Ear Infection Health Center

continued...

If your child is younger than 2, your doctor may not wait 3 months to start treatment because hearing problems at this age could affect your child's speaking ability. This is also why children in this age group are closely watched when they have ear infections.

Children who get rare but serious problems from ear infections, such as infection in the tissues around the brain and spinal cord (meningitis) or infection in the bone behind the ear (mastoiditis), need treatment right away.

When used along with other treatments, removing adenoids (adenoidectomy) can help some children with repeat ear infections.³ But taking out the tonsils (adenotonsillectomy) is not very helpful.⁵