The Do-Nothing Approach to Kids’ Ear Infections

Again, there’s a case to be made for the wisdom of doing nothing. This time, studies show it’s often best to just wait out your kid’s ear infection rather than automatically asking the doc for antibiotics.

USA Today reports:

Eighty out of 100 children with ear infections will get better on their own in about three days, according to a review of 135 previously published studies in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

But there’s no damage done by giving the kid antibiotics anyway, right? Wrong. And we’re not just talking about damage in the form of money wasted on unnecessary prescriptions:

The benefits of antibiotics seem even smaller in light of their side effects: Three to 10 children will develop a medication-related rash; five to 10 more will get diarrhea, says author Tumaini Coker, a pediatrician at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA.

So what are you supposed to do? Just wait it out? Pretty much: The consensus among pediatricians is that parents should first give their kids with ear infections a does of over-the-counter ibuprofen at bedtime. If the infection doesn’t ease up or go away in three days, then it’s probably time to hit the antibiotics—after consulting your pediatrician, of course.

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I am in agreement that antibiotics should not be the first response to earache; however, there is natural way to treat earaches which will soothe the child by relieving the pain and help the ear to heal. There is a product by Alternative Health and Herbs Remedies called Truman’s Ear Oil (aka E3 Oil) which contains Olive Oil, Mullein Oil, Garlic Oil and Lobelia Oil. I used it for my children, who rarely had earaches, and also for my nieces and nephews and even for a neighbor’s children once. In a pinch, you can warm olive oil to body temperature and crush a clove of garlic in the oil. Taking care to gather only oil (no pieces of garlic), drop several drops of the garlic oil into the ear and then stuff a wad of cotton into the outer ear to block the canal from cool air. A heating pad, or hot water bottle will also help the ear to feel better. I had trouble finding E3 Oil for a couple of years, and invested in a bottle of Tincture of Lobelia, which as I understand is a pain reliever. So if you can’t find E3 Oil, but have the Tincture of Lobelia on hand, mix with the olive oil and garlic and place in the ear. Earaches are nasty and painful. Garlic is a natural antibiotic so you are not only soothing the earache pain, but adding something into the eardrum which will help the ear to heal. I would also like to recommend this book: How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor by Robert S. Mendelsohn M.D. He was a doctor that regularly prescribed antiobiotics until he saw the error of that path and the book provides recommendations for when your child needs a doctor. Finally, if you are going to resort to antibiotics, do be sure to take the entire prescription and after you are done, take probiotics to help the body to repopulate the “good” bacteria that you just killed off by taking antibiotics.