I really am a fan of my daughter. And I probably should be, seeing how I am her mom. But, I just love her so much and think she's the cutest little thing. Just now I was going through the gazillion pictures we have of her, and thought how fast she's growing. It seemed just like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital, her whole body so tiny she was drowning in the car seat and we were so afraid to hurt her while driving that Henry took each curve with probably 10 miles. And now she's on the verge of crawling, talking, and who knows what else. It's so fun to see her develop and discover her personality. She definitely is showing more of her strong-willed side. I wonder where on earth she might have gotten that from? Mommy and Daddy are so mild-mannered and gentle... ;)
So, today I went to Whole Foods and got myself some herbal earache/ear infection remedy thingy (called Garlic-Mullein Oil drops). Sophia ended up having an ear infection 2 weeks ago. We finished the antibiotics a week ago and she seemed better. But now it seems to start again. She started having a bit of a runny nose again along with goopy eyes. Also, in the last couple of days she's gotten (once again) weird about her sleep. Now she doesn't necessarily wake up, she just kind of cries a little in her sleep, but then stops. Huh? It has me worried (of course), wondering if something is hurting, or if she's having bad dreams, or if something else is wrong I don't know about...Right now I figure it's her ears. I'll take her in to the Doc tomorrow to see if it's all cleared up or not. Why do kids get ear infections anyway? I just read about 3 theories: one is children reacting allergic to something (like dairy, wheat, soy etc.). I figure since Sophia hasn't really eaten much of anything and just had plain yoghurt a few times, it's hopefully/probably not that. The next theory was lack of certain nutrients like zinc, iron etc. I wonder if this may be a problem. I mean, my baby is 8 months old and basically only living off of breast milk - and I'm always a little low on iron. And she's such a pastey girl, she almost LOOKS anemic. Hmmm, who knows. Maybe they can check tomorrow. The last theory was that of simple anatomy - the whole fluids not draining well because of bone structure etc.
I don't know..what do you guys think? Has anyone tried any kind of home remedies for common childhood ailments and found them successful? I'd like to hear about your favorites. I remember using home remedies for all kinds of stuff and a lot of them worked great. Like, when your cuticles get infected, we always dipped the sick-o finger into superhot soap water for as long as you could bear it. Repeat a few times a day, and the infection disappears. It'll be interesting to see if those ear drops works if Sophia has another ear infection. I'm just so hesitant to pump her full of antibiotics again if I can avoid it. Maybe I also just dread batteling her another 10 days twice a day with medicine. She really, REALLY hated it and at the end it was near impossible to get anything into her. Good thing you always get a little extra. :)
Well, as you can tell I don't have anything interesting to say. We enjoyed a relaxing day, sunshine, swinging in the swings, laughing, exploring grass, eating tasty food and just loving being together. Now I'm off to bed to read Harry Potter - The Half Blood Prince again. I'm so excited for the movie to come out. Twilight will be next, and then the year is over. Time really flies.
Posts
15 comments:
Ethan and I did the same thing with the pictures last night. Took a little trip down Memory Lane. It was sweet and a little frightening to see how much she'd changed! Almost made me want to have another baby. Almost.
We've really lucked out so far: Sofia has never gotten sick. So I don't know anything about home remedies. I'll be interested to hear what others say.
Sofia was living off breastmilk at that age, too. Solids didn't really become important to her until she was almost a year old. I actually miss that now. It was way more convenient.
I don't think you have to be worried about nutrients at all, because your milk will cover all her nutrient needs until she is 1 year old (that is, if she is allowed to drink on demand). I remember being worried about Fé as well, but there really was no need for it. Sophia WILL start eating and there'll be the time when you will miss breastfeeding.
I don't have any advice in the home remedy department, becasue Fé has never been so sick she needed antibiotics, and she's never had an ear infection. Wadenwickeln wenn's Fieber hat, gell. ;)
huh...lucky. I thought I was doing well till a few weeks ago, but then along came the ear infection and now it seems like it may be pestering us for a while. Maybe not.
Julie, Sofia probably needed more time to understand the concept of money to take to it :).
Isa, I actually have read that even if you breastfeed, your child can get iron deficient after 6 months of age when the baby's own iron storage gets depleted. Human milk is the best way to help baby absorb iron (about 50 percent of iron from human milk gets absorbed), but once they get bigger and their own iron gets used up, they can get low despite breast feeding.
And I would assume if I myself am low on iron, it doesn't help.
It probably isn't that likely, but it's a possibility. We'll see. I'm thinking about having the doctor check tomorrow.
So, am I one of the few mom's with a sickly child then? I'd be curious to hear if I'm in the minority. Maybe it's something I'm doing after all...? Henry and I started wondering yesterday if it's something we're doing that gets her sick. Who knows.
There's no way, Chucky, that it's something you're doing that's making her sick! We are the weirdos who've never had sick kids. It's very unusual for babies to never get an ear infection.
This isn't a home remedy, for sure, but I know of many babies with recurrent ear infections that have tubes put in their ears. It sounds drastic, but it's a very simple procedure that puts an end to the ear infections and most parents wonder why they didn't do it sooner, from what I hear.
The drops you purchased should work well. I'm cheap so I'd make my own by warming a bit of olive oil and putting a few crushed garlic cloves to soak in it. Then put a few drops in each ear with a bit of cotton to hold it in. In my 10 years of parenting 5 kids We only needed antibiotics once--for an ear infection secondary to RSV when Salem was 9 months old. I tend to wait a little longer than most to go to the doctor because many things will resolve on their own (I'll try and get them to rest and drink Echinacea tea and things to boost immunity) though it sounds like Sophia had a pretty good one there with pus and all. Doesn't sound like fun.
Haha, I don't think tube should ever be attempted as a 'home' remedy. But, I'll definitely try to get her tubes if this infection doesn't go away soon. I don't want to try tons of antibiotics etc. and then build up resistency...
Reni, I usually wait as well to see a doctor, but most of the time I wait when I feel it something that usually goes away on its own, or where the doctor can't do anything anyway. With these ear infections though, I'd rather know if they are there, and how bad they are than wait, and be surprised by a ruptured ear drum.
Andrew had thick fluid in his ears (but no infection) for 3 months that we knew about, could've been longer. After 6 weeks of monitoring, the ped sent us to an ENT. They did a hearing test- the poor guy couldn't hear a thing! They had us start him on zyrtec to help drain the eustation (sp?) tube. If it didn't work, they were going to recommend tubes, which I did not want to do b/c he was so little and I didn't want him going under. Luckily the zyrtec worked. You know, he finally started eating other foods besides just breastmilk at the same time that the zyrtec kicked in. I wonder if there's a correlation there?
I think there might. Sophia seemed to be eating a little better a few days into the antibiotics, and then a few days ago it seemed to go downhill again. Also, my friend's daughter who's just a little older than Sophia, started eating pretty well, then got an ear infection, which she's had for weeks now, and she hasn't been eating the whole time that's been going on. I wouldn't be surprised if it's somehow connected. Maybe with the pressures and pains in that area, it's just not motivating or fun to try to open your mouth and eat. I don't know...
Well, it's a pretty well-known fact that children who are sick don't eat well. Adults don't either. Of course it has something to do with the ear infection! But from what I gather, she has never been a good eater in the first place, so it just might seem really extreme in her case right now.
On the topic of cow's milk: I personally think cow's milk does more harm than good on children younger than 12 months, so i wouldn't give it to her. And I have read different things than you have on the human milk: There is less iron in human milk quantity-wise, yes, but all of it gets absorbed in the child's body. That's 100% as opposed to 50 %in cow's milk, AND it's completely customized for your child!
I think we have a misunderstanding. Sophia isn't getting cow's milk at all, or any drinks other than mom's milk and some occasional water. And any iron from cow's milk has the least absorption rate from what I've read (like less than 10 percent or something). For that reason alone they recommend to not give cow's milk to kids until at least 12 months and do not depend on formula or breast milk for their nutritional needs. Actually, I don't think anyone talked about cow's milk at all, thinking about it now. I did mention that Sophia has been getting a little bit of plain yoghurt (which is a dairy product).
I did read that approximately 50% of iron from human milk gets absorbed.But whatever. We won't have a debate on iron absorbtion etc. We both agree, breast milk is best, and cow's milk isn't.
Anyway, you're probably right. No one seems to eat as well as usual when they're sick, except for me. I eat no matter what, sick or not.
Sorry, I skimmed through the comments and totally got the wrong idea. Sorry again. Tired mom. :)
Haha, no worries Isa. I just got confused, and then looked at the comments, and realized no one talked about cow milk. You probably have chocolate on your mind! ;)
I wonder though if I should quit the yogurt again. She seemed to really like it and since she's such a fickle eater I'd let her have some 1-2 twice a week. Any opinions anyone?
*raising hand* I do! (Of course)
And here it is: do you or Henry have allergies? If so, I'd probably hold off? If not, then she is probably fine, although i wouldn't do it (but I am super allergic and asthmatic, and hence biased).
I think ear infections are somewhat genetic. I had tons of problems and hence so has Jeffrey - fortunately not any other of my children. He's had more ear infections and antibiotics due to it than he has trips to the hospital because of his heart. He's had tubes put in TWICE because the first ones were pushed out through another infection. I started taking him to a chiropracter last year as I remembered having seen something at a chiropractic office in America recomending that it can help with cases of recurring ear infection. Some would argue that Jeffrey is growing out of ear infections, now being six, but I would say the chiropractic has helped. I would also have to support the theory of the body not being alligned and allowing the fluids that get trapped in there to drain. As a side note the chiroprater noted that his whole side of his body was way out of line. Fits with having prolonged hospital stays as an infant and with the fact that he had a severe cross bite. Hmm - again the connection between bones in jaw and ear - they run right into each other after all.
Most doctors will not just put tubes in a kids ears until they have had a history of infections - meaning for about a year's time.
The olive oil, onion/garlic remedy does seem to help pull out some of the infection and relieve some pain (like putting mud or a milk soaked peice of bread on a bee sting also pulls out the infection) especially if it not too severe, but antibiotics as much as I dread them too, are sometimes the only way to get the infection to really clear up if it is as severe as Jeffrey always had them. (Thick gooey putrified smelling gunk running out of his ears) You do not want this as too often and the eardrum builds up scar tissue that can impair hearing. Side note here as well - we have been fortunate that in spite of EVERYTHING Jeffrey still seems to have normal hearing.
Sorry so long. Thanks for finally posting pictures of my cute neice.
Post a Comment