Recurring Ear Infection

[rynosmum]

Hi All,

I need some advice. My 15 month old son has had a recurring ear infection over the past 6 weeks and I'm not happy with just continuing antibiotics.

When he gets it, it comes on fast and his temperature soars (up to 40) after a couple of days. He was on Augmentin antibiotic twice a day for eight days (finished on Monday) and he started showing signs of recurrence on Friday, his temp started this morning and his high pitched screaming started when he woke up (he's not a crier so this is way out of sorts). I gave him Nurofen to help his pain and this morning, the Dr prescribed another 2 weeks of Augmentin.

I spoke to another mum today who lets her son work through ear infections with no antibiotics. I can't see how this would work with Ry's temps and pain.

Any suggestions ? How do other mums deal with this ?

[aardvark]

My eldest daughter suffered many ear problems as a young child.

She also had many problems with her tonsils, and eventually she had a tonsillectomy at age 5.5. Since then, she has had no problems with her ears, either.

Earache is one of the worst pains I have ever had. Your son would be utterly miserable.

I'd be insisting on a referral to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist ASAP.

[JanetF]

Sorry to hear your little one is not well. My son has only been ill once and I simply gave him heaps of booby and kept him quiet. I don't give panadol because it stops their immune system fighting off the infection. There's quite a lot of evidence that antibs don't actually work for ear infections :( Alternative therapies that I've been recommended (by mamas who use them successfully) are onion juice dribbled into the ear with a little warmed loive oil and also the natural antib. Colloidal Silver. You can buy it in health food shops. I hope you find these useful. Sending healthy vibes your way ~~~



http://www.icpa4kids.org/research/c...antibiotics.htm has alink to the British Medical Journal reserch article which actually says -
"Children with otitis media who do not have a high temperature or vomiting during the first three days will most probably not benefit from antibiotics.

On http://www.mercola.com/2001/feb/17/...r_infection.htm there a quite afew links that will be helpful too - the last one "Most ear Infections clear up without A/Bs" he mentions food allergies and dairy as well.

This one from Healthy Child has a good explanatory article by Jane Sheppard, and it mentions quite a lot of research supporting this

http://www.healthychild.com/databas...ibiotic_use.htm

[Ky]

OK, so you might think that this is a really strange answer, but believe me ... it works!

Grate a onion, extract the juice and put this into the ear once daily for a few days ... preferably at bedtime when there is a chance of not too much movement.

The smell of onion will be quite strong, but the infection will clear up very quickly! It is the sulphur content in the onion juice that works just like an antibiotic!

I use a chopped onion mixed with honey, left overnight, strained and then taken by the teaspoonful for sore throats and scratchy coughs and it really works! You can still smell the onion in the honey, but you can't taste it!

Some of the old fashioned remedys really do work .... try the onion juice for the ear, you should be pleasantly surprised and lathough it smells, it is gentler on the body!