Xander Week 35 - Ear Infection 2.0
May 17, 2007
Xander had another ear infection last week (his second in his short little lifespan). Our doctor prescribed amoxicillin, which worked just fine for the last ear infection. So we started Xander on his 10-day treatment last Thursday. He very quickly decided that he hates that bubblegum flavor with a passion, and will not open his lips when the pink dropper gets anywhere near him. Who knew babies that young could purse their lips?!?
So we are on day 7 of the 10 day prescription. Xander is feeling much better and I’m pretty sure his ear isn’t bothering him anymore. I understand the need to continue with the full course of antibiotics to make sure that he doesn’t build up an immunity, etc., and I’m certainly not suggesting that we are going to stop giving him the medicine early. Unfortunately, Xander has developed a rather unpleasant side-effect. For the last three days he has had nearly explosive diarrhea. Luckily for me, the day care has experienced most of this - he’s been going through 3 outfits a day there (on a side note, we don’t usually have accidents at the day care - when this all started, he still had 3 month clothes in his cubby - they couldn’t even button his onsie…). A few nights ago I was the unlucky recipient of some excess poo, when he leaked out of his onsie, out of his shirt and pants, and onto my jeans - yuck!
Needless to say, it has been a poop-filled week. I’m not a huge fan of the increased laundry, but I’m more worried about Xander becoming dehydrated. He also seems to get a little fussy before an explosion, as if his stomach is bothering him. We didn’t have this problem with the amoxicillin during the last ear infection, so I was surprised when this started happening. In conversations with other mothers, apparently this is a common side effect.
If this is what we can expect from amoxcillin from now on, I’m going to have to buy Xander some more clothes! Luckily, a follow-up visit to Xander’s doctor showed that his ear is much better, and that we can stop the amoxcillin early. The doctor also recommended giving Xander some yogurt to try and calm down the diarrhea, so we’ll see if that helps.
Once he’s on his belly he can push up and get into a crawling position, but his muscles aren’t strong enough to hold him up there very long, and he still really doesn’t enjoy being on his stomach, so it doesn’t take long before he gets frustrated, then upset, and then really angry if we don’t pick him up.