Started Whole milk-now ear infection

[hdeering]

Hi ladies,

My foster daughter is 12 months. She had some organic whole milk for the first time yesterday (she'd been on mostly enfamil lipil which is dairy based).

We went in for her 1 year checkup today and the doctor said she has fluid in one of her ears and that she should start antibiotics. He said it could be from having a sinus problem or something, and she had a little bit of sinus stuff a week ago, but it has since cleared up.

What do you think? She hadn't been irritable or anything over the ear and this is her first infection. No fever or anything. I'll get the prescription filled, but should I cut out the whole milk and just work on getting good food in her? She loves all foods, and I can get her plenty of greek yogurt and avacado and such.

I feel so bad... I'm wondering if the milk is the cause of it.

[harrietsmama]

It could be dairy. One thing to note - Organic milk tends to be ultra pasteurized which means ultra dead. You may be better off finding milk from a local dairy that is unhomogenized, or less processed somehow. there is a smaller fancy grocery in my town that carries Calder dairy. This is a dairy that is with in an hour of here, they do not homogenize their milk. It isn't organic, but they don't use the hormones. I don't even know if it's pasture fed. But the quality is high. But I'll tell you that many of the 'organic' dairies aren't so hot either. Organic Valley is supposed to be much better, and they may have a regular pasturized line, not sure. It will say either pasteurized or ultra pasturized. My point being, the better the quality for your wee one, the less likely she will be to have trouble. You may want to start her with very small amounts and work up. Wait a few weeks, then try again?

Of course, I truly believe raw milk is the best...

[hdeering]

Thanks Heather.

I believe that the milk was not UHT, but I'll double check. It's hard to find alternative sources for unhomogenized milk.

I'll be getting some raw milk soon, but we are not legally allowed to give it to our kids until the adoption is final. It even says that it must be "grade A pasteurized", so I can't just boil it myself and call it good.

Thanks for the help.

[tanyalynn]

The only EI my son has ever had (he's almost 4) was due to eating one of the foods he's intolerant of. For us, dairy is on the big, bad, do-not-eat list (he's intolerant of several foods). Some people do tolerate some forms of dairy and not others, and it may be worth experimenting, but it may be that dairy itself is just not good.

You can keep your LO on formula (I assume she's on commercial formula now?) longer, some folks feel that that's more appropriate, to closer approximate a more natural, appropriate duration of breastfeeding.

With my son, I did things to help encourage drainage, if you can structurally help the ear drain, the infection may resolve very quickly on its own. Someone who does cranial-sacral or chiropractic care may help, I massaged around my son's ears and that helped quite a bit, though we still went to our DO the next day. But what I did at home was enough for him to fall back asleep and sleep til morning.

[hdeering]

Argh.

Well, I didn't think the dairy should be so bad since she was on regular old dairy formula (enfamil).

The doctor really wanted us to get to whole milk instead of formula (why, I don't know). So we worked on transitioning and she loves it. Even from a sippy cup (she doesn't like formula from a cup).

But last night she started getting warm. This morning she has a fever of 102.7. The ear wasn't actually infected in the beginning, just had some fluid in it. Now I'm guessing it's infected?

Those antibiotics have terrible side effects! Should I just wait and see how her body responds to the infection? I'll try the massage Tanya, thanks.

[tanyalynn]

I wouldn't just wait and do nothing, instead of antibiotics. There's so much we can do to help our kids, and ourselves, get through illnesses unscathed. Nutritional support--extra vitamin C, maybe zinc and D, a multivit if she can chew one (not likely, I agree), and stop the milk, get a rec for a chiropractor or someone who does CST. I don't know how to use homeopathy well, but there are probably things there that would help too. There's just so much to do instead of antibiotics (which a parent should use if they feel they're needed) but if you want to delay the antibiotics, then there's a lot to try.

I've read of other people who've had issues switching from a dairy-based formula to whole milk. My kids have different reactions to straight milk than they do to things like cheese and yogurt--the fermentation and culturing help break down the dairy, and formula may fit the same pattern. It'd take experimentation to figure out your particular situation.

[harrietsmama]

Oh, gosh {{{hugs}}}

yeah, the chiro/cst works great for for ear infections. I hope it clears up soon! It's hard when your hands are tied on the milk. maybe just nourish her with some good boney meat broth instead.

[WuWei]

This is a copy of a recent post of mine regarding ear infections...

Diary intolerance is the number one cause of fluid build up in ears.

"In one study an astonishing 86% of the children tested became free of ear problems once they came off dairy food."
http://www.safekids.co.uk/EarProblemsAndAllergies.html
http://www.healthychild.com/ear-infe...ternatives.htm
http://www.vitacost.com/science/conc...infection.html
http://www.femail.com.au/ear-infections-truestar.htm


Pat

[nycmom18]

i highly recommend the following:

-cut dairy/sugar out for the time being
-see a chiro who can help with drainage
-massage behind ear in downward strokes and also, gently pull ear out and down. try it on yourself and see how to get your ear to "pop" open.
-put tea tree oil behind both ears daily
-you could give her colloidal silver or grated garlic if you can get in in
something.
-cut an onion in half-place in oven for about 15 minutes-take out and make sure its warm, not hot. then lay babe on side with affected ear up and place onion on ear for as long as she can take. please make sure its not HOT! it is very relaxing...this almost always does the trick.

ear infections rarely call for antibiotics, if you can catch it early on, you can really clear it yourself. but of course use your own judgment with your babe.

hope she feels better soon!