If you have little feet running around your house, chances are in the last year or so you have had to battle an ear infection. Maybe several. Cold & flu season or teething all seem to set off ear infections in kids. There is no need to worry, here are natural ear infection home remedies. The best part is these remedies are from items you probably have in your cabinets right now!
Ear Infection Symptoms
Understanding and knowing what signs and symptoms to look for in your little ones can go a long way to nipping those pesky little ear infections in the bud right away!
- Crankiness in babies who can’t yet voice how they feel a cranky baby is a dead give-away something is up.
- Fever is a sign the body is trying to fight something off
- Pulling at the ear, kids often know it doesn’t feel right so you will find toddlers and babies will often pull at the ear(s) when a problem is present.
- Drainage from the ear
- Dizziness
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As the mother of young children, I try to keep a keen eye out for the first signs of an ear infection. My oldest child seemed plagued by them as a young toddler, and what did the doctor always do? Prescribe antibiotics. The problem with that is that antibiotics destroy your healthy gut bacteria. A lack of gut health actually leads to the ear infection problem, to begin with. What I would have given to know about these natural ear infection home remedies back then it would have saved me so much time and money I didn’t have back then.
Now the question is what did they do for ear infections 100 years ago? Truth is most answers came from the garden. Yes, the garden! That is so simple, right.
1. Garlic ear oil
This one is easy to do and keep for months before you may need to remake it. A super easy thing to keep in the medicine cabinet, and use if you even think you have an ear infection starting. The thing with all of these remedies there is no danger for using the remedy even if there is no ear infection. The great part is it’s a simple cure right from Kitchen ingredients you likely already have. My favorite way to do this one is out of the book Medicinal Herbs- A Beginner’s Guide By Rosemary Gladstar. This book is an absolute must for the person interested in making your own home-made remedies.
Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use
The basic rundown here is heat 2-4 Tbsp of olive oil with 2-4 garlic cloves (chopped and peeled) over a low heat until the oil smells of a very strong garlic smell. Then you let the mixture cool, strain it through cheesecloth and store in a dark container, like an amber dropper bottle. Store in a cool dark place. Rewarm this by letting the bottle set in a cup of warm water until it is about body temperature. When using treat both ears, placing a dropper full in each ear massage to make sure the oil gets really well down into the ear, and repeat often until the pain subsides.
2. Onion juice
Another remedy straight from the garden, or perhaps from the refrigerator. Maybe you are really homesteady and you have a root cellar with a basket full of homegrown onions. No matter the difference, you get the same result. Now it is s simple task but may be easier said than done, if you are a person with sensitive eyes (like myself). All you need is a little juice, few drops per ear, do this for several days just to make sure the infection is gone. Toss a little in the juicer or hand juice a little bit, bottle it up and store it for the rest of this ear infection.
Now I can not say for sure if this part is true but the old wives tale is “use onion juice for an ear infection and you will never have another in infection again!” I wish I could say I tested this one on my oldest when he was getting repeat ear infections but I never tried it, I wish I did! However, if you have a child repeatedly getting an ear infection I would try this remedy pronto!
3. Tea tree oil
This one works fast and furious. Of the 3 ear infection remedies, I tend to go with this one first. So if I am guessing we have an ear infection I usually opt for this one and knock it out before it really even starts.
All you need is a little bottle of tea tree or also known as melaleuca essential oil (both names mean the same thing). I keep this essential oil on hand and it takes a long while to use it all. All you need is a cotton ball torn to a size you can fit inside the ear it is needed for. Then add a few drops of tea tree oil to cotton all place it inside the ear (do not try to stuff it deep inside the ear). Little note here, do not place drops in the ear they must be on the cotton ball and the cotton ball placed in the ear. Do this overnight a time or two and, just like that your ear infection is gone!
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Ear Infection Pain Relief
Natural pain relief is easier than you may think! Lavender is a wonderful natural at pain reliever! Try taking a little lavender and maybe a little frankincense if you have it dilute it down with a carrier oil or herb-infused oil, that helps carry the essential oil into the body to do its work. Massage that around the outer part of the ear, and soon any ear infection-related pain will be gone!
Most importantly is the body needs to heal and in the most natural way possible, and these natural ear infection home remedies do just that. While antibiotics will attack the infection it will also wreak havoc on the body destroying all the helpful beneficial microbes in the body. That will result in digestion setbacks as well as a weaker immune system. However, if you do feel the immune system is a little-suppressed work on amping up the probiotics to strengthen the immune system again. A weakened immune system can never be a good option when trying to improve health… ♡♡♡
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Beth is a mother of 6 living on a handful of acres in an old farmhouse in central Kansas. Beth has a background in the military and health and fitness however her passions come from her homestead life. Beth is an enthusiastic homeschooling mom, avid organic gardener, chicken & goat wrangler, who is obsessed with herbs and natural remedies and maintaining an all-around Do-It-Yourself lifestyle. Beth loves to share all she has learned about and sustainable living. While striving for a healthy, natural life, family-centered life.
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