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While this isn't necessarily a true remedy for an ear infection, most cases of this condition go through a period of observation. Typically, a doctor will ask that you observe the progress of the infection when your child is older than 6 months. This is largely due to the nature of this type of condition. For the most part, an ear infection remedies itself, so no treatment is necessary.
During this observation period, your doctor may tell you to give your child such medications as acetaminophen or ibuprofen, to relieve the symptoms of the condition, including fever, headaches and pain. But this isn't treating the condition, just the uncomfortable symptoms that often accompany it. - After this period of observation, the next step in treatment is often antibiotics. The most common antibiotic used in the treatment of ear infections is amoxicillin. To treat a bacterial ear infection, the antibiotics are taken each day through the entirety of the prescription period, which is usually between five and 10 days. Any less and the infection may return. However, when an ear infection is a result of a virus, which is far more common than bacteria, this type of medication won't work, so other forms of treatment are necessary.
- When observation and antibiotics don't help or the infection is more of a recurrent condition, your child may need to have tubes placed in his or her ears. With this form of treatment, drainage tubes are surgically inserted through the eardrums to allow fluid to empty from the middle ear. This can reduce or eliminate chronic infections of the ear.
