Toddler on Amoxicillin EDIT

Would you rather they give a low dose making a second round necessary? Cause that happens all the time with ear infections.

I would trust what the pharmacist in this instance. He's an expert on drugs and all that goes along with that.

The pharmacist is the final say.

If 350mg is the max for your daughter's weight and she is only receiving 300 mg I really don't see your concern. If you don't give her enough medicine the infection may not go away.

Relax. If you are really a germaphobe, then you will give the medicine everyday, 3 times a day like its ordered, till its gone. Super bugs get started because people think they know better than the doctor and don't give the antibiotic correctly.

I bet this is not his first ear infection, and it is yours.

My poor first child had his first ear infection at 6 -7 weeks and had them so often, he had mantainence antibiotics everyday, then had tubes in his ears by 5 months. Antibiotics didn't hurt him, it helped him. It will be ok. There are much worse things.

I have no recollection of how many milligrams my children received when they had ear infections. I can tell you, though, that there were times I or one of my kids was prescribed an amount higher than the norm. It might have been because the normal amount was already tried and the infection did not go away. Possibly because the doctor could tell it was a bad infection and feared that going with a lower dose would result in needing a second round of antibiotics.

Personally, I tend to trust doctors. Not 100%. I do ask questions. I do express my concerns. But overall, my attitude is that I didn't go to med school or do an internship or a residency. I don't have the knowledge they have or the experience they have. I teach college math, and I would be very offended if someone who hasn't completed 8th grade level math tried to tell me how to factor polynomials or prove trigonometric identities.

If you have concerns, by all means, discuss them with your doctor. But your doctor is not in the business of prescribing unnecessary meds or putting your daughter's health in danger. If your doctor believes this is the amount your daughter needs to take, I think you need to trust that.

My younger son had chronic ear infections as a toddler. In our case there were a couple of times the doctor (walk-in clinic) did not prescribe a high enough dose, the ear infection would be gone by the end of the course of antibiotics, but back with a vengeance in a few days. I would rather have the higher dosage and get rid of the infection than drag out the infection and the medication for twice as long.

Give the exact dose at precise intervals-trust your doctor-amoxicillin has been around for a long time. Read about mastoiditis, you will be tripping over yourself to stay the course.

Trust your pharmacist. Read the information that came with the prescription. It will tell you what side effects and warning signs to look for. My husband is a pharmacist and they know exactly what is OK to give. They are trained to double check what doctors prescribe and won't fill a prescription if they think it is incorrect.

And speaking from experience you want to treat an ear infection and be sure it is cleared up. I have hearing loss because of multiple ear infections that went untreated. Our daughter had several ear infections and sometimes it even took two rounds of antibiotics to clear it up. It isn't fun to give, but it will help her feel better much sooner!!

Antibiotics should not be given except when necessary -- like when your child has a bacterial infection. Your daughter has a bacterial infection, which, if left to its own devices, would most likely get worse, cause her extreme pain, and a possible rupture of her eardrum.

Antibiotics are one of mankind's greatest gifts. Before antibiotics, people died routinely from bacterial diseases. Syphilis, meningitis, and tuberculosis are among the many illnesses that are curable by antibiotics.

And mastoiditis, as mentioned by Robin. Read about mastoiditis on Wikipedia, and see if you still don't like antibiotics. Here is one quote from the Wiki page: "Mastoiditis is usually caused by untreated acute otitis media (middle ear infection) and used to be a leading cause of child mortality. With the development of antibiotics, however, mastoiditis has become quite rare in developed countries."

Overuse and improper use of antibiotics is bad, yes, primarily because they cause drug-resistant superbugs. MRSA (flesh-eating bacteria) is an example of this.

But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Your doctor and pharmacist know what they are doing.

First off, they always start out with Amoxicillan and when they find that stupid med doesnt work, they go to something even stronger! Both my little ones had horrible ear infection issues and finally when i would take them back to the doc the first thing i said is "no amoxicillan". It is a waste of time, money and doesn't do squat for my child. I usually requested augmentin or a shot of rocephin (yes it got that bad) and after a few days my child was feeling better!
Amoxicillan is not that concentrated so it doesnt always work.

Just make sure you keep taking it all the way to the end.

And we've also had to go to augmentin after the amox didn't work. Ugh. I hate ear infections.

If I were a doctor and knew my patient's mom doesn't like antibiotics I would put them on the highest dose possible as well. Statistically you are more likely to not give the full course. In that case a higher dose may still get rid of the infection before you see improvement and stop giving them the antibiotics.

What they are doing is less harmful on your child than a partial lower dose because the infection will come back and be more resistant to that particular antibiotic so then you have to bring out the big guns.

My kids have all been on amoxicillin several times, especially my son who had many ear infections as a baby/toddler (and finally had tubes). Amoxicillin in not as powerful as some others... they never had side effects with it. (Augmentin is a different story). Just give your baby a probiotic (in his drink) while she is on the meds and she will be fine. The probiotic should help restore the good bacteria in her gut while the meds fight off the bad stuff. She will be fine and as long as she is not on antibiotics repetitively it should have no long standing negative effects. She will feel better in no time.

Yes Amox doses are large and frequent because the medication isn't very concentrated. It's been a long time since my kids had ear infections but I do recall that when they were given Amoxicillan - which is a fairly mild, first-line antibiotic - it was A LOT of medicine compared to other types of antibiotic and you have to give it for many days. Amox is just not very concentrated, so to get the dosage the kids need, it takes a large amount of actual liquid. It's kind of a pain and the reason why many families welcome Zithromax, which is much more concentrated so the dosage sizes are smaller and the course of treatment is shorter. However, it's better for your child - and all of us - to try the milder antibiotic first and save the bigger, more sophisticated weapons for if and when they're ever needed. When all three of my boys were on Amox for ear infections at the same time I had 6 bottles of medicine (3 large and 3 small) and it was so silly that I posted a pic of it on FB.

It's great to ask questions. I had an internship in college with the investigative news team of a local TV station and we did a story on pharmacy errors. Approximately 2% of prescriptions are filled incorrectly - in a busy pharmacy, that's 1-2 prescriptions a day. Sometime the doctor makes a mistake in the order, sometimes the pharmacy makes a mistake in filling the order. After that story, I learned to read back the dose to the Dr. at the office (even if they send it electronically I ask them how much and how often) and then when picking up, re-read the label and check to make sure that the medication matches the description (more obvious for pills than liquids). I once picked up a prescription where the dosage amount and frequency differed from what the doctor had said. I called the pedi from the pharmacy and they confirmed that due to an insurance issue, they changed to a similar medication that would cost less on my plan, so it was fine. The receptionist then went on to say that they do that all the time and that I was the first one who has ever called to question (she meant it as a compliment). So...when in doubt, ask away! It's better to be sure your child is getting the right dose of the right medication.

OK so with all that said...if both the pharmacist and doctor confirmed the dose and Dr. Google tells you it's not out of line, go ahead with it. The side effects of antibiotics are usually digestive in nature so watch for loose stools. You should give her a probiotic anyway to protect her digestive health and help her to immune system kick in and assist the antibiotic in fighting off the infection. A probiotic can also reduce the chances of her getting a yeast infection, which can also be a side effect of antibiotics.

Hope she's feeling better soon!

The bad thing about ear infections is they can cause hearing loss. I am against antibiotics. In my opinion they make the immune system weaker not stronger but in some cases you do need them. In the case of an ear infection you need them.

Once he is done with the antibiotics give him yorgurt to help build up the good bacteria in his body.

How many milligrams?

Some physicians do not immediately prescribed antibiotics for ear infections:
https://www.google.com/search?q=no+antibiotics+for+ear+in...

You were given the correct amount and instructions. 300 mg every 8 hours is the proper dose of amoxicillin for a 25lb 20 month old.

I work in a pharmacy as a technician and see this all the time. Many ear infections do not go away after the first course of antibotics and require a second course. Your doctor probably wanted to try and clear this up the easiest way and the fastest. Amoxicillin is the best tasting antibiotic out there. Augmentin tastes terrible and Zithromax is very gritty. Kids are less likely to take these and their parents usually don't finish the course of the antibiotic so the infection doesn't go away. Just remember if your pharmacist wasn't overly concerned then there isn't a problem. The pharmacist knows more about the medications than the doctors do since that is what they went to school for. If you still feel that there is need for concern then go to a different doctor for a second oppinion. Also don't always believe what you read on the medical web sites many of them are not backed by true facts or all of the facts that are available.

You can always get a second opinion from a different doctor, preferably not in with the same group of doctors. Dosage for amoxicillin is given according to age rather than by weight. Most antibiotics are dosed according to age. The problem with that is the drug companies use average weight for a certain age group, so it is very easy to overdose a child whose under weight. I have had it happen with my DS when he was an infant. He has always been at the bottom range of the weight chart. He had diarrhea, so we knew right away something was wrong so I looked it up and called the ped. He looked it back up and told me I was correct then had us stop the med for 48 hours, so it could clear out of his system. Then lowered the dosage. The problem with automatically giving a child a high dosage is that it doesn't give the natural immune system a chance to fight and build up on its own. According to this website: http://www.drugs.com/dosage/amoxicillin.html#Usual_Pediat...
The dosage for an infant up to 4 months old is 50mg. evenly DIVIDED every 8-12 hours. 80-90mg. is for ACUTE ear infections only and that is to be evenly DIVIDED every 12 hours within a 24 hour period. I hope you mean mg and not mls. After this is all over. You need to try to make sure your child doesn't put her fingers in her ears, you keep water out of the ears, and she eats yogurt.