My toddler's 3rd Ear Infection in two months - Pls Help!!!

[DiasMumma]

My 19 month old has had three ear infections in two months. This is crazy!!! First one was at the beginning of August and she was given antibiotics and that cleared. Then the 2nd one was in mid-Sept. Again, antibiotics. On the seventh day of her 10 day dose of antibiotics I saw her tugging at her left ear. We just went in today and the left ear is red. I read on Mothering.com that garlic sauted in olive oil is good. So I tried that right now, and I'm not sure if I did the right thing. I put two drops in while she was sleeping and she reached for her ear. Should I try putting in breastmilk instead? or should I wait for the oil to finish doing it's job since it's probably made a coating around her ear that the breastmilk might not be able to penetrate. How will I know when her ear is feeling better? I just can't give this little baby a 3rd dose of antibiotics. I ended up crying in the doctor's office this morning because I can't believe her ear infection isn't going away. Help please help!

[mammal_mama]

I know how hard it is to see your baby in pain!

My oldest got her first ear-infection at 3 1/2. It was horrible; she woke up screaming.

Without taking time to look anything up, I rushed her to the doctor and started her on the antibiotics-course.

I later learned that most ear-infections are viral, not bacterial, and will resolve on their own, (olive oil does help with the discomfort) -- and Dr. Mendelsohn (sp?) says that even bacterial infections will resolve on their own, they just take longer. I finished the course of antibiotics, but resolved not to do that anymore.

Since that infection, she has occasionally complained of ear-pain (though it's never been as intense as that one time; sometimes in the summer I think she gets swimmer's ear). Olive oil has solved the problem every time.

I hope it works for you too!

[MamaJenese]

Get her to a chiropractor. After 6 back to back ear infections I finally got my son to one. Not a single infection since!

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by MamaJenese

Get her to a chiropractor. After 6 back to back ear infections I finally got my son to one. Not a single infection since!

Ditto. You can do the garlic oil like that but I've found the garlic/mullien oil works much faster. And start her on some probiotics now to help things as well.

[alexander's mama]

Find a good Chiropractor and stay away from anything cow's milk.

[DiasMumma]

Originally Posted by MamaJenese

Get her to a chiropractor. After 6 back to back ear infections I finally got my son to one. Not a single infection since!

Chiropractor for a toddler? I don't understand. I go to the chiropractor when my back hurts and they realign me. Are they going to realign my daughter's spine??

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

Ditto. You can do the garlic oil like that but I've found the garlic/mullien oil works much faster. And start her on some probiotics now to help things as well.

Where do you get the garlic/mullen oil? GNC sells this oil that has almonds in it too, and I have an allergy baby on hand. And where do I purchase probiotics?

[5gifts]

Yes, the chiro puts everything in line! He can feel the fluid build up & get it draining. My chiro sayd it's been proven now that abx cause a rebound ear infection a month later.

[sbgrace]

We used chiro (and cranial therapy) and took out dairy too. That did seem to help us. But then later on my son (still dairy free, regular chiro care, and no antibiotics for ear infections) ended up with an infection with a serious complication and ended up with tubes.

My point is that you can do all the right stuff and still some kids do have ears that don't drain well. Sometimes kids need tubes.

But for now do probiotics for her and give her a couple of days to see if her body can fight it without antibiotics.

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by 5gifts

Yes, the chiro puts everything in line! He can feel the fluid build up & get it draining. My chiro sayd it's been proven now that abx cause a rebound ear infection a month later.

Mine too. Plus the antibiotics kill off everything so their little systems can't fight off the next bug.

I get probiotics at Fred Meyer in their health food section. A friend just told me she got some at Walgreen's buy one get one free. Just make sure you get a dairy free one. I got the garlic/mullein oil there as well. Check out your health food store if you have one nearby.

Seeing a chiro did wonders for my kids.

[chaoticzenmom]

Originally Posted by alexander's mama

Find a good Chiropractor and stay away from anything cow's milk.

this! We haven't had a single ear infection since we stopped using cow's milk. I had a chiropracter adjust my ear when I felt one coming on. The earache went away almost instantly.

[Bellabaz]

I had ear infections a lot as a kid. We went to the chiropractor and also my mother would cut open a garlic gel cap and squeeze the contents into my ear. When my dd has one, I use ear oil that has garlic and tea tree and someting else in it. She smeels funny for a few days but it always works.

[XanaduMama]

chiro!!! http://www.icpa4kids.org/why.htm

quit dairy

daily vitamin C and fish oil to build her immune system

probiotics to fix her gut flora/immune system. You can get them at Whole Foods, if you have one nearby, or online, or give a good yogurt/kefir (even Kroger, the only grocery store in our tiny Southern town, has kids' kefir and Stonyfield Farm yogurt)

garlic oil: soak a couple peeled cloves in some olive oil overnight (don't have to saute!). Garlic is a strong natural antibiotic.

http://www.planetc1.com/search/most-...tibiotics.html

[Masel]

I did all the right things too (though I didn't hear about chiropractors for ear infections until recently) and we ended up with tubes. The kicker was the hearing test. There was a lot my DD was missing. The tubes were an amazing change within hours. She is so much more bubbily now. Ventilating an infection is in many ways a low tech and old fashioned solution. If only kids would hold still long enough for them to do it without knocking them out.

[Mommy2Haley]

Ditto the above with the garlic/mullen drops.

Our naturopath also has us doing "onion muffs". Cut an onion in half, microwave 45 seconds or less, and hold the warm onion close to the ear. The vapors and heat will help to soothe the pain while also drying out the fluid. My only issue with this remedy is getting DD to sit still long enough since you're supposed to hold it for 2 minutes.

We also take DD to the chiro but he doesn't do re-alignments for her (they're not necessary). He's checked her and feels as though everything is good so alignment isn't what he does. Instead he massages her neck to drain the lymph nodes (you can feel the bumps on her neck) as well as using different acupressure points to stimulate the nerves and get the fluid draining away from her ears.

This is our fourth ear infection since late July so I'm hoping homepathic/chiro remedies work. Antibiotics have obviously not done their job. (she's also taking probiotics and an immune support supplement)

[DiasMumma]

Update

Thanks for all the replies, I took her to a chiropractor who saw her for six visits. Re-aligned her neck and her tail bone. He showed me how to massage the back of her ear lobes down to her neck (lymph nodes) to help drain the fluid away from her ears which I do every nap time and bed time. He said that according to him she's clear, but she's still tugging at her ears. She doesn't cry or complain. We have an appointment coming up with her regular doc, I'll have her checked out then. I just hope I'm doing the right thing and not hurting my dd in any way or form by holding back on the abx.

[XanaduMama]

Glad you went to a chiro! Could the ear tugging be about teething? Those 2yr molars are a doozy...and teething pain radiates to the ears. Maybe she's starting to feel that?