constant ear infections

[breanna31]

I am just wondering if anyone else is going through this or has been through this. My daughter is almost 21 months old and started getting ear infections when she was about 7-8 months. Right after her first teeth came in. At first I thought it was from teething and I still am not 100% convinced that it's not. Our ped doesn't agree with me on that and said he thinks it's just coincidence. Anyway, she has had an ear infection every single month since May. She gets a fever and is miserable every time. I feel like I don't have any other choice but to take her to the Dr. and get her some medicine because she is so miserable. Well, she just got over her September ear infection and if the pattern continues she will be getting on in a week or two. I really don't want her to be on antibiotics again and I am hoping to find a natural way to relieve her pain and clear up the infection. I just googled a little bit of stuff but didn't find anything to be that helpful. Does anyone have any advice or natural healing techniques? A couple people suggested a chiropractor and cutting out dairy which are things I am willing to try but I just want to be prepared for the next ear infection so I can give her some relief without feeling helpless and like I have to take her to the Dr. and get antibiotics. She is still breastfed so it is extra frusturating that she has had such an issue with ear infections. I just hope she grows out of this soon!!

[bodhitree]

We have been through the constant ear infections. We ended up getting tubes put in DD's ears. It hasn't even been two months since we had them put in, but she hasn't gotten an ear infection in that time, which is the longest she has gone without one since March. I wasn't thrilled about having her put under general anesthesia, but frankly, I ended up deciding that was better than the constant antibiotics and resulting thrush, as well as the pain that kept her (and us) awake at night. We did not try chiropractic, mostly because I had little faith that it would do anything to help and because the infections/antibiotics/thrush were starting to endanger our nursing relationship and I needed to stop the cycle FAST.

[breanna31]

How old is your daughter? Our Dr. mentioned tubes and I am nervous about it. I have heard that a lot of kids grow out of this by age 2 because their bone structure is changing. I would probably wait until then and try a few more things before deciding on tubes but I am glad to hear that it has worked for you guys. If we end up having to go that route it is reassuring to know that others have been through it successfully. Do you think it was harder on you than it was on her?

[bodhitree]

She's almost 18 months old now. Her ENT did not seem to think things would improve on their own anytime soon. In fact, both her ped and her ENT said that one of the main reasons they were concerned was because she'd had so many ear infections in the spring and summer. They both thought that it would get a lot worse during the fall and winter because of cold season.

The surgery did not seem to be a big deal to her. We went in early in the morning, so we were home by 9:30am. The worst part was when she woke up after the surgery--she was really mad, which apparently is normal for little kids when they're coming out of general anesthesia. She didn't calm down until we were in the car heading home. Then she napped and nursed for most of the morning, and by about lunchtime she was back to her normal self. Overall, the amount of pain for her as a result of the tubes seemed to be significantly less than she was suffering because of the infections. Ear infections are so, so painful. I've had them as an adult and I didn't want DD to keep having to go through that every few weeks. I think the tubes were 100% the right decision for us.

Even if you're not ready to do tubes yet, you might want to get a referral to an ENT and/or an audiologist. Apparently it's not uncommon for kids who get constant ear infections to suffer some hearing loss as a result. When we went to see the ENT, the audiologist who's in the same practice tested my DD's hearing and tested to see if there was fluid in her ears creating pressure. An ENT also might be able to give you more ideas for prevention or at least tell you if it's realistic that other strategies or just waiting a few months might help.

[starbuckmom]

Have you ever had her to a chiropractor to be adjusted? Do you have a chiropractor? If you haven't, it would do your dd good to find a kid friendly one. Once the neck is adjusted, it keeps everything open in the ears and throat. Check out this site. Scroll down to ear infections: http://www.papillionchiropractic.com/conditions.html

I try and get my kids to our awesome kid friendly chiro about 3-4 times a year especially in the winter to keep their necks adjusted. We avoided ear infections in my twins just last month after they both got colds and had their necks adjusted and no ear infections!! My oldest would most always get ear infections from colds until we started getting his neck adjusted. Works great!