The Eustachian Tube (Ear Canal) in Kiddos
The eustachian tubes in kiddos are more horizontally placed in the ear canal than adults (more vertical). This allows for things like bacteria and breast milk to get stuck in the canal and cause a bacterial infection called otitis media, a fancy name for middle ear infection. This is why if you have seen me in the office I always stress about how to correctly breastfeed/bottle feed a baby. It is important that we feed our babies at an angle so that there is a smaller chance for bacteria to get trapped and build up causing recurrent infections. However, anatomy can only explain one part of ear infections.
Dairy.....Yes or No?
Dairy, dairy, dairy.... this one word brings up a lot of discussions. The big question is why is dairy bad for you? I am here to tell you the reasoning behind dairy and why it can be stated as "bad" for you. Dairy is an inflammatory food which means when it is in your diet/consumed, it can lead to a cascade effect in your body of inflammatory mediators which in return causes widespread inflammation in your joints and tissues of your body. How does this have to do with ear infections you might ask? Since dairy is inflammatory, this can causes inflammation and mucus production in your sinuses and your ear canal which then can lead to more bacteria production and then middle ear infections.
There is another issue with kiddos these days being allergic or sensitive to the protein in milk called casein that not only causes inflammation in these kiddo's but also causes an autoimmune response where the body sees this as an invader and attacks causing more damage to the gut flora causing more infectious bugs to attack in the future.
If your child is suffering from ear infections that do not seem to disappear I recommend cutting out dairy. If you are a breastfeeding mama, you will have to cut it out of your diet and if you supplement with your child or if they are cow's milk drinkers you might want to supplement with either a healthy juice or water instead of milk. If this is something you are wanting to do just keep in mind you might not see results immediately because it takes about 8 weeks to get rid of dairy in your body.
There is another issue with kiddos these days being allergic or sensitive to the protein in milk called casein that not only causes inflammation in these kiddo's but also causes an autoimmune response where the body sees this as an invader and attacks causing more damage to the gut flora causing more infectious bugs to attack in the future.
If your child is suffering from ear infections that do not seem to disappear I recommend cutting out dairy. If you are a breastfeeding mama, you will have to cut it out of your diet and if you supplement with your child or if they are cow's milk drinkers you might want to supplement with either a healthy juice or water instead of milk. If this is something you are wanting to do just keep in mind you might not see results immediately because it takes about 8 weeks to get rid of dairy in your body.
Chiropractic Care
Are you receiving chiropractic care? If so, go you!! If not, a lot of the kiddos seen in our office who have recurrent ear infections have joint restrictions in their cervical spine (neck) and soft tissue tightness that can be treated by one of our doctors to help drain these ear canals and prevent bacteria from pooling in the ear canal. Bringing your kiddo in to get their spine checked is a great idea to prevent any issues from progressing like tubes being put into the ears!
Author
Dr. Kayla McVay
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