Ear infections and how to tell if your child has one

Pediatric Otolaryngologist, Nina Shapiro, MD, explains what the common symptoms of ear infections are in children and how to recognize the signs your child may have one
Ear Infection Symptoms in Children
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Ear infections and how to tell if your child has one

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Ear infections are the most common reason that children go to the doctor. So ear infections are going to be very common with your baby. Almost all children by the first or the second year of life have had at least one or two ear infections. It's often times not easy to tell if your child has an ear infections. Maybe a child who's just crying. They may not have any signs of any other illness, but they're just crying at night. You may have to take them into to the doctor to have their ears checked. This could be a child who has a little bit of a fever, they may be pulling at their ears. That could be a sign of an ear infection. In an older child they may start having trouble hearing. Having trouble hearing, where there's fluid in their ear and they can't hear, that also may be a sign of an ear infection. So unfortunately, there's no one way that you can tell your child has an ear infection. Could be something as simple as irritability, cranky child, it's an ear infection. Or severe ear pain, it's an ear infection. So because they're so common, you usually do need to have your child checked to see if it's what's really going on.


Pediatric Otolaryngologist, Nina Shapiro, MD, explains what the common symptoms of ear infections are in children and how to recognize the signs your child may have one

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Nina Shapiro, MD

Pediatric Otolaryngologist

Dr. Nina Shapiro is the Director of Pediatric Otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) and an Associate Professor of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.  As the first fellowship-trained pediatric otolaryngologist at the medical center since it was founded in 1955, her presence has put UCLA 'on the map' in her field.  

A graduate of Harvard Medical School and Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences, she also completed her residency training at Harvard.  She then went on to complete additional subspecialty training in pediatric otolaryngology at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, and The Children's Hospital of San Diego.

A native of New York, Shapiro has been honored with several prestigious awards, including the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology Award for Clinical Research, the UCLA Division of Head and Neck Surgery Faculty Teaching Award, and the American Academy of Pediatrics Young Investigators Award.  She has also been named "Super Doctor" by Los Angeles Magazine, and has been listed in "Who's Who in America".  

She has authored over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, has edited a pediatric otolaryngology textbook, and is the author of the parenting book Take a Deep Breath: Clear the Air for the Health of Your Child, releaseded in January 2012. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children, and enjoys spending time with them more than anything else in the world.

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