Ella has another ear infection. That makes 4 or 5 since December. Our pediatrician wants us to go to an ENT. I'd rather wait for a myriad of reasons, but I hate to see her so miserable every month. She always gets a super high fever for days and has a hard time sleeping (we've been up for the past two nights between 3 and 4 AM waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in).
I have read articles about not treating ear infections and just letting them heal themselves (similar to a cold). But Ella's fevers get very high and the ibuprofen eventually stops bringing them down. Plus, the first time she had one (at 5 months old) we had no idea what it was and her ear drums burst! We are thinking of at least waiting through the summer -- I stop baby-sitting when school is out and we are hoping that less contact with a certain kid who ALWAYS has a cold will help (Ella's ear infections always develop from a simple stuffy nose). We read Dr. Sears' website and she does not appear to have any hearing or language issues so I think we would rather be cautious than aggressive in treatment.
Does anyone have any experience/resources/advice on this?
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Yet Another Ear Infection
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Em had the same problem with Bella. She had Bella at the chiropractor with her and the back doc did a minor adjustment on the tot. She hasn't had an ear infection since. It had to do straightening things out to help the drainage.
Give Em a call, or shoot her an email. Then look into that. Our chiropractor's assistant has 80% hearing loss in one ear because of the tubes in her ears as a child (she had difficulties). Her daughter now visits the doc she works for and there haven't been probs.
Good luck!
That was one of the suggestions on Dr. Sears' website that we want to try. Thanks for reinforcing the idea!
I found you through BlogHer so I don't know your family at all so take what I write with a grain of salt. :-)
Some kids have a problem with cow's milk and it leads to ear infections. Kids just show allergy symptoms in weird ways. You could try goats milk (what my Peanuts is on) instead of cow for a month or so to see if it helps.
Check out sites like milksucks.com. May be a bit on the extremest side, but some good info too. Or just google ear infections and milk.
(A friend of mine had a little girl who had this issue. Goats milk helped some, but they did end up doing tubes.)
I haven't had experience personally but I am just curious... If you had a problem with a tooth, wouldn't you go to a dentist? Or would you just stop eating sweets in hopes that it got better? Seems like Ella has been dealing with this for much longer than you have been babysitting. I think if she were mine, I'd want to do what I could to get her out of trouble and off meds. Doesn't hurt to go see a doc and see what they say. Not that it makes it right, but remember, 1000's of children get tubes and don't suffer long-term damage. Oh, and I know a fine otolaryngologist in Battle Creek. A Dr. RA Johnston. Let me know if you are interested... :) Good luck! And I hope little Ella (and her parents) get some relief soon!!!
When we first moved to Spring Arbor, it seems we went weekly to the Dr. with either Joel or Stephanie with ear infections. It seems they were allergic to new house construction dust (thankfully NOT regular dust) and that dust was in the air ducts, etc., so took a long time to disappear and for them to remain ear infection free! Perhaps Ella has an allergy that manifests itself in ear infections. Amoxicillin/Kelflex was a regular for a long time...But, we know no one wants to keep buying prescriptions all the time. But, maybe some allergy testing would take care of it all. Good Luck. Not much worse than watching a little one whose ears hurt!!
Donielle -- Thanks for stopping by! I hadn't thought about the milk, but we have friends whose son had that exact issue! I'll check with doc to see if switching to soy or goat's milk is OK.
Steph -- good point. I can always take her to the ENT and go from there. There are many treatments other than tubes. But this rash of ear infections started in December -- during baby-sitting and cold season.
G-ma B -- That could be it too. We have tons of dust and lots of construction dust.
So it could be a myriad of issues. Great. That narrows it down (ha ha). :-) Thanks for all the suggestions, though.
Karin had a lot of ear infections before the age of four -- four to five a year -- but she outgrew them.
Hey look! It's my mom!!
Yeah, I remember the pink medicine was always in the fridge. Four to five a year wouldn't be bad. It's the five in five months that is the issue.
But all kids DO outgrow them. The concern is residual hearing loss and damage to the ear from all the infections. But this morning Ella said "purple" after I did so I think the hearing is OK.
I had that EXACT same problem as a child. I had the "pink stuff" in my refrig. all the time and I eventually had to have tubes in my ears. I would say I turned out okay :) I know that my allergies really played a part. Ask my mom, but I think she got a humidifier and her home-made vaporizer. Vicks helped too - well, maybe. I remember having to have that all the time. Vicks helped the allergies, which in turn helped the ears. That's my two cents!
I miss the pink medicine...I liked it...
I remember you telling me it tasted like chocolate pudding. :-) I didn't believe you.
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