jackson does not get it too!

 

I'm pretty sure he should have an eyedrop too. Not sure how you keep it spreading from child to child, a lot of hand washing I guess. Don't be hard on yourself about not knowing about the ear infection, its common to not "know" GL

 

:hug: Last year when Lily got pink eye it spread to the entire family. They were only infants at the time so the pedi gave me eyedrops for all of us. I'm sorry your LO is sick right now! :hug:

We put warm compresses on our eyes to soothe them when they were really achy. Just make sure to wash your hands every time you deal with the eye, and wash your LO's hands as much as you can! Change their sheets and sanitize everything, pink eye is very contagious.

 

I don't think I can give you better advice then Aimee gave you. Sometimes those ear infections and pink eye can be very sneaky :hug:

 

You are definately not alone. We had a surprise double ear infection, too. I felt pretty horrible. I was so worried about that I took his brother in just to have his ears checked. I felt pretty silly when the doctor said his ears looked wonderful.

As for pink eye, wash, wash, wash. Wash your hands, their hands and anything that comes into contact with that eye like sheets often. We were lucky that the second baby never did get pink eye.

 

It seems like whenever I bring this up to people who have kids, they have never heard of it explained this way. So maybe I misunderstood. But after my son wound up with an ear infection and pink eye at the same time, it was explained to me that often times ear infections and pink eye go hand in hand. As soon as the pediatrician saw the eye, she assumed he had an ear infection, and sure enough he did after she checked his ears. It was explained to me that it was part of the cold, the cold caused the ear infection and the eye infection. And that it wasn't the typical contagious strain of pink eye. Sure enough my daughter never got it and we didn't do anything to keep them separated. We were only given the oral antibiotic as well. It was for the ear, and she said it would also take care of the eye.

We've been battling the eye on and off for over a month now though. After he finished the course of antibiotics his eye wasn't much better. Actually, midway through the antibiotics I called and said his eye wasn't getting better, and they prescribed me drops over the phone. So we did those too. I took him back to the doctor, and sure enough the ear wasn't better either. We got a different, stronger course of antibiotics this time. After this round was finished, his eye finally looked better. But a few days later it started getting goopy again and it slowly got worse each day. I took him back to the doctor. This time his ears were fine, so they said it was just pink eye. And must be a new virus - so this time the contagious kind. Seemed weird to me since he wasn't around anyone and I didn't feel like the original bout was ever officially healed. But we did the drops again. It didn't do anything. And like the last time, no one else in our house got it. I called again and they prescribed a different type of ointment. Not for pinkeye, but just in case there was other bacteria growing in there. We also got a referral for a pediatric opthomologist. The ointment seemed to have really helped. But we just finished it yesterday, so I'm waiting to see before I call the opthomologist.

Anyway, not sure if any of this helps you. But I just thought I'd share our story. Hopefully it's not contagious and the antibiotics will take care of it for you.

 

Some kids tolerate ear infection better than other kids. My older DS would always get a fever and his ear would turn bright red. My older DD never ran a fever or tugged on her ear. It was a guess. My DS got an ear infection with every new tooth.

I also learned that you can give pink eye to yourself. If you have a cold, wipe your nose and then wipe your eye. It spreads to the eye.

Hand washing is the best prevention........

Good luck!

 

QUOTE(MomofNickandSuzy @ Jan 19 2009, 11:04 PM) [snapback]1153984[/snapback]
I also learned that you can give pink eye to yourself. If you have a cold, wipe your nose and then wipe your eye. It spreads to the eye.


Yes, I think this was part of the doctor's explanation I forgot to mention above. You can get "pink eye" by having a cold and rubbing your eyes. And this wouldn't be spread as the traditional, contagious strain of just plain old pink eye. Someone else may catch the cold, but they may not necessarily get pink eye. It would depend on how the cold affects them. Still seems like it would contagious in a way, but not like the highly contagious strain, if that makes sense? I still didn't really get it, and I even looked it up on line a little and was still confused. But when she initially said that it was pink eye I asked if this meant my daughter would get it now too, she said "no, it's not the contagious kind. It's just part of the cold". I guess I should have asked more questions at the time, rather than still trying to stumble over an explanation, and now I'm probably confusing you too!

 

December 2007 we made a road trip from Chicago to New Orleans, it was pretty cold. Half way the twins developed pink eye (they had just turned one). We brought them to a doctor in Vicksburg ... turned out they both had double ear infections as well, never noticed and it never seemed to bother them. However, they were put on antibiotics because we had 2 flights within 1 week to catch, incl. a transatlantic. It's the only ear infection they ever had (or should I say ... that I noticed?!).

 

QUOTE(DeniseT @ Jan 19 2009, 10:36 PM) [snapback]1153961[/snapback]
It seems like whenever I bring this up to people who have kids, they have never heard of it explained this way. So maybe I misunderstood. But after my son wound up with an ear infection and pink eye at the same time, it was explained to me that often times ear infections and pink eye go hand in hand. As soon as the pediatrician saw the eye, she assumed he had an ear infection, and sure enough he did after she checked his ears. It was explained to me that it was part of the cold, the cold caused the ear infection and the eye infection. And that it wasn't the typical contagious strain of pink eye. Sure enough my daughter never got it and we didn't do anything to keep them separated. We were only given the oral antibiotic as well. It was for the ear, and she said it would also take care of the eye.

We've been battling the eye on and off for over a month now though. After he finished the course of antibiotics his eye wasn't much better. Actually, midway through the antibiotics I called and said his eye wasn't getting better, and they prescribed me drops over the phone. So we did those too. I took him back to the doctor, and sure enough the ear wasn't better either. We got a different, stronger course of antibiotics this time. After this round was finished, his eye finally looked better. But a few days later it started getting goopy again and it slowly got worse each day. I took him back to the doctor. This time his ears were fine, so they said it was just pink eye. And must be a new virus - so this time the contagious kind. Seemed weird to me since he wasn't around anyone and I didn't feel like the original bout was ever officially healed. But we did the drops again. It didn't do anything. And like the last time, no one else in our house got it. I called again and they prescribed a different type of ointment. Not for pinkeye, but just in case there was other bacteria growing in there. We also got a referral for a pediatric opthomologist. The ointment seemed to have really helped. But we just finished it yesterday, so I'm waiting to see before I call the opthomologist.

Anyway, not sure if any of this helps you. But I just thought I'd share our story. Hopefully it's not contagious and the antibiotics will take care of it for you.

This was the explanation given to me too. I hope your little guy is over his bout of it. The antibiotics seem to be working. His eye is not goopy anymore and there is no discharge. I am still going to treat this like it was contagious and sanitize the toys, wash hands and change sheets. I think it will just make me feel better. KWIM?

 

*hugs* I hope he is better real soon!!!! Don't feel horrible. *hugs*

Dianna

 

When the girls and I had it last year there were no ear infections or colds, only the eye. We think Lily picked it up from another baby at the playroom, because we had been at the playroom that morning and everyone was fine. We left the playroom and I noticed her eye looked a little bit pink and by that afternoon there was no question that it was infected.

Makes sense that there is more than one kind, we must have had the uber-contagious, non-cold or ear infection related kind.

 

There are several different kinds of pink eye and only one is treated with antibiotics. We are 'battling' the bacterial kind. Both my sons are on antibiotic eye drops. I hope it doesn't spread. I hope he feels better soon. Glad you caught it.

 

I hope this sickness is really short. :hug: Maura.

 

Poor baby! I would just use a warm washcloth to get the goopies off if needed. Ear infections are tricky, so don't beat yourself up over it!

I have one child, that almost everytime he gets a cold, it also goes into his eyes.

:hug: