HELP....how Do I Help My 8 Month Old with His Long Lasting Double Ear Infection?

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Eliminate dairy from his diet and see how that works. Worked great for my kids and no more infections. My DD also had a chronic cough that we were starting to think was asthma and/or allergies and that went away within a few weeks of cutting out the dairy. YOu can google Wet Sock treatment for a natural way to get rid of the infection. It worked wonders on my daughter's (only!) ear infection in 6 months. It was gone completely within 48 hours with no antibiotics or tylenol.

My son had back to back ear infections for four months right after switching him to formula. We took away dairy from his diet and he has never had another ear infection - ever (going on two years). If you are breastfeeding take dairy out of your diet and don't give him any cheese/diary. If you are giving formula talk to your pediatrician about soy or one of the sensitive formulas.

I have healed every one of my 3 kids ear infections naturally with garlic oil. It may be hard to believe and it sounds like you have a severe case on your hands but it's worth a try. Just take about 3 cloves of raw garlic, cut them in half, put them in a small bowl and then cover with extra-virgin olive oil. Microwave for 30 secs to 1 minute. Allow to cool to body temp. (probably best to test the temp on the inside of your wrist. Then put a couple of drops in your child's ear when he's lying on his side (might want to put on a tv show to try to distract him). Then massage the area beneath the ear. Usually it only takes 2 applications over 24 hrs or so to get rid of an ear infection. You can probably do some more research on this online to make sure it's safe for an 8-month old but I've never had any trouble with it with my kids. Best of luck to you.

Hopefully you have determined what is causing the infections to begin with???? VERY often the culprit is milk...cow's milk is for cows! It can cause all kinds of upper respiratory issues including ear infections. For your doc to schedule you "out" 3 months for tubes and first expect you and your son to put up with all that is ridiculous PLUS if your son still has the infection???? They can't do surgery if the infection is present. No doctor worth his/her salt would allow a a baby to have an ear infection for that long, enduring the terrible pain not to mention ear infections can cause the ear drum to rupture and he COULD loose his hearing. OMG!
I would start with putting some hydorgen peroxide in his ears...a few drops, let it bubble and then drain out. Then I would get a second opinion.

Hi T.---My daughter would have recurrent ear infections, but it didn't seem to impact her sleep. Unfortunately, she did continue to have them, although less frequently, well into college. It wasn't until we cleaned up our diet and added a whole food concentrate supplement to our diets that her eliminated the allergies that lead to the ear infections.

Please understand that I am NOT suggesting your diet is poor, it just may be that it is not what it should be in order to eliminate your baby's ear infections. Does that make sense? If you would like to talk about how to optimize your family's diet, or the research based food supplement, which, by the way, has several studies that show immune system support, feel free to contact me. I am taking a series of wellness classes taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition so I have a wealth of info, based on research, that might be of some help; serving size charts, shopping suggestions, kid-friendly meal ideas, a family nutrition packet. I do not charge for these 'consultations'. I am very passionate about the health of our children and I want to make sure they do not suffer the fate that many health care professionals and researcher predict for them.

Dietary changes do work in time, and with these changes, you can impact the health of your family to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and other chronic illnesses most people suffer from as they age.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact me at any time. Be well, D.

Don't hold back on the tylenol! Seriously, it will help. My son had the same problem and until he had the tubes he was pretty miserable and became addicted to his pacifier; the sucking on the paci helped get rid of some of the pressure in the ears. Since he's had the tubes he hasn't had an ear infection and he's almost 3.

Also, call back your ENT and see if their have been any cancellations to get your son in sooner; if their not willing to help I would suggest seeing another ENT. My son went to Dr. Becker off of Hall Road but it was worth the hike! Great bedside manor, knows his stuff, and answered all my questions.

Good Luck!

Ok, we had ear infections here for 2 months, after getting in the one year molars. I feel your pain for loss of sleep.

I did all this pretty much at once because I was so desperate for anything to work. Steamy shower every morning and night (helps drainage), tylenol/motrin every 3 hrs, antibotics, chiropractor (helps drainage, make sure they work with children), slept in bouncer seat with legs hanging over the edge (elevation helped drain the fluid in the ear drum, and they don't feel the pain as much when elevated), vaporizer in room (I used the hot, those cold ones don't seem to work good enough for something like this...make sure they cannot get to it), ask doctor about decongestant. He/she might be able to tell you a safe dosage to use to get through this. My daughter was slightly over 1 when this happend and he said to use that along with all the other meds she was taking.

Good luck. It worked for us, and at the same time her teeth were finished coming in. So was it all coincidental?? Not sure. Maybe he just has more teeth coming in, which causes inflamation of the tube in the ear, which causes ear infections...for the most part. Only a small percentage of ear infections are bacterial, but they treat them all as if they were bacterial to protect their ears.

We really wanted the tubes put in, but our doctor had us hold off. I'm glad we did because there are complications that can happen. She had one more ear infection with the next set of molars a year later, and none since. I also jumped to the rigoreous routine, so not sure if that helped her get over it quicker the 2nd time or not. Now that she's older, her tubes are larger and we haven't had any more ear infections.

Best wishes.
N.

Oh, antibiotics don't work well for ear infections. And, it causes yeast overgrowth. I would take your son to the chiropractor. A simple adjustment should cure him right away. And, if you can find a chiro that uses cold laser treatment, that should help with the pain. We used that first, then did the adjustment. (My daughter had 2 infections, leading to popped eardrums before I took her to the chiro. Her atlas (first vertibrate) was totally out, blocking drainage from the ear, causing fluid build-up, which became infected. Once adjusted, the fluid drained properly instead of out through the eardrum. She's never had an infection since.)
I just read a study that shows there may be a link between Tylenol and asthma/allergies. Also, it can cause severe liver damage. So, try to stay away from that if at all possible.

Stop bottles if he is using bottles, and don't let him drink laying down. No smoking at all near him or in your home. Give motrin. And call the ENT and beg to move up your appt. Better yet get your pediatrician to call on your behalf.
Also, I know this sounds nuts but if you are breastfeeding, I have read that expressing breastmilk into the ear is helpful. Better check on that one though. I wouldn't put anything into a painful ear in the event the eardrum is ruptured.

Tubes were the best decision we made, although it was scary at first. I wouldn't wait 3 months, if you have a choice. Ours was scheduled within a few weeks after we made the decision.

My daughter is on her second set of tubes....and I, too, tried many things "natural" in order to avoid the surgery. Unfortunately, the tubes doesn't necessarily stop the infection, but it does make them 1) less painful and 2) easier to treat. There are risks, as well, but in our case they were outweighed by the benefits.

What I've done since her tubes, and subsequent infections, is use Mucinex and reduce the amount of dairy in her diet. Ask your pediatrician for the correct dose for your child and see if it doesn't do the trick. At the first sign of stuffiness, I start administering it according to the label instructions every four hours while awake. It thins the mucus and helps the Eustachian Tube drain better.

It isn't going to work with every kid, but worth a try if your pediatrician agrees like mine. It might make the next few months a little more bearable. Just note, for some reason the generic brands never seem to work as well as the Mucinex brand for us.