Ear Infections - Power to the Parents

Ear infections happen a lot.  Two out of three kids will get at least one.  My youngest son is 4 and 1/2 and he just dealt with his first earache for one night, a week ago.  My daughter is 7, she had one a few years ago too.  My oldest son is 8 and thankfully he has never had an earache.  There's two out of my three.  It's among the worst things, watching your kid suffer.  It's common to feel powerless to help and secretly you really just want to get some sleep too.

The emphasis of the strategy my family takes is not so much about handling the crisis.  It's more about promoting immune system strength and overall health and function all the time.  And the small crisis' that do arise are just that... small. 

adjusting my youngest son

When we did have to deal with the two earaches my children had, there was a few things I did.  First I made sure they were Chiropractically adjusted - that's always a major part of promoting overall health and bodily function in my family.  My wife or I adjust our kids every week to every couple of days, but while they're going through something like that, it's as good a time as any to make sure they're at their best.  And second while they were lying down - crying, mind you - I would snuggle up next to them and as gently, quietly as consistently and as long as I could, with funneled hands around their ear I would breathe hot breath into the painful ear.

Why?

The skin in the ear canal is sensitive - in a good way - to warmth.  The nerves that sense the skin there are special, and by triggering them with heat they can calm down.  Thus relieve pain, thus kid falls asleep quick.  If they wake up, keep doing it.  They'll fall back to sleep.  That's one thing anyone can do.  In regards to being able to  just wake up and adjusting your own kid, you'll have to see Life University for that...  Of course you usually are not just concerned about their earache.  They might also have a fever too.  You can learn about that here.

Beyond dealing with the crisis when it comes, and on top of the chiropractic care we provide our kids, what are the other proactive things we have done to promote the health of our family?  Our kids were breast fed.  It's good for everything, but specifically for preventing ear infections too.(34)  We stay away from sugar and grain as much as possible.  Processed dairy next to never, soda absolutely never.  They're active, loved, and my wife is militant :) about getting them to bed on time.  That has it's other parental sanity benefits as well.

But still, ear infections do... continue

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