How we healed my daughters re-OCCURRING ear infections with diet changes and herbs
**For those who don’t care to read the whole story I will post our protocol at the bottom of the article you can skip forward to!
When my third daughter was born I felt I was an expert of sorts at watching for signs of eczema and digestive issues. When she became inconsolable and chronically congested within the first few weeks of her life I was a bit lost.
When she was only about a month old I had her laying on the floor one afternoon and saw white and yellow liquid oozing out from her ear. Come to find out she had an ear infection that caused her ear drum to burst. We took her to an ENT to have it checked out since she was so little and they immediately said to put her on antibiotics even though they couldn’t tell where the infection was coming from. Of course I would do anything to keep her safe but I just pushed back and asked why? If the eardrum burst it was on its way to healing. He was a bit taken back and just said that he thought that’s what most parents would want and its just a pre-caution. I explained to him how important protecting the integrity of her gut microbiome was to us and we settled on ear drops and monitoring her symptoms.
We took her back to the ENT a few weeks later to make sure everything was healing correctly. It was at this appointment they told us that there was no present infection but she had fluid in her ears that was not properly draining which makes her much more susceptible to ear infections. He suggested tubes in the ears if she got two or more ear infections within the next couple of months.
At this point we were coming up with ways to help lower the inflammation in her body with our amazing chiropractor. She suggested I take dairy out of my diet, as well as soy and I started immediately. Her chronic congestion started clearing very soon after taking those foods out of my diet. Because the constant congestion was decreasing, the chance of ear infections also subsided.
Fast forward a couple more weeks and my kids came down with RSV. Thankfully they all fought it so well, and I truly believe being off dairy helped keep the congestion down for her, and we were able to avoid another ear infection.
Winter is just not kind in Minneosta and so another cold hit our house and more symptoms of an ear infection popped up. She would get fussy, wouldn’t want to sleep on her back, or would mess with one of her ears. We immediately treated it with garlic mullein drops in her ear, keeping her nose as clear as possible with saline and a nose Frida, running a humidifier, and keeping those inflammatory foods out of my diet. We steered clear of infection.
She is almost 9 months old and we have stopped the re-occurring infections, antibiotics and need for tubes at this point. The congestion never came back unless a cold goes around but it does not get bad.
** here is what I would tell a friend if she had an infant or child getting diagnosed with re-occurring ear infections
remove all conventional dairy from your diet. There is excess mucous and inflammation that’s not allowing the fluid to drain properly from their eustachian tube. If that doesn’t resonate with you or just isn’t feasible, try adding a digestive enzyme before you eat any dairy.
At the onset of any cold that ramps up congestion, use a humidifier in the room to keep everything loose. Steam showers also work well for this. Then use a suction bulb, or our favorite, the nose frida to clear everything out.
Kids Mullein Garlic Oil!!! These worked amazing for us. It is anti-bacterial and keeps infection at bay so if there is fluid build up it helps it not become infected! (never use these drops if you suspect a ruptured ear drum).
Chiropractic care was a huge help for us. She adjusted the ears to help them drain.
Any way to reduce inflammation is helpful. If breastfeeding, incorporating turmeric, upping minerals and vitamin c, garlic, or any of your favorite ways to support your immune system and pass on those benefits to baby.
I would love to hear what has worked for you or if you have any questions! There is SO much information out there now it is overwhelming and I had to take bits and pieces of different information and figure out what worked for us!