Dr Ben,

Is there anything you can recommend to help treat children when they get an ear infection? Something that would be an alternative to antibiotics?

Thank you.

Hi there!

I cannot offer treatment advice for ear infections as it is dangerous to do so. Ear infections may progress into severe conditions if improperly managed.

What I can do is provide information which may reduce recurring ear infections and provide you with resources, including a naturopathic physician referral database.

Naturopathic physicians successfully and routinely treat ear infections, such as otitis media, without antibiotics. However, if necessary, ND’s will use antibiotics to treat ear infections. It is a case by case basis.

There are loads of options to treat ear infections. Botanicals, homeopathics, nutritional, hydrotherapy and/or cervical adjustments have all been shown to effectively treat ear infections.

The best thing to do is learn what the aggravating factors are in causing ear infections. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Most children that I have seen with ear infections have food intolerances.

In order to prevent future ear infections, eliminating dairy products from their diet may significantly improve their health. Cigarette smoke and traffic pollution are linked to recurrent ear infections as well.

Taken from research:
“The role of food allergy is still problematic, but this author suggests that there is some supportive evidence that food immune complexes, particularly with dairy products, may play a role, especially in the otitis-prone child under the age of 2 years.”

“Otitis media is one of the most common infections in young children. Although exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is a known risk factor associated with otitis media, little information is available regarding the potential association with air pollution….These findings indicate an association between exposure to traffic-related air pollutants and the incidence of otitis media. Given the ubiquitous nature of air pollution exposure and the importance of otitis media to children’s health, these findings have significant public health implications.”

We all hear that dairy is key to children as it is high in calcium. Calcium is indeed highly important in children and there are other ways to obtain calcium outside of dairy and supplementation.

Here are some useful calcium resources:

• Food Sources of Calcium
• Recipes without Dairy
• Recipes by nutrient need or by avoidance

It is be best to find a naturopathic physician in your area. The local ND may have loads of ear infection treatments for you and your child. The faster you get your child to a ND, the more likely it is that they can be treated without antibiotics.

If your child does have to take antibiotics, one may want to consider healthy probiotics such as acidophilus to take during and after. This may help prevent an overgrowth of harmful bacteria.

I wish you and your child well.

If you have more questions, please do ask.

In health,

Dr Ben
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