Beth 06/14/2010
Question:
My son is 10 months old and just got over an ear infection, the second one since he was born. I took him to the doctor, and they said it was gone, but now all of a sudden he has a runny nose. Is it possibly a sign of allergies? Is there anything I can do to make sure it doesn't turn into another ear infection? Thanks.
Dr. Deirdre J. Bernard-Pearl responds:
When babies drink from bottles or suck on pacifiers when they are laying down, they are more likely to develop ear infections. Please don’t let your son do this!
Allergies are a possibility, but I would not expect allergy symptoms to come and go like this.
Antibiotics that are used to treat ear infections kill much of the healthy bacteria in our bodies. Since your son has already had two ear infections, he is probably very low in the healthy bacteria that normally live in our intestines and help to protect us from infections.
You can replace healthy bacteria by giving him something called “probiotics.” You can find probiotics specifically made for infants that contain bacteria called Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria.
Good luck!