re: Ear infections in kids

My dude (turns 2 in May) got tubes last Thursday. Poor guy had about seven ear infections since December. Procedure was quick (he had a double ear infection going into it). Really hoping he’s done with the infections especially since his main symptom is puking everywhere when they start .

No guarantee but try this. Before a bath, take a cotton ball and pull it in half. Twirl it into a cone shape. Insert the pointed end into a jar of vaseline. Now insert the pointed end softly with vaseline into the ear. Make it a fast bath, dry well, use another cotton ball with the cone shape and use it to dry the ear canal. Good luck.

Gonna have to go the tubes route. Only my youngest didn’t need them.

My son got tubes and they helped a bit but man nothing prepaired your for a runny ear.

They also help the drops work better.

Tubes are what they used 20 years ago.

I will give you my theory on this shite for what it is worth, it’s kinda based on the h pylori bacteria situation which was discovered to be cause for 85% or more stomach ulcers after they tried to laugh the guy off the stage and the mold studies of last 20 years and discovery that most all common colds were caused by fungal infection not bacterial infections) look it up.

I don’t think your son or mine is getting 29 ear infections a year etc, I think it’s one GD infection that is simply resistant to antibiotics etc that is reoccurring.

I suggest you use nasal irrigation system daily to keep his sinus cavities clean and he under a a regiment of antibiotics and anti fungal drugs in a cocktail just like they do to get rid of h pylori bacteria in peoples stomach. You must have a antifungal drug with strong antibiotic probably steroid shot too.

I tried the nasal rinse which helped but we ended up with damn tubes too

Mine turned 1 in December and got tubes in January. He's had an ear infection bouncing between ears for the last 4 weeks with the tubes in. Tubes help (my middle one also had them and hasn't had another infection since), but they're not a silver bullet. Amoxicillin is what most docs start with, but it hasn't even phased these last few infections, so make sure you're doing follow ups to validate that the antibiotics are actually working.

I’d love to watch you give a toddler a nasal irrigation system. Holding my guy for ear drops is a struggle, here kid let me pour this shite down your nose

I’m going to throw this out there which won’t work for your kid at the moment.
But for my now three year old who had seven ear infections since August and constant cough, we got him the Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23). It’s a booster for the infant vaccine series they give after birth.

We had bloodwork done to check his antibody titers and possible allergies. While allergies came back negative, his titers were very low. He was boosted eight weeks ago, and no infection since. He’d been averaging about one every three to four weeks. But the booster is only approved for two year old plus.

Something that temporarily helped was a warm towel over the ear. It is a pain to keep up with but we kept the dryer running with a couple towels in it to try to keep up.

Good luck to you.

Really no "home" remedy per se.

Most initial ear infections are viral in nature and resolve in due course as the URI resolves. But for persistent or worsened symptoms you need to have your pediatrician/family doc check it out to make sure it's not becoming purulent which would require antibiotics.

For kids who have frequent recurrent infections, resistant infections requiring escalating dosing of antibiotics or kids who have a persistent fluid present(even if no longer infective) then typically ear tubes are recommended.

Although it's an ever swinging pendulum for ear tubes. The current guidelines don't recommend ear tubes for recurrent infections alone(they recommend continued used of oral abx to treat episodes as they come). Although I'm sure that'll shift again in another decade.

Sorry my advice was for kids 3 and up. My son wouldn’t tolerate the nasal cleaning etc and we ended up with tubes like everyone else. Let me just say that in the last 20 years where they have made all these amazing medical breakthroughs including several that have saved my old arse, it’s really ridiculous we are still using 1990s freaking tubes for this issue.