My son is 3.5 and was looked at by an MD who said he really had to have antibiotics since it looked so bad. SO, of course I switch treatments. I had been doing garlic oil in ear, echinacea, and vit C. Now I switched to mullein extract and cotton-balling his ear. The mullein seems to be helping (I think he is improving) bit what can I do about the pain. We don't use drugs around here so I am looking for something else. He doesn't like heat or cold applied to the ear. It has been since Wed night I swithced to the mullein. How long should it take to clear up? Anything else I could be doing to help?

Desperate mama here. :eyes:

I am searching past posts as well

nothing homeopathic please, it all contains milk which he can't have

The best thing i've tried is something my midwife reccomended.

Slice an onion in half, and bake flat side down on a baking sheet at 200 degrees untill soft and squishy/drippy inside (1 hour or so). Allow to cool just enough to not burn, but still as warm as possible. Place the flat side of the onion on his ear and let the juice drip into his ear for 1 hour. I wrap a towel around/under their ear, because this is messy. For babies I start nursing them for a nap and just hold them with it on while they sleep. For an older kid, put in a good movie. LOL
Onion is a natural antibiotic and that combined with the warmth and gentle suction created from the onion on the ear work wonders, both with pain and to heal the actual infection. As bad as your son's infection sounds, I would do this again on the second or third day.

Best wishes,
Aileen

This works really well. Take a garlic clove or 2 and infuse in olive oil (or whatever you have at the time)
You just barely warm it to infuse the garlic into the oil. Then when cool enough to put into the ears, drop a few drops into BOTH ears and do this several times a day and if the symptoms improve, so this for about 7 days to be sure to kill off everything causing the problem.
It helps heal the pain in my children as well as wiping out the problem.

Mullein flower oil is excellent too. I would be sure to treat both ears at the same time several times a day and see how that goes.

I know you have tried these, but maybe not enough or not both ears at the same time.
And if you can't clear this up with natural remedies, do the antibiotics without guilt mama. Sometimes the infection is too much for natural remedies and you gotta do what you gotta do, hun.

I swaer by adding a drop of lavender EO to the garlic oil when I get an ear infection.

you can also massage right behind his ear, along the jaw line (top down). this helps releive the pressure and move the fluid out of the ear easier. I do this with a little more lavender to calm.

He might also enjoy sucking on a peppermint. I know it sounds funny but the peppermint in my mouth really makes my ears feel better (all that interconnected stuff)

Chole

As for the pain part of the infection, I found that Hyland's has the most incredible earache tablets every,,homeopathic and they work great to get over that misery hump while waiting for the natural stuff to work.. :)

Thanks for the great ideas. The mullein really helped clear it up.

I can't do anything homeopathic since they all contain dairy which my son is highly allergic too :)

Mullein will reduce swelling and garlic will kill infection and lobelia will numb the pain... so I use all 3. For a REALLY bad infection, I will use some mullein/garlic oil drops and some xceptic tincture (dr. Christopher's blend) works great...
Be sure to treat both ears.