Supplements and/or remedies to help combat recurring ear infections?

[alpenarwen]

Howdy!

My 14-month-old daughter has been suffering from ear infections since December...after 3 different antibiotics one ear is still infected :( So today we started on a fourth antibiotic...if that doesn't work the doctor said the next step would be antibiotic injections, but we are both really hoping it doesn't come to that...

I just was wondering if someone could suggest some non-prescription strategies to help. I know there are many products geared towards kids, but there don't seem to be as many for babies who can't yet chew gummies or tablets. Echinacea? Elderberry? Multivitamins? All of the above? I am still nursing her and she eats pretty well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[Momo123]

If you do a search, there is a lot of information in the archives about ear infections and natural ways to treat them. Does your daughter drink cow's milk at all? One thing that comes up frequently you might try (if you haven't already tried) is cutting out dairy for both of you since you are still nursing. Another common remedy is onion juice or garlic oil in the ear but those might not help since the ear infection is way past the beginning stage. Another thing that might also help is to get an adjustment by a chiropractor which can help with drainage of fluid behind the ear drum. For this you will want to find one that has worked with or specializes in kids (it's not the cracking you might associate with adult adjustments, it's very gentle and subtle). Since she seems to have been on antibiotics a lot, you might want to consider giving her probiotics to help restore the good bacteria in her gut (there are dairy-free versions too).

[sbgrace]

We were in a similar situation with my son and got out of it. Well, from 18 months to 3.5 he was ear infection free. Then he got mastoiditis with his only ear infection after we got rid of the chronic one at 18 months. It was horrible. I'm just mentioning because, though tubes are over-used, sometimes they are the best option. If you do some research you'll see that a big problem in resistant or recurrent infections are biofilms that house and protect the bacteria. There is some information here, but it's all over the web. The only way to work around that mess is drain the ear fluid. Outside of a rupture that means tubes in the US.

Along that line, xylitol has proven useful in ear infection control. It works on those biofilms and fights the ear infection bacteria. I do think it helped my son. You can google the research on it with ear infections.

We did cut dairy (and wheat) and did things to boost the system--epicore, optizinc, and I did do colostrum. We learned a massage to drain the ears from a cranial sacral therapist. Here is an example and I'm sure there are others. We did chiropractic too. Mostly we really tried to keep him from getting colds. I think that was what kept us clear for that period of time.

[autumnsummers]

These are all great ideas!  Here's one more. Herb Pharm makes a soothing ear oil called Mullein/Garlic Ear Oil.  You use one to two drops of slightly warmed oil in each ear.  Please be careful, do not to use it if the eardrum is perforated. Many parents find it to be a great tool for helping through such situations. Good luck with it all!