Health Matters: The Do’s and Don’ts of Ear Infections

Ear infections are nothing new; 93% of children will experience at least one.

Ear infections in children are so common they’re considered a normal childhood illness.

Unfortunately, its common occurrence doesn’t make it any less painful.

I spoke with an ear, nose and throat doctor at Essentia who shared a few tips on how to prevent and treat those unwanted infections.
 
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, ear infections are the most common reason parents bring their child to a doctor.

Something Dr. Alan Bruns says isn’t always necessary.
 
“If there aren’t complicating factors many times they won’t get any medicines because they’ll get better on their own normal childhood illness,” says Essentia Otolaryngologist, Alan Bruns.
 
So how do you know if you should visit the doc or not?
 
“For those kids that have three to four infections over a course of six months or have fluid in the ear for three or more months,” says Dr. Bruns.
 
At first, antibiotics will be used to treat the infection.

If that doesn’t work, the next step is to try tubes.
 
“It’s a small little hole put in the ear drum that allows fluid to come out of the hole and the ear to go in,” says Dr. Bruns.
 
Often times kids are predisposed to ear infections because of hereditary factors.

But there’s some other risks too including second hand smoke and if your child goes to daycare.
 
“There’s a lot of germs and bacteria with kids all together,” says Dr. Bruns.
 
And the most astonishing risk factor is something many people are using to prevent it: a cotton swab.
 
“If you use all the wax from the ear canal and you get water in there it can’t get out as easy because you don’t have that wax to allow it to roll out,” says Dr. Bruns.
 
Instead…
 
“Just use a wash cloth,” says Dr. Bruns.
 
Because the pain isn’t worth it.
 
“It will be a very severe ear pain. it will be almost like a sharp pin prick in their ear, so it will be painful,” says Dr. Bruns.
 
Dr. Bruns says while many people use cotton swabs to remove wax, it’s actually doing the exact opposite.

He says when people use cotton swabs they often push the wax further down in the ear canal.

He says in any given day he’ll see about three patients with built-up wax.