So last week, Kavi (who's sitting here trying to type with me as I write this) was rubbing her eyes and her head a lot, and being super-clingy and surprisingly fussy. She's generally a happy baby, so my husband and I thought something was up.
Naturally, we took her to the doctor (who also happens to be her grandma) and it turns out she had a fever and an ear infection.
Since Kavi's our first, we really weren't quite sure what to do at this point. But given the fact that she'd been fussing for days — which likely meant the ear infection and fever had already been around for a while — her doctor recommended running a course of antibiotics to see if that would take care of it.
Like I do with everything, I decided to look it up. And as I discover with everything baby-related, the antibiotic issue is shrouded in controversy. One camp suggests that the risks are too great not run the kid through the course of antibiotics, because although they're rare, some side effects of ear infections can become deadly. The other suggests that overuse of antibiotics on kids this young can cause their germs to become immune to the medications, which can cause further problems down the line.
Aghhh! Again with controversies! Anyway, so my husband and I were really wary of giving the medication to Kavi. We'd never even given her Tylenol at this point. So we decided to watch her a few more days and see if the ear infection cleared up on its own. Alas, it didn't. Eventually, we thought it was best to give her the course of antibiotics so she wouldn't continue to suffer from this ear infection.
This week, she's doing a lot better. Thank God. But I know this won't be the last time we face this antibiotics issue. After all, she's only 4 months old — and next up for us is teething. Fun times!
Did you give your little one antibiotics?
Image via Navdeep Singh Dhillon
