EAR INFECTION CONNECTED TO MILK???

STRONGMOM

Mon, Aug 08 2005, 4:01 pm

MY 10 MONTHS OLD BABY HAS BEEN HAVING EAR INFECTION SINCE HE WAS BORN AND SO FAR HE HADNT HAD LESS THAN 15 EAR INFECTIONS. I WAS TOLD ITS CONNECTED TO THE MILK I GIVE HIM (MATERNA) AND I WAS ADVISED TO START GIVING HIM SOYA MILK. HAS ANYONE HEARD ABOUT IT? CAN YOU PLEASE HELP?

chavamom

Mon, Aug 08 2005, 6:46 pm

Some babies are allergic to milk proteins and can cause ear infections. Often these same babies are allergic to soy as well, so switching them to soy won't help. It might be worth a try, but you might want to consider making sure you baby doesn't lie down with a bottle and weaning from a bottle and pacifier which have all been shown in studies to contribute to ear infections.

queenie

Mon, Aug 08 2005, 9:27 pm

You really shouldn't give a child a bottle to lie down with for many reason. But we are only talking about ear infections so lying down can cause fluid to accumulate.

Does you doctor always give anti-biotics for ear infections? Perhaps that is the problem. Too many a/b, now many docs don't give meds and the infection heals on it's own. Maybe get a second opinion if your child really has an infection or go to an ear nose and throat doc to make sure everything is ok. Maybe your child needs tubes in his ears or something else.

I breast fed both my kids and one constantly had ear infections and one didn't. But the one that had a pacifier more was the one with less infections. There really hasn't been any proof of pacifiers and ear infections. Studies have shown a genetic connection.

My sister and I were both bottle fed and I had a lot of ear infections and she had almost none. and she was the swimmer!
Did you have ear infections as a child?

queenie

Mon, Aug 08 2005, 9:31 pm

Maybe you can ask someone in the natural parenting section about this. My friend was about to put tubes in her son's ears and someone told her about reflexology. she thought it was a crock but she said to herself, "I have 10 days to wait before they put the tubes in. Let's see what happens."

So, everyday she would sit her son down and did this type of massage with his toes, not the rest of the foot, just the toes in a certain way.

Ten days later she went back to the doc and her son didn't need tubes. Now, she does it all the time with all her kids and they have had less colds than most kids and no ear infections.

She thought it was worth a shot and look at what happened!

chavamom

Mon, Aug 08 2005, 10:32 pm

queenie wrote:

There really hasn't been any proof of pacifiers and ear infections. Studies have shown a genetic connection.

Actually, there have been studies that link pacifier usage to ear infections. It creates negative pressure in the inner ear that causes fluid and bacteria to be sucked into the eustation tubes. If you are curious, I can link to the study.

chavamom

Mon, Aug 08 2005, 10:50 pm

They are NOT the exclusive cause of ear infections. There are many things that have been linked to ear infections. Colds. Allergies. Letting a baby lie down with a bottle. AND pacifiers. Just b/c your child doesn't have one of the above and gets ear infections doesn't mean they don't *contribute* to ear infections.

Oh and just for the record, swimming has nothing to do with it. "Swimmer's ear" is an outer ear infection - a fungus that grows in the outer ear cannal in the presence of water. We are talking about inner ear infections here.

chavamom

Mon, Aug 08 2005, 11:07 pm

www.pubmed.com is the search engine to look for abstracts of studies. If you put in 'pacifier' and 'otitis media' [inner ear infections] you will come up with a plethora of hits - all studies that conclude that useage of pacifiers is associated with an increase in ear infections. Here is but one.

As I said, there are many things that are associated with more or less ear infections. None of it means there is a guarantee. Just as one woman can breastfeed and have a baby with frequent ear infections, one that uses a pacifier may not get any. What the studies are showing are things that increase or decrease the incidence over a population. What holds true for populations doesn't necessarily hold true for an individual. I would think that if someone is searching for an answer (as it seems our OP is) it would be prudent to try to eliminate things that have been shown to be a risk. That's all I'm saying folks!

STRONGMOM

Tue, Aug 09 2005, 4:29 am

thanks everyone for your help. well, yes a a child as well as all my sibblings we had a lot of ear infections. so it can be genetic.
I live in the UK and here they dont like giving antibiotic right away so when I go to the doctor he always tells me to wait three days to see what happens but I always end up going back as my baby yells at night and pulls his ear all the time. So yes at the end of the day they always end up giving him antibiotic and a few days after the antibiotic is finished he starts again crying and pulling his ear....I can even recognize his crying is different when his ear hurts!!! basically he es on antibiotic almost every three weeks. maybe ots the wrong one...maybe the right one but wrong dose....I dont know.
One thing for sure,I wont lie him down anymore to take his bottle which I did till now. Maybe it will help.

lucky

Tue, Aug 09 2005, 7:06 am

My son had very frequent ear infections. s/t even antibiotic didn't work. He had tubes put in, but even after he still had ear infections.(his tubes came out very fast,( Dr. told me he will grow out of it. He hasn't had one since he was 2 1/2yrs.
Frequent ear infections I was told, could lead to hearing loss. (thats why I put tubes, he could not hear in one ear and since that age is crucial in developing their speech, it out weighed the risks of putting tubes.)

chavamom

Tue, Aug 09 2005, 11:53 am

queenie wrote:

Pacifiers don't "suck" bacteria anywhere, and of course you have to have the bacteria there to start with.

Perhaps I used too much medical language to be clear. "Negative pressure" is a synonym for 'a vacuum' (scientifically speaking, not the thing that cleans your floor). A pacifier creates negative pressure in the inner ear via the eustation tube (which connects the inner ear with the mouth/throat). The negative pressure does allow things to be 'sucked' into the inner ear, via the eustation tube. Our mouths, throats, etc are not a sterile environment and in addition to 'sucking' bacteria into the inner ear, it can 'suck' fluid or milk,etc that provide a great medium for existing bacteria to grow in.

The one study that I posted showed a 3x greater incidence of inner ear infections in those that used pacifiers vs. those that did not and children that used the pacifier more often got more infections. There were two other studies that came to similar conclusions in Pediatrics and The Lancet, highly respected medical journals. In case you hadn't figured it out, I did a presentation (as an RN) on otitis media and risk factors a few years ago, complete with medical studies cited. But you are free to disagree, I'm just providing the info.

And queenie, I couldn't see what else you could mean by 'and she [my sister] was the swimmer'. It seems that you think that swimming is a risk for ear infections. Did I miss something?

Strongmom - I hope that changing the way your baby feeds helps and hope you got some help from the thread!

shoy18

Tue, Aug 09 2005, 2:35 pm

my neice had terrible ear infections and a constant runny nose/cold shes almost two and was on antibiotics constantly and nothing helped. She also is just starting to talk becuase she really couldnt here well from them. She went to a ENT and he told my sister she might have to put tubes in..... Well my sister finally had enough and someone suggested she take her to a chiropracter, she figured it was worth a try. the chiropracter moved something in her back and literally as soon as she walked out of the office my neices nose stopped running and she hasnt had an ear infection since.

chavamom

Tue, Aug 09 2005, 4:29 pm

shoy18 wrote:

Well my sister finally had enough and someone suggested she take her to a chiropracter, she figured it was worth a try. the chiropracter moved something in her back and literally as soon as she walked out of the office my neices nose stopped running and she hasnt had an ear infection since.

I've also heard of people having good results with homeopathy.

amother

Tue, Aug 09 2005, 4:40 pm

It's interesting that someone said they would wait 3 days and then go back bc the child was yelling and pulling at the ear. Ear infections are extremely painful but usually just for the first day or so.

If a child is having a lot of infections I would insist on seeing an ent - ear nose and throat doc.

the chiropractor story sounds great! I would try reflexology as well as homeopathy. It cost money but that's about it. If it doesn't help you it probably won't harm you either. There are some doc that combine both in their practice and you would be lucky if you could fine one. Maybe we should start a list here of good docs we could recommend for different specialities.

Aish

Sun, Aug 14 2005, 3:35 pm

STRONGMOM wrote:

yes, cows milk has proven to be bad for babys as they cause a build up of flem( mucus), and that contributes to ear infections. among other problems with giving baby a cows milk.
Furthermore, the whole argument from some moms who said that they breastfeed and their babys still got ear infections, should not be taken as breast feeding is not good, or good enough in warding off these infections. because there could be a slew of other info that is not being shared here. like what else does the baby eat/consume? and many other questions that must be answered.

baby's mom

Wed, Sep 28 2005, 12:03 am

Quote:

the chiropracter moved something in her back and literally as soon as she walked out of the office my neices nose stopped running and she hasnt had an ear infection since.

Chiros can prevent and also help deal with ear infection. Amazing how are our bodies function! Everything is connected!