Teething or an Ear Infection???

You can buy yourself one of those ear things the doctor has now at a drugstore and you can see if the eardrum is red. If it is, then go get it treated. You do not want to deal with ruptured eardrums! I have, and I wish that little device was available when my kids had all their ear infections. I had all three kids with multiple ear infections and usually it started with a cold and/or strep throat. Two of my kids had ruptured eardrums but fortunately they healed fine without surgery. An ear infection can cause a high fever and severe pain for a kid. Other types of ear infections can be related to swimming. One of my kids had so many ear infections that his ears were blocked for 80% of his toddlerhood and delayed his speech development. It can take up to a month to clear out an ear after an infection and my poor kid just got one after the other. He is one of my kids that had a ruptured eardrum WITH NO FEVER.

i would get her checked. the ear pulling is a tell tale sign of an ear infection. my daughter had an ear infection and never had a fever and this was while she was teething. but if you do think its just teething try giving her tylenol and gentle naturals teething drops (those are sooo awesome!!!). good luck!

I really think you should have a nurse or doctor look in the ears with a stethoscope. My oldest son had frequent ear infections and never had a fever with them. If it is it needs to be treated so it will not get worse, permantely effect hearing, or cause meningitis. It is not something to "tough out."

Take her to the pediatrician. My son (19 months) had a runny nose but was otherwise acting very normal, not fussing at night, not showing any signs of an ear infection. No fever, no major ear tugging. A friend of mine watched him one night and said he tugged at his ear a few times so the next day, since his runny nose had been around for a few days, I took him to the doctor to rule out ear infection. Turned out he had a really nasty double ear infection. He is just such a laid back kid that he wasn't complaining. The up side is we found it before it did irreversible damage, which can happen if you don't get them treated. the down side is that now every time he has a runny nose for more than a day or two I have to take him in to make sure it isn't an ear infection since he doesn't let me know that he has one. I'm like you, normally I let him tough things out and he just started day care this fall and has been sick in one way or another for most of that time because he is being exposed for the first time to all these new germs, which is why I didn't take him in when his nose was running for a few days because I figured it was just a cold. Give yourself some piece of mind. take her in. Good luck.

Better safe than sorry. - My kids got ear infections while teething, because all the excess mucous would drain into their ear canals.