Ear Infection - Old Greenwich, CT

Hi L.-
I took my son to see Dr. Richard Rosenfeld. He is chairman of the dept of otolaryngology. He is also a Professor and is affliated with Long Island College Hospital. I would suggest seeing him for a second opinion. His phone number is ###-###-####.
Hope this helps-
K.

Dear L.,

Your sister should definitely get a second opinion. My daughter was around six months old when she started getting ear infections and after six months of antibiotics she had the tubes put into her ears. She never had a problem after the tubes. The purpose of the tubes is to drain any fluid or infection that occurs in the ears. Sometimes she would wake with fluid on her sheet or around her ear and the doctor said that was what the tube was meant to do. Eventually the fluid stopped and she was fine. It is possible that the tubes were not put in properly or could even have come out without your sister knowing. My daughters stayed in for around a year, but I do know people where they came out within a few months.They are so tiny it is almost impossible to see them. If they didn't work she should get a reevaluation. I live in NJ so I have no one to recommend, however I did go to a pediatric ENT affiliated with St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston, NJ. Tell your sister this is incredibly painful and can cause hearing loss if left untreated. I have also seen many children with speech delays due to ear problems so do not wait and get another opinion asap. Good luck!!

Hi L.,

I'm so sorry to hear about your niece. Ear infections are so hard. I'm sorry I can't recommend another ENT since I don't live in that area, but I can share my story.

My son began ear infections around 11 months. We tried three different forms of antibiotics, and finally they gave him the shot of the antibiotic...still nothing cleared up the ear infection. It came to be a week before Christmas, and he still had his ear infection, so we had to cancel our airplane tickets back home. Finally, come three months of straight ear infections, we got tubes. The tubes cleared things up for just over a month! Come March, we had ear infections constantly again. We continued to try different medication. I even switched my son over from whole milk to soy milk because I read that whole milk had been linked to ear infections. Still, we had no luck. My son even developed an allergic reaction to the medication because of system overload. Finally, come May, I was off for the summer since I was a teacher. The week I took him out of school, all his ear infections cleared up. Since then, he was in daycare the next two years, and he only had a total of two ear infections. The doctor thoughts on this is that there was just too many germs in daycare and just when one ear infection was clearing up another was forming. He thought my son just needed a break from all the germs to get himself healthy again.

I also want to share with you that my son does receive speech therapy now and his teacher thinks that it may be because of the ear infections since he couldn't hear that well during a crucial point of his life. (He was also a preemie, which may be why he has speech services too). He's making great progress and it's nothing that will be a life long problem...only a short time and it will self correct itself.

I am sharing this story with you to let you know that there are other baby's who have gone through a similar situation with ear infections. I wish I had a magical solution for your niece to take away the pain that she is in.

I used to work for a doctor and almost everyone who was tested is either allergic or sensitive to milk. It causes inflammation in the body. I'm talking about pasteurized milk, not raw, but these days not too many people have a cow in their backyard anyway.

Dairy is the number one reason for ear infections. Eliminate it. No one needs milk. The dairy board has done an excellent marketing job to have you believe otherwise. It's simply not true.

Since she's been on antibiotics she will need to use a probiotic to restore her bowel flora. Somewhere between 70-80% of our immune system is located in the bowel area and antibiotics destroy good bacteria.

Reduce inflammation with essential fatty acids like fish oil, borage oil, black seed oil--doubles an antibiotic without causing damage but harder to find. Use the regular amount for a week or so then double up. Do this for about 3 months and then just take the regular amount daily. Just about everyone on the planet is deficient of good fats.

Of course this isn't medical advice but it's what I would do in her situtation. Research each of the topics and you will find your evidence quickly.

As one of the other Moms mentioned, wheat may be an issue too. Sugar will also cause the bad bacteria to grow even more so ideally should be completely avoided. Replace with fruits, apples & berries are more low sugar than pineapple.

Instead of antibiotics use Otitis media homeopathic ampules, 1 (under tongue) every 12 hours for a total of 3, will wipe out just about every ear infection. All three must be taken but pain will go away quicker. These are from the company Heel. You may need to order them from an overseas pharmacy. I don't think they're available in the US. I haven't found anything else that works comparably though.

In our family once we removed allergens, did a good detox and restored the bacteria we stopped having ear infections entirely. I used to use the ampules when flying but my ears don't swell up at all during flying now either.

Oh, and don't expect a medical doctor to either know this or back you up on it. This is not what they're taught in medical school. My doctor took many additional naturopathic courses to learn this stuff after realizing all her patients kept coming back and she wanted to heal them instead of having a repeat customer.

Your sister should get her daughter tested for allergies. She may be allergic to some very common food, such as wheat, milk, whatever.

L.,
Tell your sister to call down to Yale's ENT group for a second opinion, I found them to be wonderful. My only complaint was that the residents came in which I refused and had to remind them it is my legal right. I allowed them to be in the room with the doctor, just not touch my son. One of the doctors who is no longer there was Dr. Margaret Kenna, she was great and the best, unfortunately she is no longer there and for the life of me I don't remember where she is now, though I think she is still in either CT or RI. If I ever needed another ENT I would contact her and go wherever she is. Had it not been for her I don't think I would have made it through my son's breathing and ear problems; my son had chronic ear infections with hearing loss and an underdeveloped larynx. I owe this doctor so much for all her help and guidance.
Hugs,
T.

I've used and have had friends who have used ENT and Associates. They are all over Westchester and CT and have pediatric ENT and allergy specialists as well. Google them for doctors near you.

L.,

Your sister might want to talk to a chiropractor who works with young children. Recently when I was seeing my chiropractor and mentioned that my daughter had an ear infection, he said that they successfully treat kids who have chronic ear infections (just with the adjustments, no medication). It may be hard to believe that a chiropractic adjustment can help with ear problems, but I had a terrible cold this fall and it improved considerably the day I had an adjustment. So it might be worth looking into...

Good luck,
A.

As kids me and my sisters used to get cronic ear infections. It turned out that we were allergic to milk. You might want to have your sister get her daughter checked for allergies.

My son never had ear infections as a baby, but when he turned 4 he got one that did not go away for 2-3 months. We went to an ENT In the New Haven area which won't help you due to distance. However, what he told us was that the antibiotic ear drops healed the infection and then caused a fungal infection. They treated it for fungus and it was gone within days and he's been fine since. Maybe she could ask about fungus? Hope this helps.

This is probably an allergy. Has your sister tried to completely cut out all dairy and wheat? It's a huge pain, I know. But after a month or two, she can add one back in and see what happens. If neither of those is the culprit, then it may be something harder to find. Like corn (corn syrup is in EVERYTHING), etc.

If tubes don't help frequent ear infections, it almost always points to allergies!

try going to the chiropractor...there may be a bone pressing on the nerve. we did it for our kids, and it really works.
good luck.

Hi L. -

I am so sorry for your poor niece. I'm going to throw some knowledge I learned your way......

Ear Infections are commonly caused by food allergies as some moms already suggested. HOWEVER, they can also be caused by food sensitivities!!! Now, if you go to an allergist, they will just test for allergies - which may very well come back negative.

I am going to suggest that your niece PLEASE see a Naturopath Dr. The ND will find the cause of the problem (food I bet) and eliminate those ear infections!! (I see a ND in Ridgefield, CT -- too far for you. But I am sure there are many in the Greenwich/Westchester area) And, the naturopath will NOT give antibiotics which are awful to our stomachs!

Good Luck!
J.

My son had terrible ear infections. (He had been a preemie)The bottom line is boosting the immune system as that is the basis for all infection. You need to cut out refined sugar add yogurt with active cultures and perhaps add liquid vitamin supplements. As soon as I did this his ear infections STOPPED! The tubes are a waste of time and dont prevent infection just prevent the ear drum from bursting and thats the bottom line. See a medical nutritionist!

We took my son to Dr. Klenoff in Stamford. He put tubes in after recurring infections occurred over a period of 6-9 months after he started daycare @ 3 months old. He always recovered with treatment by our Ped, but because so many varieties of bugs go around in daycare, he inevitably caught one after another which led to infections in him due to his anatomy (ear canal structure). He had one infection shortly after tubes were put in, and not one since--knock wood. That was 5 years ago.

Maybe your sister could also explore with the Ped (or w/ a second Ped for another opinion) whether there may be some other underlying problem to consider as well.

Best wishes,
Chris