Red/swollen Ear, HELP!

My son's ear was red and swollen yesterday, but only at the bottom. By today it was perfectly normal. If you are messing with her ear and looking at it, trying to put cream on it, etc than she's going to start messing with it too. Just leave it alone, and check it when she doesn't know that's what you are doing. Honestly, this doesn't sound like something that warrants a doctor's visit, I would bet it's back to normal in the morning. Antibiotics are over-prescribed, and unless there are real signs of infection or they do bloodwork there is no way I'd give them to my kid based on a reddened ear. Lots of pediatrician's prescribe them to make the parents feel better, not because they are actually indicated.

We went to urgent care earlier this week for the exact same concern with my son. He wouldn't let me get a good look at it, but the daycare director took a real good look while he was napping and did see two dots that could have easily been an insect bite. The doctor concurred and offered benadryl, my son woke the next day and his ear looked normal again. Be sure to have your doctor tell you the correct dose for your daughter. Good luck and Happy Birthday to your girl :)

Can you see anything on the ear? Sometimes when it's swollen, you can't see the bite. Try an ice pack, wrapped in a towel, on the ear to reduce swelling. Continue the Motrin and cortisone cream as directed. And take her to the doctor if it doesn't improve.

My youngest had her upper ear swell and there was a sore. I took her to the doctor and they cultured it and put her on antibiotics. The culture came back negative and the ear resolved. It started to happen again, only this time I figured out that she had cream rinse left on her ear and it was causing a skin irritation. Go figure....

One unusual but possible cause is an allergic reaction to something she ate. My son used to get one red ear like that for no apparent reason. It would feel hot, and later peeled like with sunburn. It turned out that he had a lot of food sensitivities. Later, after those had been identified and taken out of his diet, once in a while he would still get that red ear. Usually, we'd find out that a babysitter or grandma had given him something he was allergic to.

Maybe try benadryl and see if that helps. Also, take a picture of it, so you can show the doctor later if it gets better before s/he sees it.

Maybe your new puppy brought some friends in...like fleas. My nephew was bit by one or we assume it was cause his puppy had them and his ear swelled.

She probably slept on it funny. Don't worry about it.

It could be a bite of some kind or her ear may have even folded over while sleeping and is now irritated and swollen from that. It happened to me one time and I woke up with a swollen ear where all the cartilage is. It did hurt and it took a day or two to get better. How I managed to do that I don't know but it happened. I probably rolled over in my sleep and squashed my ear in a bad position and stayed like that for awhile. I have also had a bug bite on my ear and that is so annoying and it hurts too. It didn't itch much but got red, puffy, and was kind of hot and tender to the touch. I put ice on it which helped a lot and also took some Benadryl at night for two days until it passed. I'm sure it is nothing major. Try some Motrin with Benadryl and see if it improves.mthe Benadryl will take care of any reaction to a bug bite while the Motrin will quell the inflammation. Both can be used at the same time safely. Good luck and hope the ear is better very soon!

My daughter had the EXACT same thing last summer. Turns out it was a raging ear infection. Thought it was a bug bite. No fever. Get to doc.