Healing Childhood Ear Infections. Prevention, Home Care, and Alternative Treatment

Customer Reviews

WONDERFUL. Read before you make your decision on tubes!!!!!

2008-05-23
OK, I do not do reviews that often. But, this book needed one!! My son had 4 double ear infections between 3-5 months of age. We met with the ear doctor on 5/7. She said he needed tubes asap b/c of some hearing loss due to the fluid in his ears. We set the surgery for tubes up for 5/15.

I got the book that afternoon and read it on the 7th and 8th. I scheduled an appointment for the doctor and I to sit down and talk on the 9th b/c I decided that maybe tubes was not the answer....yet. After meeting, the doctor was still set on tubes. I thought about it over the weekend and on Monday 5/12 I cancelled the appointment for the 16th. It is now the 23rd and the fluid has gone away in one ear completely and the other still has fluid but it has only been a few weeks.

This book not only tells different things to do to alleviate the problems it also tells you the risks involved. The doctor did not tell us these things and when I brought them up, she downplayed them. Two of the risks were weakening of the eardrum in up to 40% (I think) of the patients which could lead to ear drum rupture later in life. My husband had had 3 ruptured ear drum incidents and he had tubes as a child. Hmmmmmm. The other was issues with scar tissue hardening around the incision. I don't know if I am explaining that right. I don't have the book in front of me. Anyway - they were serious issues.

So, I am having his ears monitored for 4-8 weeks and if they don't get better, I will have the tubes put in. But, one is better already.

READ THE BOOK BEFORE YOU PLAN THE SURGERY!!!!!

We avoided surgery!

2005-09-23
My 4 year old daughter was diagnosed with reduced hearing 7 months ago; turned out she had fluid in both ears. The ENT (ears, nose, throat specialists) put her on antibiotics. Did nothing. Then we went away for a month and upon our return, we had her checked again. Fluid had decreased in 1 ear but was still strong in the other. ENT feared it would impact her learning (the decreased hearing) and lead to ear infections (they couldn't believe she hadn't had any, to my knowledge,since she was about 2). In the meantime, my 1.5 year old son also had 1 ear infection after the other, and when we returned from our trip he also was checked - fluid in both ears, plus a lingering infection they treated with antibiotics. They strongly urged me to get tubes in their ears. Our niece had them inserted and my sister as well as everyone else said it's no big deal, the worst part is seeing your child unconscious as it's general anaesthesia, but they bounce right back. I made the surgery appt and then my dad sent me an article from the Wall Street Journal citing studies that concluded the tube surgery is done way too often, and unnecessarily. Since this was coming from my very conservative dad, I thought I'd better question establishment. So I got this book, "Healing Childhood Ear Infections" by Dr. Schmidt. After 1 chapter I canceled the surgery. Instead, I got them into chiropractic care, removed dairy (cows milk) from their diets, and took them to a naturopath who put them on 3 supplements: minerals for their immune systems, and something to thin the mucous. Today I took my daughter to the ENT for a check-up (1 month after trying alternative treatments) and they were shocked - no more fluid, perfect hearing! You should have seen how proud she was when they told us. My son still remains to be checked, but knock on wood, has been infection-free since I started all this. The kids love the chiropractor - my son screams when his turn is over - and there are plenty of dairy alternatives out there (soy is also to be avoided or at least moderated but my son loves goats milk yoghurt). The supplements mix in with their juices so they don't even notice them. Anyway, I'm telling you this so that you question your own kids' treatments. According to this book, once a kid is on antibiotics it's very likely he'll develop another infection (ear) soon thereafter. In most countries, they're not even prescribed unless the baby is under 1 or has had a high fever (over 101) for 3 days. Plus, this book stated that most US children have a very nutrient-defficient diet and in particular lack minerals such as magnesium & zinc, which are very important for the immune system. Hopefully you can all benefit from this - and although I don't know which of my 3 forms of treatment did the trick with my daughter, I'm going to continue all 3. Thank goodness for this book, which gave me the tools and the courage to try safer alternatives.

Chock -full of important information

2005-05-05
I was so impressed with this wonderful treatment of every aspect of the causes and treatments of this common childhood ailment. A "must" for every parent's library!

Healing Childhood Ear Infections: Prevention, Home Care,

2005-02-02
This book was just what I was looking for! My son was battling repeated ear infections and I knew there had to be other options than antibiotics and ear tubes. I am so glad I read this before we progressed to surgery. I am now an active homeopathic user, and my son has been earache free for months!
I thank the author for presenting all the options available.

very good alternative methods to healing ear infections

1999-08-05
This book reviews many different alternative medicines and therapies for healing ear infections. It covers the over all health and nutritional needs of children and how they relate to the healing process of ear infections. The homeopahtic information was a bit generic and left me needing more information on which medicines to choose from. Over all I found it to be a very good book.

Excellent Resource for Parents

1999-04-15
Ear infections are still the leading reason parents take their child to a doctor. To combat infections, parents and doctors employ arsenals of antihistamines and antibiotics, and too quickly resort to ear tubes and surgery. In this updated and revised second edition of his bestselling Childhood Ear Infections, Dr. Michael Schmidt describes the current controversy in medical journals questioning existing treatments for chronic earaches.

Excellent information - can improve health of entire family.

1999-03-07
The authors maintain that boosting our immunity offers much better protection against illness than combatting each new virus or harmful bacteria strain. In an age where the effectiveness of antibiotics is quickly diminishing, the alternative approaches offered in this book make a lot of sense. Our family has already followed a few suggestions with positive results. Highly recommended.

Explains why traditional treatments don't work

1999-02-19
This book is a must for any parent who is experiencing the endless rounds of doctor's visits and antibiotics to treat chronic ear infections. This book explains in layman's terms the reasons why traditional treatments for chronic ear infections don't work. Some doctors jump-the-gun and prescribe antibiotics when there is fluid in the ear, but not infection. This can harm rather than hurt the child and set them up for a lot of other problems down-the-road.