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July 2011 Moms
LyndseyLC
member
constant ear infections
LyndseyLC
member
I guess I am looking for support and asking for advice
LO will be 16 mo. on the 16th. She has had 4 ear infections the last two being this past month and last one lingering.
1st ear infection was in Jan, 2nd ear infection was in April 3rd and 4th ear infection in Oct.
They typically come on with or right after she gets a cold. Also all 4 molars popped through in Oct..
For ear infection #1-3 she took Amoxicillin and it went away.
This 4th one, since it was so close to the 3rd we tried Augmentin for a few days then she seemed worse so we tried Cefdinir. She just finished the 10 day course last night. She slept like crap last night and woke up super stuffy runny, coughing slight fever throwing up clear mucous. Took her in, yup still infected. So we are trying I think a Sulfa type antibiotic now. which I have yet to pick up. She has been sleeping good now.
We started daycare in July and she went twice a week until a few weeks ago we dropped to once a week. Her other cargivers (my mom and IL's) arent sick so I am pretty sure she isnt getting it from them. and I was sick last week with pink eye, sore throat and fever but most likely got it from her.
She goes to daycare Thursdays. I am available to temp at offices that day but have not been getting any calls so I usually just clean house and run errands which is super nice. But In laws always say they can watch her so I can do that stuff. I hate to take her out of daycare completely because she loves it there and learns so much. but at the same time I feel like with winter she will be sick all the time and what if it leads to more ear infections and her needing tubes in ears. which I know wouldnt be the end of the world and is probably common but still scares me. What are your thoughts? any tips, advice? If daycare one day a week isnt really necessary should I take her out?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: constant ear infections
I have no advice for you regarding daycare, but I have a tip for eliminating the ear infections:
Get rid of sugar. Don't let LO have any white sugar in any form. The only acceptable sugar is what she gets from raw fruit. When I was a baby my pedi told my mom that if she wanted to avoid ear infections, to never let me have sugar for at least the first two years of my life. She followed his advice and neither I nor my brother have ever had an ear infection. I'm not going to jinx myself, so I'll just say that DS has not had one taste of sugar and I will continue avoiding it for at least his first two years.
Not sure if that will work for your LO, but it's worth a try. GL.
You should see an ENT. Gabe had terrible EIs. After his 11th EI we did the tubes and he is like a different kid. Amazing.
ETA: I honestly doubt that sugar has anything to do with it. Gabe has nearly no sugar. When he first started getting them he had NO sugar at all. Some kids just have Eustachian tubes that don't easily clear when they are stuffy and they back up.
We'll miss you sweet Debbie Girl (4.21.12) and sweet Cindy Girl (8.9.12)
This. I don't think ear infections are anything but a natural, genetic, "who are they are" sort of thing.
I also never did think they were contagious but I could be wrong.
My H has chronic ear infections even as an adult. It's awful. He's actually getting tubes this winter. His mom never did it because it wasn't as much of a thing then. I wish she would've though..would've helped im ton.
All of this. I dont think sugar plays a role in ear infections. you could always try it though and see if it helps
And I dont think they are contagious either. I would see an ENT though. tubes are amazing
the one ped we saw said they usually dont rec ENT unless they have 6 within a year. i know DD is close.
the ped we saw yesterday said, without me asking, that its still too early to refer ENT.
exactly!
I read this about sugar and ear infections after I saw this post...
Naturopathic medicine agrees that bacteria are overgrowing. But, anyone who knows a little bit about microbiology is perfectly aware that in order for the bacteria to grow, a very strict set of conditions must be met. Each bacteria requires a certain temperature, moisture, and sugar content of the media for it to survive and multiply.
These requirements apply not only in the microbiology lab, but also inside the human organism. In other words, children get ear infections because their bodies provide a 'nourishing' environment for the bacteria. It is not because they have an antibiotic deficiency.
At this point, the real question is, "How do our children become 'bacteria-friendly' media?" Let's take a look at what they eat, and how it makes them prone to infections in general and otitis media in particular. Obviously candies, cakes, hamburgers, french fries, pizzas and other fast food appeal to our kids. This is a fact, but the reasons for that appeal are beyond the scope of this article. The important factor is that these foods have little nutritional value, and provide excessive 'empty calories' in the form of simple carbohydrates and sugars. And, carbohydrates turn into sugar just like candy bars. Remember what bacteria feed on? Yes, bacteria feed on sugar. and if you remove it from a microbiological media, bacteria simply won't be able grow. By the same logic: reduce the sugar load on the human body, and bacteria will have harder time infecting it.
Yea I wouldn't consider 4 ear infections constant either.
OP: I feel your pain. DD had constant ear infections and ended up with tubes after two rounds of Rocephin shots still didn't clear up the last one. When we met with the ENT we discovered the start of hearing loss due to all the infections. If your latest round of antibiotics doesn't clear up the infection I would ask for a culture to be done so you know how best to treat the infection instead of just continuing to throw random antibiotics at it.
This exactly. Ear infections themselves aren't contagious, but all the other crud going around is. Now if I could just convince my ILs of this!
I agree that feeding your kid crap food is likely going to lead to illness, but DD ate only high quality, whole food, prepared at home and still ended up with horrible ear infections. DS, on the other hand, eats anything and everything and way more crap that DD did and hasn't had a single one. The difference in my kids is that DD has a super round face, which our pedi and ENT said most likely means her Eustachian tubes are more horizontal. DS has an oval face, which most likely means he has a nice slope to his Eustachian tubes, allowing them to drain properly.
the ped said there are only 3 things that can cause ear infections
1.) during or after the child has a cold
2.) the child is around smoke like tobacco smoke
3.) the child sucks on bottle or pacifier while laying down.
In our case she gets them in combo with a cold/upper respiratory thing that she most likely gets from daycare. I scheduled her re check for mon the 26th we will see from there. however she is still pulling at ears.
but dont they pull at ears sometimes while teething too..
I will keep the sugar thing in mind. however, if it was a really big reason I would think the Dr would say..