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Ear infection in a baby or child: what helps, and when to call

For anyone looking after a baby or child whose ear hurts, or who may have an ear infection: a parent, a grandparent, a sitter. This page passes on, by name, what one page of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and one page of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) say: the signs in a child too young to talk, what is different for a baby in the first months, easing the pain at home, why a doctor may wait before giving an antibiotic, what happens when ear infections keep coming back, and the signs that mean a call. It builds the questions to ask. Take only what you need today.

Looking after a baby or child? The pages on this site for a baby or child, on one list.

This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, nurse or pharmacist has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 9, 2026 on two government websites, each page in English and in Spanish. On cdc.gov, the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one page: Ear Infection Basics, which says it was reviewed on April 17, 2024. On nidcd.nih.gov, the website of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, one page: Ear Infections in Children; its text is dated March 2013 and the page says it was last updated March 16, 2022, so it is older than CDC’s. The page says whose words it is passing on, and what is marked “ours” is our own. Changed on October 9, 2026. When this guide was first published, earlier the same day, it also passed on two articles from a medical encyclopedia. Those articles belong to a company whose notice does not allow its text to be reused, and we should not have used them. We took out every line that came from them: a line at 6 months for when a baby should be seen and treated; two more lists of signs; lists of what raises the chances and a second list of what lowers them; things to try at home (heat, cold, chewing, sitting up, a flight) and when ear drops may be used; when an antibiotic is more likely, and the unwanted effects of antibiotics; counts of ear infections for ear tubes; what was said about hearing and speech afterwards; rare complications; and two lists of reasons to contact a provider, which named swelling near the ear, strong pain that stops all at once, and new headache, dizziness or changes in the face. We have not found those last signs on a page we may pass on; the guide says so, and says to call if you see them. CDC’s page was read for this change and is new to the guide. The pages give no signs for calling 911 for an ear infection, and this page does not make any up; the one 911 line is ours and says so. Where the sources differ, the page gives each: NIDCD, in 2013, says many doctors will prescribe an antibiotic, and CDC, in 2024, says many ear infections can get better without antibiotics; NIDCD speaks of waiting a day or two, and CDC of 2 to 3 days; NIDCD names one version of a vaccine and CDC does not; and CDC’s list of what lowers the chances has breastfeeding where NIDCD’s has not going to sleep with a bottle. Numbers: 100.4°F (38°C) under 3 months, 102.2°F (39°C), the 2 to 3 days, and the ages of 6 months and 4 years for medicines are CDC’s own; 48 to 72 hours, three to six weeks, six to nine months, five or six a year, and “five out of six children” are NIDCD’s. What we left out or did not read: the name of every medicine but aspirin (the pages name two pain relievers and one antibiotic), the names of the bacteria, and the name of the vaccine version on NIDCD’s page; the amount of any medicine, which the pages do not give either; NIDCD’s paragraphs on the parts of the ear, on research, and on which groups of children get more ear infections; swimmer’s ear, except one line; and CDC’s print version and the other pages it links to, which we did not read. We called no number. It saves nothing and loads no tracking.