Curious About Odor from Ear --- Ear Infection??

Updated on February 15, 2009
L.B. asks from Lima, OH
25 answers

I've noticed for the past 2 days, my 2 1/2 yr old daughter has an odor. It appears that it is coming from her ear. She was diagnosed with an ear infection about 2 weeks ago, and was put on an antibiotic which we have now finished. She has complained that her ear still hurts. But I've NEVER noticed any odor before.... or heard of such a thing!
Tonight, I gave her a good bath and washer her hair (as I do EVERY night) then used a Q-tip with a bit of peroxide on it when I cleaned her ears. Guess we'll see if that does anything??
Does anyone have any suggestions or comments !?!?

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So What Happened?

Hey Everyone -- thanks to everyone's advice .... I called the Doctor on-call today. After explaining the situation, and the fact that she spiked a 103 temp today, he suggested taking her to the ER. Good Thing! She has a full blown ear infection. Very red and puss. ( hence the odor. puss = odor)
New round of antibiotics!! Thanks for the advice everyone -- good thing I didn't hold off til Monday for regular Doctor hours !!!

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A.W.

answers from Cleveland on

HI, I would take her back to the doctor. My friend's son had the "smelly" ear problem and it was actually a yeast infection in his ear and it was the yeast that was causing the odor. Good luck.

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P.R.

answers from Indianapolis on

Yes, it is from an ear infection. She should be on some type of medication and ear drops. I always knew when one of my children was starting to have an ear problem because of the odor.

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E.W.

answers from Dayton on

Her ear is still infected. Please take her back to the Dr. ASAP! I had the same problem when I was younger.(Ear infection, finished a round of antibiotics, had a funny smell in my ears.) The infection moved into my ear drum, causing it to rupture.
The pain was the worse I have ever felt. It was like someone stabbing an ice pick in my ear.There are no words that can really describe how intense the pain was.
The ruptured ear drum has had lifelong consequences. My ear is all messed up and has cost me thousands in medical bills due to the vertigo it caused and the loss of hearing. Also I was unable to join the Air Force @ 18 because of the scarring and loss of balance. (A dream of mine when I was younger was to join.)
Also- Never ever put a q-tip in the ears. All it does is push the ear wax or infection back down into the ear canal. You can take a bulb syringe and gently wash her ears out w/ a peroxide solution. They also sell special cleaners @ the drug store, but I wouldn't clean her ears out until the infection clears up.
There are several tricks you can do for the pain. A drop of sweet oil works or a warm washcloth pressed up against the ear will help as well. Good luck and I hope the little one gets better soon.

1 mom found this helpful
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A.V.

answers from Indianapolis on

She probably still has the ear infection or it came back, which is very typical. Something else you may want before you would go back to the doctor, is a natural ear infection remedy called Mullein oil, you can get it at North Star Vitamin Shoppe. It helped me!

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D.K.

answers from Indianapolis on

Considering the age of your children.....I'd own copies of NATURALY HEALTHY BABIES & CHILDREN by Romm
and
The ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NATURAL HEALTH & HEALING for CHIDLREN by Weber

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M.J.

answers from Cincinnati on

Is there any discharge coming from her ear? If so I would definately take her back in. If she is still complaining of pain, take her back in.

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B.B.

answers from South Bend on

my grandaughter always had an odor with her ear infections. After we got her tonsils taken out at age 3 she had had no more ear infections.

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P.H.

answers from Cleveland on

Call the doctor IMMEDIATELY. Tell them exactly what is going on. The quality of hearing can be affected by ear infections. I know of one case which happened in the 80s. Here is what I was told of another coworker.

The mother gave the preschool child some OTC counter medication and went to work. The husband was out of town and could not take his daughter to the doctor.
Something went terribly wrong at that point and she became DEAF. Moral of the story: call the doctor NOW!
Good Luck.

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S.F.

answers from Fort Wayne on

You should call the doctor and schedule an appointment because she still has the ear infection.

To reduce water or liquid in the ear canal...
Put rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab. Then leave the cotton swab in the ear overnight. This will help the liquid evaporate.

To lessen the ear pain...
Put a few drops of rose oil into the ear canal. Then you can put a cotton ball into the ear to keep the oil from draining out overnight. Or... just put a few drops in the ear canal, let it sit for a few minutes on her side. There's no harm if the oil drains out during the day.

Not to scare you, but you should know that as fluid builds in the ear drum, this creates pressure and pain. If the ear drum is too full and does not drain, the ear drum can explode. This may result the ear drum breaking, large amouts of blood pouring from the ear canal, great pain when it breaks. After the ear drum breaks, the pain lessens greatly. The ear canal will be filled with blood and may cake up when drying. It can take days to gradually drip water into the canal and break up the crust. To fix the hole in the ear drum may require surgery. Permanent hearing loss is possible and common.

My son experienced this. We have had two sets of ear tubes put in his ears to drain the fluid and had his tonsils and adenoids removed. The tubes fell out and we didn't know. Then he got an ear infection and the ear drum exploded. So... I suggest going to an allergist or Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to have the situation assessed.

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E.M.

answers from Columbus on

she may have some external otitis--infection in the ear canal usually from a yeast or fungus. if there is discharge that looks like cottage cheese than it is a yeast infection in the ear canal which can develop after antiobiotics for some. she may be having some discharge from her recent infection too. the peroxide should help some for that. if the smell continues tomorrow i would call the doctor.

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S.F.

answers from Cincinnati on

Get her back for a recheck, the infection may not be gone yet. As a RN that has worked in an ER, one patient years ago comes to mind. She was about 5yrs old, had "smelled funny" for months. Mom had taken her to their pediatrician a few times during that time and nothing had been found to account for the smell. Our ER doctor was stumped, she had a runny nose, not much, but he got the idea he should look there. What we found was disgusting!!! She had a very small piece of bath sponge up her nose! She had denied putting anything "up there", but obviously was afraid to admit it. It had been there for some time, so was quite disgusting to see, and smell. After removing the sponge the smell from her started dissipating even that quick.

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A.L.

answers from Indianapolis on

a definate ear infection....call the dr and tell them she needs more antibiotics that it is not gone, tell them about the odor....(it is a nasty odor too.)

God luck and God Bless.

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L.S.

answers from Evansville on

I would take her back in to have her ear rechecked. The antibiotic may not have cleared the infection and it may be back. My pediatrician has always made us come back after antibiotics for a recheck to make sure the ears are ok.

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L.W.

answers from Cleveland on

Go back to the doctor. She still has an ear infection.

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J.M.

answers from Indianapolis on

I would take her back to the doctor. Sounds like something is in her ear that needs to be removed.

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K.Y.

answers from Canton on

sweet oil.buy it in the ear dept of walmarrt buy a bulb ear thing.instead of q tips

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M.W.

answers from Toledo on

L.:

As an RN who has worked in a pediatrician office for many years, please get your daughter's ear re-checked.
Just because she was put on a certain antibiotic and you finished it,does not mean that the ear infection has cleared. Sometimes a particular antibiotic does not work on a certain infection and the ear infection actually gets worse. the bottom line is she needs to be rechecked.
Also consider putting her on probiotics as she has been on antibiotics. M.

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W.L.

answers from Columbus on

did you check to make sure she didn't stick anything up her ear when my son was about that age he had a cold and hen his nose ran alot and he started smelling really bad. especially his nose. Well go reallt worried took him to ER and found out he'd stuck an earplug clear up his nose. it smelled because the earplug absorbed stuff, just a thought lol hope all goes well.

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S.B.

answers from Cincinnati on

My daughter had the same thing. The odor was still an infection and she had a hole in her ear drum. You will have to do more antibiotics and be rechecked after you are done with them. Good luck it takes about a week or two but she will be fine

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D.N.

answers from Columbus on

Hi L., My advice is take her back to the Dr. I have 6 grandchildren, and 3 of them has had to get tubes in their ears. She still has ear infection, does she get ear infections very often? If so you should speak to your Dr. about tubes. They make such a difference, My grand daughter just turned two in Jan. she's had tubes for at least 8 months, and when she starts getting ear infection, instead of the infection getting down in her ears, the tubes push it out. they really are a blessing. We have a great ears, throat, and nose specialist. Just let me know if you need one. He's awsome. Good luck.

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L.S.

answers from Cincinnati on

Call the doctor. The infection probably is not gone, the antibiotic may not have worked. Different medicines work on different bugs. I have a son who is 17 years old and has had ear infections his whole life, including two sets of tubes and major ear surgery last year. Don't let it go, especially since your daughter says it still hurts. I'll be thinking of you.

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R.G.

answers from Fort Wayne on

More than likely it's an infection. My cousin is a hearing specialist & she let me know that when an ear is infected it does smell.

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K.J.

answers from Columbus on

Just a thought...is it possible that there is something lodged in her ear. Perhaps she stuck something in there. The only reason I ask is that when I was a preschool teacher there was a child in my class who had a horrible odor. His mother was beside herself as to what to do. It was after a series of doctor's visits that they thought they found a growth in the child's nasal cavity. They did a surgery to remove it only to find that it wasn't a growth...it was a folded up little piece of cardboard that the child had pushed really far up into his nose. It was growing all kinds of things on it and once it was removed, so was the child's odor. Nonetheless, I'd definitely take her back to the doctor to check things out.

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S.C.

answers from Kokomo on

pain and odor from the ear is more than likely a bad infection that needs antibiotic. Take her back to the DR.

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D.G.

answers from Columbus on

When I was a child I got a lot of ear infections and they always had a yeasty smell, it was from the infection draining out as I slept.It should go away once the infection is completely gone. However if her ear still is hurting she may need another round of antibiotics. When I was small we never went to the Dr. our parents treated us with a few home remedy's like warm smoke blown into the ear, hot water bottles to drawl it out and a few drops of our own urine in the ear canal.Sometimes a few drops of sweet oil.

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