Ear infection

[yawningmonster]

Is there any way to minimise the chances of getting ear infections or helping ds to recover from them quicker, he has just got another one hot on the heels of recovering from the first one and I wondered if I could be taking more preventitive measures.

[harrogatemum]

Hi yawning monster I wish I had an answer but spotted your thread as one of my DTs has the same problem. Not only that but they both have permanent colds, runny noses and coughs. They are 11 months old and I dont know how to make them better - I will keep an eye on your post to see if you get any good advice!

[fimac1]

I Used alcohol free Echineacea drops for my ds when he was a baby, which really helped

[yawningmonster]

bump

[ghosty]

The problem with ear infections YM is that with babies and young children they get them as a complication of a cold as their eustacian (spelling?) tubes are so small.
It is the cold you want to avoid.
My DS was plagued with ear infections as a baby and there was not much I could do about it. Even now if he gets a cold it turns to an ear infection if he sniffs alot (rather than blow his nose)
Unfortunately it is so difficult to avoid colds isn't it? My DD had her first ear infection last month and I opted for her NOT to have antibiotics ... I have learned with DS that too many antibiotics too often actually don't help ... I gave her calpol for the pain and fever and took her to have her ears looked at every other day to make sure her ear drums weren't perforating. She got well on her own with no major dramas and I am really pleased about that.
DS had so many antibiotics in his first 18 months that I lost count. I now only go for the antibiotics if the infection is really bad.
I was told by a doctor that on average a child under two has 12 colds a year ... that is 1 a month. I can honestly say that is true with my two. You just need to make sure that you keep their immunity up so that even if they do catch the cold they can fight it really well.
Some people swear by echinacea, I prefer a good all round multi vitamin, I have also heard that xylitol is a good thing for colds and ear infections but it is hard to get in NZ so I haven't tried it.

[Sai]

How can you tell if baby has an ear infection? My ds (6mnths) has been scratching occasionally at his ears to the point that he made one of them bleed (just a scratch) but he didn't have a cold or temperature and seemed fine otherwise. He's been putting his thumbs right into his ears. He has a cold now and is still being breast fed.
I was just a bit concerned at why he was scratching his ears.

[yawningmonster]

Sai, with my ds, he is definately not ok otherwise, he is miserable with them, screams when he is put down night or day and just wants to constantly nurse. His ear/s go very red and so do his cheeks. Our dr said that ear infections dont cause temperatures but that they often have a virus at the same time as and ear infection which can cause a temp.

[HappyMumof2]

Message withdrawn

[ghosty]

My DS would get a cold that would escalate to a temperature and vomitting and lots of screaming and hey presto ... ear infection.
DD's only ear infection so far went pretty much undetected ... she had a cold, was grizzly for a few days ... was with me in the doc's with DS when I asked him to give her the once over aswell and she had an ear infection that I was unaware of.

[yawningmonster]

Ghosty that was similar to ds first ear infection. He had been really grizzly and had the symptoms mentioned above but had done this for about 6wks solid and every time we went to doctor ears were clear, I think it was about the 5th time to the doctors that he said it was a bad infection and yes it was amoxicyllin so perhaps that ab isnt strong enough to knock it on the head.

[yawningmonster]

doh that should be had the symptoms mentioned below not above

[bobbybob]

Xylitol is available as Denta Sweet from Annies in Blenheim. All healthfood shops will be able to get it in for you. Some places I have just seen it in a bag, but I prefer my white powder to be named!

[yowlingmonster]

? Im confused bb, are you on the right thread?

[bobbybob]

Ghosty's post on Tuesday - sorry I could have been more clear.

[yowlingmonster]

Ah have re read the post and understand now sorry. Hope your holiday was good. DS isnt on ab's this time so send him lots of fighting bugs thoughts so that hopefully he can kick it on his own.

[northerner]

Hi YM. My ds (3.5 now) was plagued with ear infections as a baby and had countless burst drums and his ears were constantly weeping pus. He had grommets in at aged 2 which lowered the number of infections but didn't stop them. I since read a study that one third of infants are intolerant to cows milk because of the high levels of mucas in it. I switched him to gaots milk about 5 months ago and voila no ear infections. I will watch and wait to see how we get on through this winter but I am hopefull - it has made a huge differnce to him. No more runny noses either.

[bobbybob]

Try to get "no more Amoxicillin" by a lady called Block out of the library. She describes some facial massage to unblock the ears. I tried it on ds and it did seem to relieve things.

[HappyMumofWhooo]

I have been given a choice of grommets or low dose antibiotics through the winter for dd. Her appointment at ENT hospital is on the 17th. I am going for the antibiotics, front what I've heard (and from friends children) grommets just don't seem effective against ear infections, has anyone had good experiences with them?

[northerner]

Grommets don't stop infections are aren't put in palce to do this. They are put in to allow the fluid to drain rather than build up in the middle ear causing the pain and burst ear drums. By the time they fall out the ide is the childs own tubes have developed enough to do the job properly.

Has your dd had many burst ear drums?

[greyriver]

northerner, did you notice the change quite suddenly when you switched to goats milk? As my friends DS is also suffering constantly from runny nose (and chesty sounding cough)...watching with interest as my friends DS is also plagued with ear infections, does anyone know of any homeopathic remeides at all that may be worth trying? tia

[HappyMumofWhooo]

she's had no burst ear drums yet, just ear infections with temperature, pain etc.
I'm tempted to go for the anti b's rather than the grommets tbh, would hate to have to put her through anaesthetic only for them to fall out!
It's been 6 months since her last one so I have my fingers crossed, although winter's on it's way.....

re the homeopathic remedies, dd was given Sulpher, this was after her last ear infection so I would have to say it's worked (so far!)

[yowlingmonster]

Just by the way my ds is dairy free and has been all his life, I even had dairy out of my diet until recently as he was breastfed so dairy was definately not the culprit in his case.

[northerner]

greyriver, the goats milk thingmay have been a coincidence. DS now has an ear infection....... Buggar.