Raw onion juice for ear ache - can it hurt the child?

amother

Fri, Sep 05 2014, 8:06 am

My (4.5 year old) daughter complained that her ear hurt early this morning. I always thought for a quick relief of ear ache you could use onion or garlic juice. So I squeezed some juice from an onion (using garlic crusher) and placed a few drops into the ear. She started screaming and has been crying for the past hour. Did I do something terrible?? I will call the pediatrician at 9 when they open but for now I feel so guilty that I did something wrong......

amother

Fri, Sep 05 2014, 10:27 am

I hope everything is ok, OP. I don't want to scare you, but this is my experience: My child is hearing impaired and suffered from chronic ear infection for two years. We were at a top ENT who tried tubes and anything he could think of. I was told many times to do garlic by well meaning neighbors, and the ENT was aghast. He told me in no uncertain terms that putting these things (garlic, olive oil, onion, etc.) in a child's ear could cause irreparable damage. I sincerely hope that your child is ok, but I hope this serves as a warning to other mothers - do not put anything in your child's ears, nose, mouth, eyes, etc. without first consulting with a doctor!
Anon because of identifying details.

MaBelleVie

Fri, Sep 05 2014, 10:33 am

Definitely feel free to consult a doctor, but my pediatrician encourages me to use garlic oil at any sign of ear pain, wax, etc. I'm not aware of any irreparable damage it can cause in typical kids. Anyone with tubes should definitely not put anything in there without explicit instructions from a doctor.

amother

Fri, Sep 05 2014, 10:34 am

There is something we always used call mullein garlic drops. They always helped (breast milk works even better if you happen to be nursing). I don't know anything about just crushing up your own garlic juices or onion juices though. I would imagine it could certainly be irritating to a very inflamed ear. But it's hard to know with a little kid if they are screaming from what you did or just from being in pain in general. Best to have a doc take a look ASAP.

HonesttoGod

Fri, Sep 05 2014, 10:36 am

She was probably shocked and in pain as it is.
Yes adding onion liquid cannot be comfortable either but I don't think it is detrimental.

I have never heard of onion juice only garlic cloves . I know that works and I have also used special ear drops from the health store that contains apple cider amongst other things and it works great.

mandr

Fri, Sep 05 2014, 11:37 am

I put breastmilk into my baby's ears when he has an ear infection and he cries while I put it in but only because I have to hold him down and it's weird to feel something going into your ear. But not because of the actual substance in his ears!

amother

Fri, Sep 05 2014, 2:46 pm

amother wrote:

Sorry- I don't think it was necessary to scare her.
What ended up happening op? Hope everything's ok!!!