Ear Infection Due to Diet?

[smzapalac]

Does anyone have a child that had an ear infection that was caused by a food allergy? My DD and I were told today she has to have tubes put in and her adenoids taken out because of the reoccuring ear infection she has had since Jan. I get that, but I want to get to the bottom of why she is getting these ear infections and why she has all the mucus. The only thing I can think of is a possible food allergy. I looked at some sites on the internet that said food allergies cause increased mucus production, but I don't know if that actually can lead to an ear infection. If anyone has any insights or experience with this I would love to hear from you. Thanks!

[JBaxter]

Dairy is a big one. I know several children who gets more mucucy on dairy which caused their frequent ear infections

[Tammy]

I can't help with the "food" allergy part, however my DD has had plentiful ear problems and most recently was referred to an allergy specialist for a drug related problem, and come to find out she has allergies (dogs, oak, dust, mold, etc.) and the doctor said these can affect her ears because the allergies cause her to get the post-nasal drip and such and then it all involves the ears when draining (ears, nose, throat). The ear doctor never said anything about this, but the allergy specialist said oh yes, could be it. However- that being said, DD has very very small ear canals and has frequent issues with the ears not draining which lead to fluid buildup, infection, etc etc. DD has had 3 ear tube surgeries. The second one the doctor had to remove one tube because her body was rejecting it and it was so infected. Waited for it to clear up, get infected again with fluid and pain, and here comes the 3rd ear tube surgery. I am glad she has the ear tubes though- it's helped a lot with her sleeping and no pain for the most part. Definite improvement there. We've followed up on the allergy specialist's recommendations and no more ear infections as of yet. Not sure if that's by chance or due to the changes but it was certainly worth it for us to invest in the good true HEPA air purifier and other things. Good luck with everything.

[lilycat88]

The ears, eyes, nose, etc. are all connected and if the adenoids are enlarged, any fluid, mucous, etc. can't drain properly and just stays were it is. DD always seemed very mucousy before she had her adenoids removed. I'm not dismissing the food allergy possibility. We have those too but the difference was dramatic when her adenoids were taken out.

[crl]

I can't help with the food piece either. But DS had 4 ear infections the winter after he turned 1. I asked for a referral to an allergist and he turned out to be very allergic to dustmites. We put him on zyrtec and I did all the dustmite minimizing stuff (encased his mattress, washed and dried linens on hot every week, minimized stuffed animals and rugs and such in his room) and he never had another ear infection.

Catherine

[Cuckoomamma]

It's definitely true. I know of a few children who have had major improvement after pulling certain foods from their diets. I had terrible ear infections when I was little and was only diagnosed with a dairy allergy a few years ago. Both my girls are allergic to dairy. We knew when they were very young, so it never had a chance to get bad enough to where they got ear infections.

Just pull the dairy. While it takes a couple of weeks to completely clear your body, I bet you'd see pretty immediate results. If I eat a bite of something containing dairy now, I wake up with red spots on my cheeks or nose. Never had those red spots growing up, but I did have horrible migraines and earaches.

Good luck!