[meagansroses]

so i took my daughter into the walk in care the other day cause she appeared to have another ear infection. (all the normal signs we get with her) this is her 6th one in the past year by the way

so the doctor on call confirms that is her problem and then tells me that if i had gotten her vaxed on schedule we wouldn't have this problem.

he said that the hib vax is supposed to keep them from getting ear infections and has been proven that children who've had the vax have less ear problems.

so now i'm confused cause i've never heard of this before and i don't want to believe it. it sounds like horse poop to me but i thought i'd ask around and see what all you knowledgable ladies have to say. can you point me to more info on this or is it hog wash. thanks in advance.

 

[betterparent]

it is not the hib vaccine, there is another one that prevents a sickness that can result in ear infections.

 

[caiesmommy]

Ear infections have nothing to do with vaxines. I will say ear infections have ALOT to do with diet.
I would really consider taking her off of dairy and seeing if the infections stop. While growing up I constantly had ear infections. As did my husband. His to the point they removed his tonsils(why we've not figured out). Since both of us stopped eating dairy(or severly limited it) we never got another ear infection. So when ds was born we decided to never give him dairy. One day he started acting like he had an ear infection, turns out he did, wondered how he got it and then found out that dh's parents had been feeding him dairy and sugar. Once we let his body get rid of the dairy and sugar, gave him eardrops of warm olive oil, garlic and a touch of tea tree oil. Made him drink a ton of miso soup with bulbs of garlic pureed into it. The ear infection went away with no antibiotics needed. He's still not had antibiotics.
Dh and I even eat a little dairy and it feels like our ears filling up with liquid we get congested and feel horrible.

I would consider taking her off of all dairy for atleast a month and see if she seems better.

 

[queenjane]

I've never heard that, but can't tell you whether its "true" or not.

But my older son is totally unvaxed, and didnt get his first ear infection til he stopped nursing at 3.5 yrs old, and have only had maybe two or three total in his twelve years of life.

There are plenty of unvaxed kids who dont get ear infections, and lots of vaxed kids who do. If your child was vaxed, and came in with the infections, what would he say then? "You compromised your child's immune system by vaxing, now look whats happened!"...hmm, i'm thinking, no he wouldnt say that.

I think he's just picking on you, and latching on to the vax thing as a "reason" for the infections.

Katherine

 

[EFmom]

My reaction to stuff like that is to say, "Oh really, I'd be interested in finding out more about that. Could you supply a citation to the peer-reviewed literature so that I can read about it?" The doctor will get that deer in the headlights look.

 

[RedPony]

Horse poop. My daughter is completely unvaxed at nearly three and has never had an ear infection. Just for the record.

 

[4evermom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedPony Horse poop. My daughter is completely unvaxed at nearly three and has never had an ear infection. Just for the record.

Same here at 7 1/2.

 

[Yooper]

I have heard that as well. Then there was the time dd was running a fever and it was "probably meningitis and ALL my fault for not vaxing her" which turned out to be false on all accounts..... For what it is worth, dd has never had an ear infection and is unvaxed. I know plenty of fully-vaxed kids that have ear infections frequently. Seems to be no correlation IMO.

I use the "show me the papers" line when in similar situations. I have yet to have actually gotten a paper or even a book recommendation. The closest info that resulted from such a request was being directed to the CDC website

 

[heidirk]

yup, horse poop.

ds1 is almost three and has had ONE. My family is prone to sinus malformations which predispose us to ear infections/sinus infections. ds2 has had none.

 

[NYCVeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedPony Horse poop. My daughter is completely unvaxed at nearly three and has never had an ear infection. Just for the record.

This exactly.

My understanding is that ear infections have a lot to do with both diet AND predisposition. My dh and his sister, for instance, were raised in the same household, ate the same food, were both fully vaxed. SIL got ear infections twice a year, when the seasons changed, like clockwork. Dh never got one.

 

[daisymommy]

Here's a good one for you: My son who was fully vaxed up until the age of 2.5, had so many ear infections growing up that they considered putting in tubes. He was also sick all the time, and caught every virus that came along.

My daughter on the other hand, who has never had ANY vaccinations, has had one very mild ear infection and 1-2 colds total in her 3 years of life.

So, I'd say for our family that pretty much shoots that theory out of the water.

 

[fruitfulmomma]

My sister and I were fully vaxed and had ear infections frequently. Of course this was back in the 80's so maybe that special miracle working one wasn't out yet.

But... Five kids here, ages almost 9yo to 4 months old and not one ear infection, ever, and completely unvaxxed.

And I agree with the pp that a change in diet might help.

 

[laohaire]

Well,anecdotes aren't really proving the case.

But I would have been surprised and said (well, in my dreams where I'm all intellligent and verbal and so on) "Wow - I had no idea that they have proven that HiB strain that the vaccination covers is the sole or even primary cause of ear infections! That is a major discovery! Can you provide me with references? I'd also love to see some hard numbers on the effacy of the vaccine." Oh, and also, "So this means you are diagnosing her with the HiB virus? Do we have labwork to back that up?"

 

[tsfairy]

That doc is just using scare tactics. I have 2 completely unvaxed kids and we've had exactly one very minor ear infection in our house since they were born. They're around their school-age public schooled cousins all the time too so they're exposed to tons of germs.

 

[laohaire]

Oh, another question we could put to this doctor who is either an idiot or think we all are.

"Does this mean that prior to the administration of this vaccine, the human race was dogged by constant ear infections?"

I wonder if the doctor himself even has been vaccinated against HiB.

 

[Carita]

hib and also Pneumococcal Vaccination are shown to reduce ear infections, but honestly it just sounds like your daughter is prone to them, and even with those vax, she would still have problems. One big contributing factor is being in daycare - but that's not something I can chose at this time in my life, it is a necessity.

Just a suggestion - we had very similar problems (despite being vaxed) and went completely dairy free - we haven't had an ear infection in over 3 months! They kept threatening tubes - and we made the switch and went to a chiro for just 1 visit and bam!! It was a rough fall/winter, and now I have my happy boy back!

 

[JamesMama]

I gotta call BS on that one...My DS is 4, he was vaxed at 2 and 4 months

he had an EI at 13 months. My DD is 18 months old and has never gotten a vaccine and has never had an EI.

 

[yasinsmama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedPony Horse poop. My daughter is completely unvaxed at nearly three and has never had an ear infection. Just for the record.

And DS is vaxed and had an ear infection in 1 ear, then 3 weeks later a double ear infection.

 

[fruitfulmomma]

Quote:

hib and also Pneumococcal Vaccination are shown to reduce ear infections, but honestly it just sounds like your DC is prone to them, and even with those vax, he would still have problems.

Reduce them in what population? I realize all our stories are just anecdotal and don't prove anything, but do these studies compare totally non-vaxxed to those receiving the HIB? Or otherwise vaxxed kids to those also vaxxed with HIB?

 

[laila2]

is both children vaxed, daughter had 9 ear infections in one year. she got tubes.

DH had a few ear infections

I would go back to the doctor asking for the proof just to get his reaction. Seriously well worth it for me.