Non antibiotic treatment for ear infection?

[sweetieberlin]

My 5 month old was diagnosed with an ear infection.. I really would like to stay away from antibiotics if possible.. Is there something else I can do??

thank you

[akind1]

I haven't any experience with ear infections yet - knock on wood - but I have seen some homeopathic ear treatments for babes at the health food store. My gran also always set store by peroxide in the ears - she used a syringe to squirt some in there (gently) and then cotton wool to help absorb the drainage.

I haven't need to use either yet, but like you, would want to try non-anti-bx treatment first.

[Toolip]

most ear infections are viral anyway, so antibiotics don't help.
Do you have any breast milk to squirt in them?

[leahcas]

Hi there,
I felt the same way when my son had a double-ear infection at only 6 months old. After much research on mothering in the community, I use Wally's Ear Oil- availble here in Arizona at Sprouts. It has garlic, mullein and eucalyptus oil in it. I would also keep the humidifier on at full blast. Since using Wally's, I give my LO ( almost 9 months now) the oli if I notice that his nose starts running a lot ( It seems for him that this is a precusor to a possible ear infection.) I've probably only used it twice since his original infection which was treated with antibiotics, and I have yet to use it again.
The fever was what worried me the most, I gave Motrin only when the temp was above 101 and it subsided eventually.

[Magali]

Well I don't know if what I have is an ear infection, but right now my ear hurts and throbs a little. I just got over a cold and then this started. So I am using warm olive oil with a few drops of tea tree oil in it. Seems to be helping and my ear is hurting less.

[AndtheStars]

I just went through DS's first ear infection last week. We used Motrin at night for the fever and garlic oil every three hours or so. I just pressed three cloves of garlic in about 1/4 cup of Olive oil and let it set for 30 minutes. A few drops in DS's ear (which he didn't like, but tough) and I put a cotton ball over it to catch what came back out. I used that jar for 24 hours and then made another for the next day. It cleared up in two days and DS was back to normal. The extra bonus was that DS smelled like garlic bread and I used the garlic and oil from the jar for dinner on two nights.

[annettemarie]

As per the forum guidelines, I am moving this to Health and Healing.

[Nan'sMom]

We've found the following to be helpful:

(1) Breast milk in the ear;
(2) olive oil with garlic and mullein in the ear (warm in your hands or warm water first to make it feel less icky going in; and
(3) Classical homeopathy (I'm not much help on this one--I call our homeopath and she helps).

I've heard chiropractic and/or cranio-sacral can help but have never had helpful experiences with either modality (I think partly because, like with any other profession, it's hard to find someone good)

[MaryMarg]

This info may be a little too late, but I found two great books when DD started ear infections at age one. No More Amoxicillin by Mary Ann Block gave a specific massage routine for the face and trunk to decrease fluid and infection. She also lists homeopathic options and other general info. Her book seemed kind of old-fashioned (printed in 1998) but she runs a clinic in TX using her technique and just the massage pages were worth it for us! Michael A. Schmidt's book Childhood Ear Infections: A Parent's Guide to Alternative Treatments was also very useful, especially a section on doing a Lymphatic Flush to help clear infection. Think I got them both on amazon.com.

We implemented the massage from the Block book and the Lymphatic Flush whenever DD began a cold and she has not suffered any more ear infections. It was very, very useful and made sense. Ideas from PPs worked for us too; just make sure the eardrum has not burst before putting anything in the ear. Hope your son is already much better!