It seems to happen every other week: as soon as one ear infection clears up, your child ends up with another one. They don’t seem to be sticking their fingers in their ears all the time, and you’ve encouraged them to wash their hands regularly anyway. So what’s causing this infection to return again and again?
While regular ear infections aren’t quite classified as chronic health conditions, they can be painful for your children and may result in more long-term health issues when they’re older. It’s important to figure out the cause and take it from there – here are three common reasons your kid keeps getting ear infections.
Impacted Earwax
Everyone will create earwax, and while it might not look or feel nice, it actually helps you avoid things like ear infections. The wax in your ears is designed to trap bacteria and dead skin, moving it out of the ear canal. You should be able to wipe the outside of your ears and remove the wax and bad stuff.
However, if your child keeps getting ear infections, it might be because their earwax isn’t draining properly. Instead, it’s hardening and staying within the ear – and this means all the dead skin and bacteria are trapped there too. Take them to an audiologist to see if they suffer from impacted earwax. Some professional earwax removal services can get rid of the impacted wax safely – if the infections clear up, you know this was the cause and can work on preventing it from happening again.
Trapped Water
A lot of recurring ear infections stem from trapped water in the outer part of the ear. Does your child attend a regular swimming club? If so, there is a very strong chance they suffer from swimmer’s ear – which is basically an ear infection caused by water staying in the ear and creating a breeding ground for bacteria.
Use the normal medication and ear drops to clear up an infection, and then try the following whenever your child swims or comes out of the shower:
- Make them tilt their head to drain their ears
- Dry their ears thoroughly
If you stop seeing infections, then you’ve hit the nail on the head.
Certain Allergies
Did you know that some allergies can trigger ear infections? This happens when any allergies cause a reaction in your sinuses. If your child has hayfever or other airborne allergies, they often end up with a blocked nose and inflamed sinuses. When this happens, it stops your ears from draining properly, so they see a buildup of fluid inside.
It’s fairly easy to deduce if this is the ear infection trigger because your child will also show signs of allergies. In this case, you need to treat the allergy symptoms to prevent the ear infections. It could result in your child needing antihistamines or some type of steroid nasal spray.
Take two things from this post: it’s not normal for a child to have constant ear infections. That’s a sign of an underlying problem somewhere, but you can treat the issue and solve the infections once and for all. Once you identify the cause it is much easier to keep those infections at bay.