Ear infection or otitis media, is the most common medical problem for children in the United States. Ear infections early in life are generally a self-limited event during upper respiratory (viral) illnesses. (1) The majority of ear infections, whether bacterial or viral, clear up on their own. It is common practice in this country, however, to treat all ear infections with antibiotics. Whether bacterial or not, our children get a routine prescription for an antibiotic at every minor illness.

There is a vicious cycle of poor nutrition and overuse of antibiotics that works to place a tremendous disease burden on the future health of our children. Taking antibiotics kills off the beneficial bacteria and promotes the colonization of more disease-causing strains, so that the next ear infection has a greater chance of being bacterial, not viral. Whether it’s viral, bacterial, or a mixed infection, at the next visit your kid gets another antibiotic anyway, starting the cycle of infection after infection, antibiotic dependency and impaired immune function.

The typical doctor does not take care to avoid the use of these dangerous drugs; he does not champion nutritional excellence to prevent infections. The weak immune system from nutritional negligence (and lack of breast feeding) leads to more frequent and more serious illness that is more difficult to recover from; then antibiotics complicate the issue and weaken the immune system further.

It is also worth noting that babies who drink from a bottle while lying on their backs get milk and juice into their eustachian tubes, which increases the occurrence of ear infections. Children who are breast-fed for at least a year have been shown to have much fewer infections than those weaned early. (2)

1.Heikkinen T, Chonmaitree T. Importance of respiratory viruses in acute otitis media. Clin Microbiol. Rev. 2003; 16(2): 230-241.
2.Betran AP, de onis M, Lauer JA, Villar J. Ecological study of effect of breast-feeding on infant mortality in Latin America. BMJ 2001;323(7308):303-306. Abdulmoneim I, Al-Ghamdi SA. Relationship between breast feeding duration and acute respiratory infection in infants. Saudi Med J 2001; 22(4): 347-350.