You don’t want to put tubes in your child’s ears, but that’s the only option the doctor gave you. You’ve already been through three rounds of antibiotics and the ear infections are still rampant. So, tubes it is.
That was going to be our story with Conrad. He was only about 10-months-old when he woke up in the middle of the night, crying uncontrollably. After a few sleepless nights, I finally took him to the doctor to discover he had a double ear infection. We left the doctor’s office with a prescription for antibiotics.
After one round of antibiotics, he was still grabbing at his ears. We made another appointment.
I remember our doctor saying something along the lines of, ‘Sometimes we need to change up the antibiotic. There’s never a guarantee that one will work, so we’ll try another kind.’
Round two of antibiotics, it was.
Something I learned in this process, is that antibiotics not only kill the bad stuff, they kill any good antibodies your body may have as well. Surprise, surprise, round two didn’t work either. The ear infections were back.
Our third trip to the doctor resulted in the same speech on how there’s never a guarantee that an antibiotic will work. That speech was followed with a prescription for our third round of antibiotics. Now, I don’t mean this to discredit doctors, we still happen to go to the same doctor, but they are human too. They only know what they know. When I asked her what happens if this round doesn’t work, she responded with, “If the ear infection returns again, we’ll need to talk about tubes.”
Putting my son through surgery, even if it was just a minor surgery, made my heart hurt. There had to be another solution.
Queue the texting of my sister and a few friends. Their advice led me to a ton of google search bar time. Man, it’s amazing what google can teach us! I found a solution – well, something to try, anyway! The first step was to take him to a chiropractor. The second step was to use garlic ear drops.
So, after filling our third prescription, we headed to Conrad’s first Chiropractor appointment. His adjustments were minor, but necessary. As we were walking out, the chiropractor said something along the lines of, ‘this is me giving you advice off the clock. Don’t give him those antibiotics – let his body do the work.”
It was almost as if I needed his permission to avoid the antibiotics.
Off to the Village Market I went, to grab the ear drops I had found online (here’s a link to them.) That day, I got two doses of drops in, and those drops in combination with the chiropractor appointment, resulted in 10 STRAIGHT HOURS of sleep that night! Y’all, my Conrad had NEVER slept in his own bed for that long, EVER!
The ear drops were our life for about 4 or 5 days, and then we just sat back and waited for there to be any signs of an ear infection returning. When Conrad’s next doctor’s appointment came up, I sat in that office as nervous as could be. I thought the infection was gone, but only a doctor would know that for sure. As she peeked in one ear and then the next, she looked at me with a sigh of relief, ‘the ear infections are gone! Looks like that third round did the trick!’
Phew! Thank, god!
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that those antibiotics never entered my sweet boy’s body, but I was so glad I tried something new!
From that moment on, I’ve been an advocate for garlic ear drops! if either of my boys indicate any sign of an ear infection coming on, or sleepless nights, they each get a dose of ear drops.
Why am I telling you this story now, when Conrad’s already past this stage? Because maybe it will help you or someone you know.
A while back I had a friend asking for suggestions on Facebook on what she could do for ear infections. I posted these ear drops on her wall, and immediately all of her nurse friends chimed in on how you can’t trust something over-the-counter — it may have long-term effects. Immediately, I regretted ever posting anything. I felt offended. I know I’m not a doctor, but I am a mom — and I will do what I feel is best for my kiddos.
Needless to say, I also don’t want to be the mom who doesn’t share the incredible things I’ve learned because I’m afraid of others’ opinions. My point is, take this advice as you please. If you don’t want to give something like this a try, and would rather go the antibiotics/tubes route — then by all means, that’s your decision. I’m not judging you, I just want you to be informed. The point of this post is to make sure you know you have options! If you don’t like what a doctor says, seek out other advice….or do what I did and use your google search bar. There is an abundance of information out there, just waiting to land in the right hands!
To my mamas on the more natural route – use this post as a safe space to share some of the remedies you’ve discovered! You never know if something you’ve tried could help someone else out!
Sending you all my love:)
