Kids and ear infections: What’s the best strategy?

sick kidIf you’ve ever parented a child who gets frequent ear infections, you know that this is the time of year to brace yourself. It starts with a runny nose. And before you know it, there’s a fever and ear pain.

All three of my kids had reoccurring ear infections. As a parent, I always wanted them to feel better as soon as possible. So we’d head off to the pediatrician’s office for an antibiotic prescription. But a new systematic review suggests that’s not the best course of action.

In the review, published in the Cochrane Library of systematic reviews, researchers looked for randomized-controlled trails investigating if antibiotics are effective at treating ear infections in children. They found 13 trials with a total of more than 3,400 kids that compared antibiotics with a placebo.

Researchers found that the antibiotics made little difference in the children’s recovery. Sixty percent of the children had recovered within 24 hours whether they had placebo or antibiotics. The study also found that antibiotics did not reduce pain levels in the first 24 hours. And children who took them were more likely to have side effects such as vomiting and rash. For every 14 children treated with antibiotics one child experienced a side effect from the medicine.

Children who were given the antibiotics did have less pain a week later, and were slightly less likely to suffer a punctured ear drum due to the infection.

As a result, the researchers conclude that pediatricians should limit the use of antibiotics for ear infections, and focus first on pain relief using oral medicines and numbing ear drops. The review did find that antibiotics are most effective in children under two and those with infections in both ears. For most other children with mild disease in high-income countries, the best course of action is to wait to see if the infection clears on its own.

I feel lucky. After a few years of multiple ear infections for my kids, they seemed to have grown out of this particular health problem. But if you’re still facing ear infections with your kids, the take-home message is to give them some ibuprofen and wait it out.

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