Is there a natural way to heal ear infections in small children?
Ear infections may be dangerous if they are left untreated or if they develop beyond a certain stage. There are few effective treatments, as other have noted. One of my sons suffered from chronic ear infections when he was very young. He was prescribed several courses of antibiotics for the better part of a year, because the infections continually recurred. He also experienced a number of intestinal problems starting a few months after the infections began. It reached point that he underwent exploratory surgery, because the cause of the problems could not be identified and could have been serious. His paediatrician postulated that the repeated antibiotic treatments damaged his intestinal fauna to the point that it would not restore itself. The source of his intestinal problems remains a mystery. Always treat antibiotics with a healthy respect. He finally underwent an operation to have tubes inserted in his ears to help them drain. This was remarkably effective, even though one of the t
Maybe, maybe not. These middle ear infections, behind the eardrum, are not directly accessible from the ear canal. We generally tried to give any infection a few days to clear up on its own, rather than rushing to the doctor. Our idea was to give the child’s immune system the chance to go at it, and hopefully to be stregnthened. We felt that we had some success with garlic oil as ear drops, but the price is a few days away from polite society. If you do find that your child needs an antibiotic, be sure to use it just as directed, and finish the entire course. That’s the chief way to help avoid antibiotic resistance. And about fever, if your child’s temperature is in the 105 or higher (oral) range, you should not wait to go to the doctor. You may be aware that anything below 100 these days is not considered a fever, simply “elevated”. Even the government these days favors the more “laissez faire” approach: http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/community/files/GetSmart_OME.pdf And here’s a n