ear infections and dairy intolerance?

[clemette]

Hi all - my DS(13 months) has had seven ear infections in three months. His ears always ooze and then a couple of days later he has a horrible fever. He has never been a great sleeper but during these periods he is up and feeding every hour or so, even with antibiotics and pain relief.
We have made an appointment with the GP on Monday to ask them to refer us for more investigation but I am not sure exactly what to ask for. As a little baby he was diagnosed with dairy intolerance but following total exclusion (him and me) he has tolerated dairy in my diet and some in his. However, some stuff I have read suggests a link.
Can anyone offer any advice?
Thanks, Sam

My ds had ear infection after ear infection when he was about the same age though probably not 7 in a row! Your poor ds, ear infections are miserable for dcs and for parents. I spoke to my mother's nutritionist who made us cut out dairy from his diet totally which seemed to help. The same goes for anything that makes them produce too much phlegm like orange juice or chocolate etc as it gets infected I believe. The only other advice we were given was to put vitamin drops and probiotics into his food and to give him black molasses to help up his calcium intake which he needed without the milk. The vitamins and probiotics seemed to help boost his system and make him less vulnerable to further infections. There was something else .. I wish I could remember but I am sure there were some drops - I will try and look in my notes tomorrow and let you know. Alpro soya is a good alternative and ds loved the yoghurts and puddings - he accepted it on cereal but wouldnt drink it though!

Did you reintroduce it slowly? DS's dietician was very happy with the reintroduction we were doing. Can it be "normal" to have this many infections?
I think he would be fine with dairy free but it is miserable for me (selfish I know but he still feeds up to ten times a day/night and I need the chocolate to see me through )

Hi clemette

Never having been a great sleeper might indicate unresolved cranial/birth trauma issues that if treated could stop the constant ear infections. Did he have tricky/slow/or fast birth? Or position in utero? Chiro cranial treatment very gentle and I've found it very effective. Useful article on this website:
barnes-chiropractic.co.uk/babies_and_children.html

(in the 'Articles' box see 'Childhood Health - Otitis Media')

Hope it gets sorted. So miserable for your poor DS.

aaaah didnt realise you were still feeding ... hmm can you reduce his milk intake and increase his other fluids? We reintroduced very very slowly ... he was on formula for way too long but it seems to have done the trick. He is now on cows milk, yoghurts etc and so far so good.

So sorry - I just checked the weblink I posted and I must have mistyped as it didn't work!!

Here it is again:

www.barnes-chiropractic.co.uk

Very useful ear infections article on the babies and children page (see articles box 'childhood health - otitis media)

I really recommend reading (and trying this clinic - or call them and ask for suggestions of someone near you if they're too far from you) x

He has been having fortnightly CO and although it has helped his digestion issues it has had no impact on his sleep (sadly).

I am finding that MY problem with his intolerance is I can't distinguish between what might be caused by the dairy and what is just pretty normal...

That is an interesting site though - thank you.

Oh pants! That's not fair that the appts aren't helping with the sleep. I suppose it depends on what's behind the sleep not being great but I would have hoped that cranial would help. (Mind you, my cranial bod is a cranial chiro rather than a cranial osteo so there could be some differences in their approach).

Would have thought though that it should have helped with the repeated ear infections? As it's a cranial osteo rather than a chiro, maybe they're not doing stuff (sorry for lack of technical terms) with the upper neck? Chiro does treat upper neck (very very gentle for babies and children) - v important as that area is said to impact on the eustachian (spelling?) tube and any probs with it (e.g. ear infections).

As dairy is mucus forming I guess any sensitivity to it could gunk up the ears. But having said that, the ears shouldn't necessarily be getting gooey so easily unless there was some dysfunction there that meant they were vulnerable. Hence the cranial chiro type treatment might be of help. Goats milk is said to be less mucus forming. Worth a go if not done already? And has he had many courses of antibiotics? Again...info from my cranial chiro...but he'd say take infant probiotics (such as biocare childrens acidophilus) as antibiotics can have an impact on young digestive system and in turn heighten intolerance to foods.

Hope this makes some sense.... x

Ds had constant low level ear infection that it took lots of return visits to the Dr to get them to refer us to consultant. Consultant gave us antibiotic ear drops - Drs won't prescribe as one of the things they say on them is 'may cause deafness' - consultant explained that this was if you were on long-term high dose ie by drip - ds has 2 drops 2x per day for 5 days and this clears up ear infection, although he hasn't had one for a long time.

We totally cut out dairy for a while then gradually introduced items - ds was OK on goats milk products and now (at 3.5) have reintroduced all milk products wiht no problem.

We did find cranial osteopathy helped with the congestion.

We also use baby olbas oil which he likes and it seems to help him breath a bit better if he is a bit congested.

Thank for such detailed replies.
My thoughts today are that he has been an the anti biotics fir two days and the oozing has completely stopped again (it does each time he has them). Does the fact that the oozing stops on anti-bs means it is definitely an infection rather than an intolerance...?

1. if he keeps on having the infections see if you can get an alternative to oral antibs or whether your consultant would recommend ear drops

2. we found that cutting out cows milk meant that he was less likely to get a cold and that in itself led to fewer ear infections...

hiya...

I'd say that the oozing stopping means there is an infection. The oozing in itself would indicate an infection but the regular occurence can't be without reason.

I agree with mistlethrush in that if there is an intolerance to dairy then those food products would exacerbate the issue. The dairy would make things gunky which would increase the likelihood of an infection developing, and vice versa, whilst there is an infection, or even a cold, dairy could also make it worse.

Also, every time antibiotics are taken it generally knocks out some of the body's natural immune system (such as those 'good bacteria' that we all need) - so it's worth taking good quality probiotics during, and for a few weeks, after the antib's. I believe that Biocare's children's acidophilus is a good quality probiotic for your ds's age.

Before going further down an antibiotic route my thoughts would be to see if the root cause can be fixed and I'd be inclined to try biocare children's acidophilus, cranial chiropractor (or your CO, depending on what he's doing?) who will include the neck in their treatment (re. my earlier comments), and goats instead of cows milk. I know these are only my thoughts though so might not be what you're after.

I hope your DS is out of this cycle soon. Poor thing. It's so rotten that he's having such a tricky time.