Is there anyway i can prevent ds having another ear infection?

[griffalo2]

Everytime ds (5) has a cold it ends with an awful ear infection and perforation.
He woke yesterday with yet another cold,im constantly telling him to blow his nose but is there anything else I can do?

I don't know if it's for children or will help prevent infection, but my mother has similar troubles and consultant told her to use Octravine nasal spray to help the fluid drain from the ear.

Apparently it is the best one and does give my mum relief.

Will watch as my son seems to have inherited her ears and is currently on ABs

I used to put a drop of lavender oil down my children's ears. It seemed to help counter the bacteria.

I was thinking about some kind of decongestant but have not managed to find anything for children under 6

DS had this problem until he was 3. The only thing that fixed it was going on a daily low dose antibiotic through winter months. After having a 6 month infection free period his immune system strong enough to fight them off on it's own.

Hi my DS aged 3 had 6 perforations last winter, he also had huge tonsils, mouth breather and snored every night.
I finally convinced the GP to send us to an ENT consultant and am glad to report he had his tonsils and adenoids removed and gromits inserted a few months ago.
He has just had his first cold since and no ear infection thank goodness, he also eats and sleeps much better too.
Ask for a referral, they won't do anything if he does not need it.
HTH

The doctors we have seen dont seem bothered they just say he will grow out of it,one has asked if glue ear runs in the family which it doesnt.
He sometimes snores but not loud unless he has cold,his eating has become awful but I put that down to age,he prefers little and often other than set bigger meals.sleeping is fine also hearing fine.i will ask on next visit to docs(probably in next few days) if theres anything they can do long term.
Thank you all for replies

My sympathies - it's really rough. DD(6) has had a year of hideous, frequent ear infections. We heard really good things about garlic and mullein oil ear drops and started her on them in August (after 7 rounds of antibiotics in close succession) and no infection since. It is still early days but this has been a blimming good stretch of being infection free. We use the drops every evening prophylactically. I don't think you could use if eardrum was currently perforated. Also, many swear by removing dairy from diet.

Ovenchips,where do you get the drops from?

Adenoids and tonsils out and grommets in. Was the only thing that worked for my child. Years and years of awful ear infections which then led to tonsilcitus as well. Horrible op. though.

Have you had hearing checked?

I use HerbPharm ones that I got on Amazon, I think. They do smell very very garlicky!

Only thing that works for my ds is grommets. Have you been referred to ENT?

Not sure about drops in the ear if the drums are getting perforated. I'd check with dr. before you try that.

Try steaming him - I used to get loads of post cold ear infections, and steaming my head over a bowl of water with olbas oil drops was great for shifting the mucus. Goes without saying, he needs to blow his nose several times or he'll just sniff it all back up again.

I was going to suggest removing dairy. A lot of people have dairy intolerances without realising and it makes them very mucusy. Also agree with olbas oil/steam for clearing stuffy noses.

Don't use drops if the drum is perforated unless they have been prescribed by a doctor. Also, may be worth getting the GP to swab the gunk that comes out once it's perforated in case it's a resistant bug that the antibiotics he has had in the past have just not been able to clear. Some kids do just seem to br prone to ear infections and there's not a huge amount that can be done to prevent them but they do generally grow out of them. However if he has glue ear a daily low dose of co-amoxiclav or suchlike may settle things - take him to get his ears looked at when he is well to see if there is fluid behind the drums then.

I had a dairy intolerance when I was a baby,can it be inherited?
Tried steaming in the bathroom and he just got bored and irritable within 2 minutes.i brought him a vapouriser thing I put in his room at night,it helps lots with a cold whilst he is asleep.no help to ears though.

Well, anecdotally, I had a dairy intolerance when I was younger and both my boys do too. Not sure if it's hereditary - lots of people have them but maybe people who have had it themselves are more likely to pick up on it iykwim.

We do the steam thing while they are in the bath and so they have a distraction. Run the tap in the sink so it gets steamy and then fill the sink up and add some olbas oil to the water so it kind of creates a steamy/olbasy atmosphere.

As asked above, have you been seen by ENT. It is only grommets which can drain the fluid which is becoming infected.

No not seen by ENT,im goin to ask for a referral.i cant bare to see him keep suffering.

Good luck. We had many years of this and it was horrible. Btw, I discovered Calpol Melts rather late on. They are fab when there is a temp and normal Calpol is being thrown up (more with tonsillitis than ear infections), and they work fast too.

And try not to get fobbed off, like I did for years. It seemed that every time we went to ENT and had a hearing test it was the odd rare day that the hearing was ok. It wasn't until a test at school showed a 60% reduction in hearing that I got any joy.

Also, they like to hear that hearing loss is causing social problems etc. It wasn't for my child as she made up for it in other ways. But it's the game you have to play. I was very surprised to find out this out, but it helped. But your NHS area may be better than mine!

Katharine, I'm not sure it is a good idea to lie about it if it isn't causing social problems. Perhaps griffalo's son isn't as bad as your DD and the operations/grommets etc may be unnecessary to resolve the problem.

I didn't lie - they put the words into my mouth.

Great,ds comes home from school with temp and ear ache.!
Ive not seen calpol melts? Normal calpol does not help at all, does anyone else find this?

Katharine, I wasn't suggesting you had lied - more that you may be suggesting that griffilo does in order to be taken more seriously. I just don't think it's a good idea to exaggerate/say what you think they need to hear because it could mean a more serious course of action being taken unnecessarily.

Griffilo, Sorry to hear he's not well again :(

Uhuh. If you don't play the game you get nothing. The NHS doesn't actually offer anything apart from in life threatening situations. Anything else has to be fought for. I'm sure you know that bumbley.