natural meds to pink eye for my 16 mo ds

[BRmama]

I'm not even sure if such a medication exists. I took my son to kids instacare this morning and he got diagnosed with pink eye and two ear infections on top of his teething (his third molar is coming in). He's pretty miserable . He's never had an ear infection or any eye infection. I've always given him vitamins. This all started Friday night as we all had a horrible night sleeping. Then he looked pretty miserable yesterday but since he hasn't had a fever at all this last weekend, and the eye infection just started this morning I just chalked it up to teething symptoms. Yeah I do feel pretty guilty now for thinking that. My fear is that giving him antibiotics could cause him a reaction or worse things up later on. Also I do have probiotics for him and the instacare dr. said it's okay to give it the same time as the abx, but then I also heard that you have to give probiotics after they finish the abx course so they don't counteract with each other. So I'm not sure which one is the right one. I guess all these thoughts and worries comes with me being a first time mom and not sure where to go from here. Anyway, has anybody been through this with their lo? And if so what alternatives did you use? I guess I'm off to do some research on my own as well and to look for a homeopath in my area. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading this

[CrazyCatLady]

Breast milk works wonders in the eyes for infections. Definitely do lots of probiotics. If you are going to do (or have already started) the antibiotics, then just give the probiotics a few hours after the antibiotic dose.

[bluebirdiemama]

yup, if you are nursing put some breastmilk in his eyes everytime you nurse him. It won't sting, and will work wonders. Do not give him probiotics right before the antibotics. Give him the antibiotics first, wait until you think it has left him tummy, then give him the probiotics. the pro will not counter the anti, only the anti might kill the pro if you don't space them out enough.

If you want a natural alternative for the future, I use colloidal silver when we need antibiotics. Some people are opposed to it, saying it's really harsh. I have been using it for years, and I don't think they are any more harsh than some herbs that are often taken in natural herbal antibiotic blends. I just make sure we take a lot of probiotics while using it (which we should all be doing all the time anyway).
I encourage you to look it up. It's really expensive to buy, and really cheap to make.

[BRmama]

Thank you CrazyCatLady. I haven't started the antibiotics yet, but here's a question about that if anyone knows. I've read that for ear infections you can do garlic oil (a couple drops) in the ear. Is that effective? Also if I choose not to give him abx and do like oregano oil (which is a natural abx) in his bottle or juice instead can he go deaf? My main concern is because my mom thinks if I don't give him abx right away he could go deaf or partially deaf. I can understand her worry but I also overanalyze everything that goes into my son's body.

[BRmama]

Thank you bluebirdiemama, about that, do you make your own or do you buy it? Either way I'm willing to try anything that's natural. I guess I forgot to mention. Allergies do run in my side of the family, and even though could still be a small chance (only one of my brothers has it) I don't want my son to be the one with a reaction from the abx.

One more thing I need to mention. Unfortunately I'm not nursing and the only friend I knew that was and she'd be willing to do this has moved. However I'll keep that in mind jic because I am five months pregnant and plan on nursing this one for a long time. That's really cool to find out that bm can work wonders for eye infections. I had no idea

[CrazyCatLady]

For ear infections I use garlic oil. Just dump some olive oil in a pan and add a ton of garlic. Cook on low for a long time/until it's all really infused. Wait till cool! And then use a few drops in the ears as needed. I keep a little container of it in my fridge, works wonders and the kids don't mind it terribly. If you have a squirmy one who hates stuff in their ears. Drop it in when they're sleeping...even if you can only get one side for each nap/sleep time.

If you don't have breastmilk I know there are a ton of other herbs and things that can work for the eye infection. I just don't know off hand because I haven't needed it in years.

I'd also look into diet. Getting rid of sugar and processed foods (and maybe dairy too). Infections LOVE sugar. Especially if you have a history of allergies. Chiro's work great for ear infections (and a ton of other things), but I know not everyone loves them. I've taken a hacking, infected, sick, miserable kid into a chiropractor and have seen the kid feel tons better with in an hour of the adjustment. It's amazing.

I wouldn't worry about hearing loss unless the infection was very severe or had been going on for a very long time. And I'm hard of hearing, so I don't say that lightly. Maybe because you're so freaked out it might be better to just do the antibiotics, clear everything up, and then get diligent about diet/natural health to prevent further problems? Though antibiotics can sometimes make ear infections come back with a nasty vengeance...so I don't know...

[ameliabedelia]

I hope your son feels better! For pink eye, my mom always used to use a boric acid solution.

Mix 1/4 teaspoon boric acid with 1 cup of cooled/boiled water. Use an eye cup and wash the eye several times a day with this solution.

For ear infections, we do the garlic oil. I've also done a drop of tea tree oil diluted in olive oil. This works really well.

I hope he feels better soon!

[BRmama]

Thank you all very much for the replies. I'll be trying all those things on him. I feel a little better. The dr. made it seem like the infection was a nasty one (in his right ear) which is the same side his pinkeye is on. Then he looked at the other ear and he said he also had an ear infection there. Though my husband doesn't agree because my son never pulled on that ear, it was always the right one.

For now I'm going to do a chamomile compression on him. He seems to be in a good mood so I'm going to try to take advantage of that, however he's so squirmy lol. Thanks again. I think my plan will be to get his prescriptions tomorrow morning since most pharmacies are closed around here, and just have them in handy if the home remedies don't work. Though I'm betting they will. They always worked for my husband and I, I'm also somewhat new to home remedies for children in particular. I'll be researching that more. It's funny about the garlic, I never thought of it that way for ear infections. As a child we did garlic tea (most horrible thing in the world) to cure common colds. I'll be definitely making garlic oil and keeping it in the fridge. Also thanks for reading my plan. Just writing it out helps me feel better. I also found a lot of other home remedies for eye infections in general that I could post if anyone here is interested.

[ttcintexas]

I am interested in your home remedies for eye infections. The only antibiotic of any kind that either of my children have had is the eye drops for pink eye for my daughter. I would have let it go longer to clear up on it's own, but her two best friends were moving and having going away parties. I did not want to send our friends off with party gift of pink eye I hope your son feels better soon, and I second the use of garlic oil for ear infections/aches.

[BRmama]

ttcintexas here's some that I found from this site: http://www.grandmashomeremedies.com/pink-eye.html

What I found is specifically for pink eye though.
I've been alternating between the boiled warm (not too warm) water with salt as eyedrops, and chamomille tea compressions. It seems to be helping him and I got some boric acid as a pp suggested and that seemed to help too. I'm going to get the eyebright tincture today since the local homeopathy store was closed yesterday.

Also has anyone heard of this site? http://www.abchomeopathy.com/