Baby (Photo credit: Black Glenn)
This one is for my cousins back in France. They have two adorable boys and the youngest often suffers from otitis media. Those middle ear infections are pretty common and can be quite painful. You do not want them to keep happening as there can be complications and also consequences on your child’s hearing. Allergy can sometime trigger those ear infections so I would encourage you to check if your child has any food allergies. Also it seems that a baby who is drinking from his bottle lying down has more chances to get ear infection because of liquid dripping into the ear, so it is better to feed her with her head in a more upright position.
I put together an easy protocol to treat acute otitis media and to decrease their recurrence. If you have young children who are prone to it, I recommend having those homeopathic medicines at home (and in your purse if you are traveling), so you can start them as soon as possible. It does not mean that you should not contact your physician but you can always start the homeopathic treatment while you are making an appointment (very often kids start an otitis at the worst time such as in the evening, at the beginning of a long weekend, or on vacation in Thailand, when it is not the easiest thing to get in touch with the doctor…).
Start by giving one dose of Oscillococcinum and repeat every 6 hours.
Give Belladonna 9C, Ferrum phosphoricum 9C and Capsicum annuum 6C, 5 pellets of each every hour for 3 hours and then 3 times a day
Then, add the following, according to the circumstances:
If your child has also a cold, sore throat or sinus infection and the otitis starts at night and is very painful: 5 pellets of Arsenicum album 9C, 3 times a day
If the otitis happens while your child is teething, give 5 pellets of Chamomilla 30C 3 times a day. (Chamomilla is commonly used to treat teething, so you will ”kill two birds with one stone”!)
Also, here are some other recommendations:
Some parents like to use ear drops and you can find some natural ones that contain garlic, which has powerful natural anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties. When taken internally, garlic is also known to strengthen the immune system. However, before using ear drops, you should make sure that there is no chance that the ear drum is perforated because that would cause the liquid to get to the middle ear and cause other issues. That is why I would recommend to get your physician’s advice before using ear drops in a child, even more so if there is fever and a lot of pain. Another tips is to warm up the bottle in your hands so the difference in temperature between the liquid and the inside of the ear is not so important and does not cause additional discomfort (this is valid for Rx drops as well, obviously).
Some doctors like to recommend what we call gemmotherapy: those are liquid herbal extracts that come from the very young parts of different plants. They are very popular in France and you can also find them here. Give 5 to 8 drops (in a little bit of water) twice a day to an infant, and 12 to 15 drops twice a day to children under 8 years old. For older children, give 25 drops twice a day. Be aware that once you have opened the bottle, you cannot keep it for more than 3 weeks. For ear infections in children those two are mainly used:
Briar Rose (or Rosa canina, for my French cousins!). It also strengthens the immune system
European hornbeam (or Carpinus Betulus), especially if the otitis occurs while there is another upper respiratory infection (cold, sinus, etc.)
Hey, I hope it helps dear cousins!
