Natural Remedies for Ear Infections

*The following article contains my own experience and opinions on natural remedies for ear infections and is not medical advice. I’m not a doctor, I’m an herbalist and a mama. Ear infections can be serious if they get out of hand, so always use your intuition and don’t hesitate to get it checked out if at home treatments aren’t working.*

Ear infections are a relatively common childhood illness with most children developing one at some point in their life. They are typically viral and can sometimes happen after an upper respiratory infection or a cold.

Ear infections are usually mild but can cause lots of pain in our little ones. Many times antibiotics are prescribed as standard treatment, but due to the fact that ear infections are usually viral, antibiotics usually don’t help solve the situation.

You may be able to tell that your child is developing an ear infection because they’re pulling on their ears and might be more fussy or overall irritable.

I wanted to share what I do when I feel like my toddler is getting an ear infection and how I treat it naturally. If you’re looking for an alternative or natural remedies for ear infections to be able to treat them while in the early stages, then I hope this article will help you!

Natural Remedies for Ear Infections

1. Otoscope

Every mom needs an otoscope in her natural medicine cabinet!

An otoscope is a tool with a magnifying glass and a light in it which allows you to be able to look inside an ear canal. I recommend having a nurse or a doctor show you how to use one of these, but you can also look up tutorials online.

I use my otoscope to check out my child’s ear whenever I first begin suspecting ear pain or infection. This helps you get ahead of the game and hopefully catch the ear infection early on. It can also allow you to tell the difference between ear pulling due to teething or ear pulling due to infection.

2. Mullein Garlic Ear Oil

Mullein Garlic oil isn’t usually hard to find; you can order it online, find it at a health food store, or even at some grocery stores like Sprouts, Whole Foods or Publix.

Mullein garlic oil works wonders for ear infections. The oil comes in a bottle with a dropper. Have your child lay down on the couch with the head in your lap and drip 1-2 drops in the ear and massage it in.

It’s important to note that If there is puss coming out of the ear, this could potentially mean the ear drum has burst and you should NOT put anything in the ear. If you aren’t able to drop the oil in the ear, you can always massage the oil around the ear on the outside and on the neck.

If you don’t have drops, you can make your own ear oil by mincing a few fresh cloves of garlic into some Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Heat/infuse it on the stove gently for 20-30 minutes and then remove from heat. Strain garlic out and allow the oil to cool completely before dropping in ear.

3. Chiropractic Adjustment

Chiropractors can absolutely help with ear infections. Usually they feel around the neck and ears and can tell when there is inflammation and stress around the ear. Then they can do a gentle adjustment to help align the body and open up the ear canal to be able to drain extra fluid out. I recommend to always use a pediatric chiro who is trained with gentle adjustments in children.

4. Homeopathy

Homeopathy is very effective but also a little bit tricky because you have to match the specific symptom and choose the right remedy in order for it to work! If you get all the symptoms matched and choose the correct remedy, then it should help clear the ear infection pretty quickly.

Some of the main remedies to look into for ear infections, depending on the stage, include:

Belladonna

Ferrum Phos

Chamomilia

Silica

Pulsatilla

Hepar Sulph

Check out this article below for more details on the various remedies and which to choose:

Joette Calebrese on four common remedies for ear infections!

I recommend this book to learn more about homeopathic remedies for infants and childhood illnesses.

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