More Germs

I took K (21 months) to the doctor. Our doctor is off today so we had to see an on-call doctor who is not my favorite. I feel that he talks down to me and that he is dismissive of my concerns. I've seen him once before and when I found out when I made the appointment that we'd be seeing this guy, I almost didn't take the appointment. I'm glad I did take the appointment though. He said K's ears look awful. This is our first ear infection. N hasn't had one. I feel awful that K has one. I wonder if the flying did it, or if it would have happened anyway. I know it's common for little ones to get ear infections after a cold.

He prescribed a course of antibiotics.... Ten days worth. He said since she was under 2 that this was what was recommended. I am not a big fan of antibiotics unless they are necessary, and I think they might be necessary this time. This is the first course of antibiotics for any of the girls. N's not had an infection that required antibiotics. When she had Croup, she got a steroid prescription to reduce the inflammation, but not an antibiotic. Oh the fun we will have trying to get K to take this medicine. The cough medicine in my eye from this morning makes me really dread giving her the medication.

K is asleep right now. She's a tired girl. She hasn't gotten the medicine yet because the drugstore didn't have it done when we were coming home. Her Daddy will be bringing it home soon. I'm just not sure what to do. I'm not sure whether we'll give it to her or wait. I just read this and part of me kind of wants to wait. Maybe I'll see what we can do with advil and how that works. The part of me that wants her to feel better fast wants to give it to her, but the part of me that looks at the big picture just isn't sure what the best action is. Any advice?