Handle Ear Disorders in Children and How to Prevent

Ear pain in children is a common condition. However, this condition is often not realized by parents because children, especially infants and toddlers, have not been able to explain the complaints they feel. Therefore, Mother needs to know what types of ear pain in children and their symptoms.

Ear pain in children can be caused by eustachian tubes that are still not fully developed. This condition makes children more at risk of earaches due to a buildup of fluid in the ear.

In addition, ear pain in children can also occur because the child's immune system is not functioning optimally, so that his body is susceptible to infections, including infections in the ear that make his ears hurt.

Symptoms of Ear Pain in Children
When the child is old enough, they can already explain the pain that is experienced and which part of the ear hurts. However, in infants and toddlers who have not been able to speak properly, they will look fussy or cry more often because of pain in their ears.

Ear pain in children can also be recognized from the following signs and symptoms;

• Often pulling, scratching, or holding ears.
• Fever.
• The ears appear swollen and reddish.
• Fluid out of the ear.
• Difficulty sitting or standing suddenly.
• Difficult to hear or not respond when called.
• Throw up.
• Hard to sleep.
• Smelly ears.
• Not wanting to eat, drink, or suckle.

When your child experiences some of the symptoms above, especially if the symptoms still appear for days and do not experience improvement, immediately take him to the doctor to undergo examination and get appropriate treatment.

Types of Ear Pain in Children
The following are some types of ear pain in children that are quite common;

Outer ear pain
This condition, also called otitis externa, is a condition when the auricle and ear canal are swollen and painful due to inflammation. Ear pain in children due to otitis externa can occur because of;

• Swimming habits, so that water enters the child's ear and causes irritation.
• The ear is possessed by a foreign body.
• The habit of prying ears or using earphones too often.
• Bacterial or fungal infections.
• Skin diseases, such as eczema.
• Accumulation of earwax.

If it is severe, external ear pain can make a child's ears become swollen and red, and make the child feel very painful.

Middle ear pain

Middle ear pain (otitis media) can be caused by various things, one of which is a viral or bacterial infection. Otitis media is quite common in infants and toddlers aged 6-24 months, especially those who do not get breast milk or often suck in a lying position.

Middle ear pain in children can also be caused by a ruptured eardrum. This condition can be caused by a foreign object entering the ear, a sound that is too loud, and ahead or ear injury.

A ruptured eardrum can make a child experience dizziness or vertigo, hearing loss, buzzing ears, and discharge or pus from the ear.

If not treated immediately, middle ear pain can spread to other areas to cause mastoiditis, an infection of the mastoid bone located behind the ear, and even cause infection of the lining of the brain (meningitis) which can be fatal.

Inner ear pain

Deep ear pain (otitis interna) is rarely experienced by children. This disease can be caused by a viral or bacterial infection of the ear or otitis media that is not treated immediately.

Examples of inner ear pain are labyrinthitis and vestibular neuritis. Labyrinthitis is inflammation of the fluid-filled ducts in the inner ear, whereas vestibular neuritis is inflammation of the vestibular nerve, which is a nerve in the inner ear that sends messages to the brain.

Inner ear pain can cause children to experience vertigo, buzzing ears (tinnitus), vomiting, to hearing loss.

Treating Ear Pain in Children

Ear pain in children generally can heal by itself. However, you are still encouraged to take the child to the doctor to get the right diagnosis and treatment.

After examining the ear of a sick child, the doctor will provide treatment according to the age and condition of the child's health, as well as the symptoms and severity of ear pain experienced by the child. Management of ear pain in children can be in the form of:

Giving medicine

Doctors can prescribe ear drops that contain antibiotics to kill bacteria and corticosteroid ear drops to relieve inflammation in the ear.

In addition, doctors can also prescribe painkillers and fever relievers, such as paracetamol, to treat pain and fever experienced by children when they have earaches.

Operation

If the administration of medicines does not succeed in treating ear pain in children, the doctor will recommend surgery, such as myringotomy or eardrum surgery, to remove fluid in the eardrum and relieve swelling and inflammation in the child's ear.

Surgery is also generally recommended for children who often experience ear infections, suffer from hearing loss, or talk too late.

In the condition of a ruptured eardrum, the doctor can patch or close the hole with a patch or perform tympanoplasty surgery.

To prevent ear pain in children in the future, do the following ways;

• Give children exclusive breastfeeding.
• Carry the child so that the position of the head is higher than the body when giving milk.
• Stay away from children from cigarette smoke or avoid smoking near children.
• Avoid giving a pacifier too often to children.
• Encourage children to wash their hands frequently.
• Supervise the child when playing so that he does not put foreign objects or toys in his ears.
• Make sure children get complete immunizations, including pneumococcal vaccine (PCV).

Ear pain in children can sometimes heal by itself. If the child looks calm and is not fussy, this indicates that the earache has improved.

However, immediately take the child to see a doctor if the symptoms of ear pain do not improve after a few days, the child looks very sick, fever, or discharge, pus, or blood from his ears.

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