I’ve dealt with ear infections with both of my kids. When they’d get an ear infection, I wanted to fix it right away – usually it meant sleepless nights, or at least lots of wincing from the pain. Ear infections can be quite painful!
My older daughter had quite a few ear infections when she was little, but luckily, my younger hadn’t. However, one day she started complaining of her ear hurting. Even though she wasn’t crying, I could tell it hurt pretty badly. It kept up for a couple days so I took her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with an ear infection and given an antibiotic.
I decided to do some research on ear infections*. I’ve dealt with digestion problems, and I didn’t want to chance hurting her digestion with antibiotics if she didn’t really need them.
Even though many ear infections are caused by stagnant fluid, there are a few other reasons for ear infections as well.
Bacteria can be introduced into the ear from unclean hands, or other dirty objects. Make sure to wash your hands before placing anything into the ear.
Allergies can cause ear infections – especially dairy allergies. If your child has repeated infections, you might want to try eliminating dairy. Many children’s ear infections are cured by the removal of dairy.
Sometimes other allergies (like gluten allergies) can be part of the problem. Many children will outgrow allergies, but some will need digestive healing in order to stop reacting to foods. If you want to test a child for allergies, IgG allergy testing will give you a detailed analysis of all the different possible foods that your child may be sensitive to. This test is available through naturopathic doctors, or through some regular doctors (usually called “integrated doctors”).IgG testing is one of the best food allergy tests available, but it isn’t perfect and can be expensive. You can also just observe your child. Did your child start getting ear infections when they started drinking milk?
Sometimes water can get trapped in the ear from swimming or other means. As a first line of defense try to avoid “grimy water.” Infections are more likely if you’re swimming in a place where the sanitation isn’t what it should be.
The treatment and prevention of ear infections depends on what caused the ear infection in the first place. If your child has reoccurring ear infections, there’s a good chance allergies are a big part of the problem. If your child gets sick and then develops an ear infection, it’s likely caused by bacteria growing in the stagnant fluid.
instead of antibiotics. I also worked on strengthening her immune system, and helping the fluid drain by elevating her head when she was lying down.
The result: she healed up and she hasn’t had any problems since.
Finding the cause of an ear infection can help you to determine what course of action would be most appropriate in your situation. I hope I’ve helped pinpoint what could be causing your child’s (or your) ear pain so that you can decide what’s best for you!
*I would use antibiotics if the situation warrants it. In this case, I felt that antibiotics were not needed. For more information on when antibiotics might be needed see my article on ear infections and antibiotics.
Thank you for this info. My son seemed to have a kink in his neck (less than 24 hrs from his swim lesson in a chlorinated pool) but we brought him to the chiropractor and she said that he has a slight infection (slightly swollen gland and a little redness and swelling in his mouth). How did you use the garlic oil. Once I found out that there could possibly be an issue, I gave him some Organic oregano oil and some coconut oil to help with any infection. He’s still walking around with what looks like a kink on the second day. Just started the OOO and CO today. Any advice re garlic oil would be great! Thanks!