Can Teething Cause Ear Infection?
Do you notice your little one tugging, pulling, or rubbing their ears lately? Our babies grow and develop really fast. Every day, they seem to learn or do a new thing you haven’t noticed before like your baby suddenly discovering their ears! For many parents, ear pulling and rubbing is a clear signs of an ear infection.
While this is often the case, it could also mean your baby is starting to grow their first set of teeth. So, does this mean teething causes ear problems? Read on and find out in this article
What is Teething?
Teething refers to the appearance of a baby’s first set of teeth. Although it is a natural process, it is still a period when the baby experiences a range of problems and symptoms associated with their teeth getting ready to erupt.
Teething Signs
- When a baby is teething, it can be a tearing time for both mother and child. The baby is often crying excessively, irritable, drooling, and has the irresistible urge to bite things, including you!
- However, there is no fever associated with teething. If present at all, the fever would be low (below 38 degrees centigrade).
- The drooling is caused by the baby’s overactive salivary glands. When the drool comes into contact with the baby’s cheeks and chin, it may cause tiny red bumps and chafing of the skin, known as a teething rash.
- Teething might also cause the baby to lose interest in solid food. This is usually because their mouth is sore which makes it difficult to eat.
- The pain from teething can last up to ten days for an emerging tooth, however, when there are multiple teeth it can last much longer.
- Other signs of teething are sore or painful gums. The gums may also be swollen and red.
Teething does not usually require treatment, in spite of the many symptoms. However, you can relieve your baby’s distress and make them more comfortable by rubbing their gums and giving them something cold to suck on like a teething ring. If the baby is extremely uncomfortable and cries excessively due to pain, you may give some pain medication or counter pain relievers.
What are Ear Infections?
Ear infections, also known as otitis media, are a common occurrence in babies and children caused by fluid buildup inside the ear. Although they cause pain and discomfort, ear infections in children are rarely serious enough to lead to lasting problems.
Children get ear infections more than adults as a result of the shape and size of their eustachian tube, which is shorter and more horizontal than that of adults.
In adults, the ear tube is more vertical and allows fluid to drain out easily unlike in children and babies. Ear infections commonly occur between the ages of three months and three years.
Signs of Ear Infections
If your baby has an ear infection, there are some common signs and symptoms to look out for.
- They include frequent pulling or rubbing of the ears, excessive crying or fussiness, difficulty in falling asleep, irritability, vomiting, a fever with a temperature of 38 degrees centigrade or more, and loss of appetite.
- In older children, they may complain of pain in the ear, and loss of hearing, or they may experience loss of balance and difficulty reacting to auditory signals.
- The child may also experience ear pain when they lie down.
- In some cases, there may be a thick, yellow fluid coming out of the ears. The discharge from the affected ear could become bloody which indicates trauma to the eardrum.
Sometimes, Common symptoms of ear infection can occur a few days after your baby has had common cold symptoms or upper respiratory tract infection. This is because the swelling of the nasal passages, eustachian tube, and throat makes it easier for bacteria to enter the middle ear and cause an infection.
Oftentimes, acute ear infections clear up on their own after a few days or after treatment with antibiotics. Recurrent ear infections or frequent ear infections can lead to complications like short-term hearing loss as a result of fluid buildup. However, this usually only lasts for a few weeks.
Long-term hearing loss or chronic hearing loss can occur when the fluid fails to clear up and damages the eardrum or bones in the middle ear. If a child suffers from difficulty hearing or hearing loss, they can also go on to develop speech delays.
So, Does Teething Cause Ear Infections?
The pain associated with a growing tooth could cause discomfort in the ears, but it does not actually cause an ear infection. Infections are caused by bacteria and viruses.
Although a baby can develop an ear infection while teething, it is not the reason for the infection. As the new baby teeth erupt during teething, the process can cause swelling and pain in the gum which radiates to the ear which is close by.
The nerves around the teeth and the mouth can reach the ears, and this can explain the pain and discomfort the baby might be feeling.
Ear infections and teething can have similar symptoms and signs of pulling at the ears, low-grade fever, excessive crying or fussiness, difficulty sleeping, and waking up more frequently at night.
Because these signs overlap, it is often common to think that one causes the other or to confuse one for the other. Other shared signs and symptoms of teething and ear infection are flushed cheeks, rubbing of the cheeks, and refusing to lie down flat.
However, teething usually occurs around four months of age and occurs in intervals until all the child’s teeth, including the two-year molars, appear. Teething does not occur alongside or after a cold (viral infection) or upper respiratory infection, as is the case with ear infections.
Conclusion
Teething does not cause ear infections, even though their signs and symptoms may often overlap. However, there are distinguishing signs and symptoms as seen in this article, so that they can be managed accordingly.
References
Kidspot (2017). Ear infections: symptoms, causes, or is it teething? Everything you need to know. Kidspot. https://www.kidspot.com.au/health/infections-and-diseases/ear-and-eye/ear-infection-causes-and-symptoms/news-story/5ae645645d9d6914ac8c3b84a0a572e1
Iftikhar N. (2020). Why is my baby pulling or rubbing their ear? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/baby/ear-pulling-baby