Ear infection? autism?

Question

I am just grasping at straws here until we see the doc but Can a doctor miss an ear infection in a toddler? my lil boy is having quite a few problems i am concerned about and i am very worried about autism.. He had a double ear infection a few weeks ago and we took a course of antibiotics and i even took him back to make sure it was gone. which our doc said it was. anyway he has been grabbing his ears and hitting them and hitting himself in the face.. not talking or happy the last few days.. not playing with his toys, just sitting against the wall alone looking very upset. not sleeping, eating or drinking much. we have an app to see the doc asap but i am wondering in the mean time could there be something wrong with his ears causing these things. or at least causing the ear grabbing? he does not seem to be the child i knew a few days previously.

Answer 1

Ear Infections and Autism

Thomas my son is ten he has severe autism he is also non verbal, when he was little he never had infections in his ears or banged them, so i am a little lost why you would bring autism into it, when Thomas was a toddler he wouldn't play with toys would play alone and most of all he had no speech, he hated cuddles and being held, all these are factors of autism, i would say your son has a bad ear infection or his ears are itchy when a child has had an infection the ears can become inflamed and itchy, Autism to me is something NOT to be worried about because if your child does have Autism there is nothing you can do BUT help your child as much as you can, i too was worried about autism and my child does have it so i do what i know and that's the best i can do  

Answer 2

His ears are probably causing him alot of pain.  He may even have a sinus infection.  I would be more worried about autism if this was his routine behavior, but it sounds like he just started this.

Answer 3

Oh I really feel for you. I couldn't imagine my child in so much pain. I wish I had some knowledge to pass along. Have you checked out the WebMD.com?

Good luck, I'll be praying for your little guy

Answer 4

Doctors can't always see the infection. I'm sure it's another ear infection or something. It's only been like this a few days -- that wouldn't be like ... sudden onset autism or something, lol.

He probably feels awful and is in pain.

Have you given him pain reliever, to see if that helped?

Answer 5

I'm not sure why the person who suggested trying a pain reliever while you wait for the doctor's appointment got a thumbs down, but that's definitely what I'd do.  Usually that will help with an ear infection.  It's very common for ear infections not to clear up after one round of antibiotics; it's notoriously difficult to correctly diagnose ear infections (often if you show the same ear to different medical professionals you'll get different opinions about whether it's infected or not); and many kids get chronic infections so it may actually have gone away or mostly gone away and then started up again.  Also, many ear infections are actually viral, in which case antibiotics won't have any effect on them at all.  

So I'd definitely not worry about autism or so on.  Grasping at ears right after having an ear infection certainly sounds like an ear problem (same with not eating or sleeping much -- it hurts when you swallow or lie down -- and the not playing is probably because he's just in pain).  Definitely see the doctor but unless there's a reason not to, try some otc pain reliever in the meantime and see if it helps.

Answer 6

My son did same thing. Chronic ear infections which caused hearing loss.  After the second round of tubes and they proved he could hear again, I think the sounds were so loud that it frustrated him, and caused him to get agitated, and to this day he still grabs at his ears, i think it a habit now!  So if he had ear infection that may have gone a while without being treated maybe that did mess with his hearing and now that the ear infection is gone, he suddenly ears better and the noise is to loud. So when ever possible leave all unnecessary noise off or turned down.

Answer 7

A lot of time Drs. think babies have ear infections when actually their inner ears are just red from crying.  Try not to worry too much and take him to the Dr.