Sleepless nights. Fussing while feeding. Tugging at the ear. And crying when lying down. Yep, your child has the classic signs of an ear infection.
For toddlers around ages 1 to 2, ear infections are as common as the common cold, and anatomically, there’s good reason. “In kids, the tube that connects the ear to the back of the nose—which is called the Eustachian tube—is shorter and more horizontal than in adults,” said Dr. Drew Prosser, an ear, nose and throat surgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia. “As a result, it’s easier for bacteria to travel from the nose into the ear and precipitate an infection.”
Learn more about ear infections in this post on the CHOG blog.