Ear infections
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Anonymous
| Anyone struggle with their kids getting chronic ear infections from swimming? Tips? |
Anonymous
There are “after swim” drops you can buy at CVS…use them and blow dry their ears post practice on a low heat setting |
Anonymous
| I’ve heard of people using various after swim drops or just a few drops of isopropyl alcohol to dry ears out. Some kids are more prone than others but if lots of kids at the pool have this issue then the pool needs to balance their chemicals properly. |
Anonymous
| We've always used a little bit of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl). If DC comes home with water in ears, just a couple drops of alcohol, bob head up and down to get alcohol to where the water is trapped, it forms a solution and evaporates almost instantaneously. Super easy. There's a knack to getting the kid's head at the right angle to drip the alcohol straight in - you can wet a cotton ball to do it, and give DC a tissue to keep alcohol from accidentally running into eyes. |
Anonymous
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We use a device called dry ears - it's a bulb that blows a gentle stream of air inside the ear and has holes that ensure the stream is not too forceful. It has no batteries, is relatively cheap and you can get it on amazon. One of my kids uses it once every couple of months when he can feel water stuck in his ear. My theory is that he is using earbuds against my advice, more below.
Other options for treatment - 1:1 solution of isopropyl alcohol and white vinegar. The alcohol dries the ear and the white vinegar acidifies, killing bacteria - Commercial ear drops, which are pretty much the same as above Prevention is easier than treatment. Tell your child to tell you as soon as they feel water stuck in their ears. Do not wait a few days and give the infection a chance to start. - Commercial drops or isopropyl alcohol. No vinegar needed if caught early. - The classic jump up and down while cocking the head technique - Using a hairdryer or ear dryer afterwards - be careful. I prefer the dry ears bulb because it's impossible to blow too much air in with the design - Twisting a tissue into a long "wick" and placing one end in the ear to wick the water out. I don't recommend this method - Being adamant about NO EARBUDS after swimming. Get them over the ear headphones instead. A lot of kids use earbuds at swim meets and the water doesn't have a chance to evaporate. |
Anonymous
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We started rubbing alcohol drops after swimming and no more ear infections. We later upgraded to store bought drops for swimmer so we can carry around easily.
https://a.co/d/3owKLG4 |
Anonymous
| I got chronic, super painful ear infections when I swam and no amount of drying my ears or using special drops helped. I eventually had to use wax earplugs for every practice and meet. It was annoying at first but didn’t have a problem after that. |