Ear Infection, Round Three

After the second round of antibiotics to treat Oliver's ear infection was completed, I was told by his pediatrician that I didn't have to bring him back unless his symptoms worsened. They didn't worsen, but the problem is that his symptoms never actually cleared. And I finally accepted that I was just as miserable with Oliver's crankiness as Oliver was with whatever continued to ail him.

Unlike classic ear infection patients, it was not putting Oliver down for a nap or to bed that was a problem, it was when he woke up. The first half hour to an hour after he woke up from his nighttime sleep or his afternoon nap has been a constant struggle. He rarely woke up crying, but if I tried to get him up shortly after he woke up, he was a wailing, thrashing mess. However, if I just left him in his crib to give him some time to (possibly) fully wake up, his happy babbling quickly turned into persistent crying. So I would check on him and maybe give him his pacifier and change his diaper. If I was lucky, he'd go right back to sleep for another 30-45 minutes. But often I found him bouncing around his crib and looking happy and excited to start or continue his day. Because he was probably fully awake, if I left him there, he did not go back to sleep and would stand in his crib and cry. But if I took him out, his mood took a 180 and I would be back to having a cranky baby. So I'd put him back in his crib and repeat the process of checking in on him when he started to cry and only knew I was able to get him up for good if he didn't scream during the next attempt to take him out of his crib. Needless to say, I was frustrated by this process and missed the days when I'd come into Oliver's room to find a smiley, happy baby who stayed happy when I took him out of his crib to change and dress him.

I was confused by what was causing the end-of-sleep problems, because Oliver appeared to be getting enough sleep. Most nights he's in his crib by 6:00 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. and awake at 6:30 a.m. and doesn't wake up in between. Many of my friends wish their kids would sleep that long! And his afternoon nap is usually around two and a half hours, well within the average range for a baby his age. My latest theory is that the quality of Oliver's sleep has been affected. He probably takes after his dad who likes to sleep long and is a deep-sleeper, as well as after me, who doesn't function well on poor or inadequate sleep.

I'm happy I brought Oliver back to the doctor. The good news is that despite what I thought, the last round of antibiotics had cured the infection in his right ear. Unfortunately, his left ear is now infected. The doctor examined Oliver's gums and said it appeared like he is getting his top right tooth. Teething is well-known to be painful for babies, but I didn't know that because the nerves in the mouth and the ear are connected, teething can actually cause "referred pain" in the ear. So yes, it is no wonder that Oliver has been tugging at both his ears.

The doctor prescribed the antibiotic Cefdiner again, because it had proven to cure at least one infection in Oliver and hopefully it will cure the one in his left ear now. I brought up the subject of tubes and while she cautioned that tubes aren't a miracle solution, hence the protocol is to try a few rounds of antibiotics first, she thought Oliver is nevertheless on the path towards needing tubes, because we still have months of cold season ahead of us and Oliver is already on his third round of antibiotics.