Onion and Ear Infections

I would like to tell you a short story about how I helped my 4 year old daughter get over her first ear infection.  We used an easy home remedy, that she enjoyed, and I already had in my kitchen: the humble onion!

My daughter, Isla, had never had an ear infection before, nor have I.  So this was all new to me.  I was not sure she had an infection, on the first morning that she mentioned her ear bothered her.  I thought, maybe she had slept on it funny. 

The following morning she woke up complaining of her ear hurting again.  This time, I decided to try a home remedy that I had heard about, to see if she would get some relief.  I was still not sure it was an infection.

I diced up half an onion, sauteed it in a tiny amount of olive oil on low heat, until it turned translucent and began to release it's sulfur smell.

I put the diced onion onto a thin cloth (a "potato sack towel" used for drying glass wear.)  I have tons of these cloths, cut into small squares, because I use them for straining my infusions and other herbal preparations. 

I folded the cloth around the onions and allowed it to cool slightly.

I asked Isla to lie on her side, exposing her sore ear.  Then, I put the onion cloth above her ear, and hovered it there until it was cool enough to put directly on her ear.  Children are much more sensitive to heat than adults.  What may feel nice to us, will surely still be too hot for them.  I allowed her to tell me when it was the right temp to hold onto her ear. 

She said the warmth felt really good and immediately relieved the pain. 

Once the compress was cool, we removed it from her ear, and she continued to play. 

About an hour later, she said, "Eeuwww, Mom!," and held up a finger that was covered in what appeared to be oil.  I thought it was just a little oil left on her skin from the compress. 

When I looked at her ear, I was shocked.  Dripping down the side of her jaw and neck under her ear was a river of pus, ear wax, mucus, and fluid!  Oh my gosh.  I felt like a bad mom, for not knowing how clogged her poor little ear was. 

She smiled and laughed (probably at my horrified expression) and, of course, had to go see it in the mirror, while I cleaned her up.

She obviously felt so much relief and continued to play as she normally would on any other day.

That was last Friday.  Today is Wednesday and she is back at pre-school. 

Each day, I applied the onion compress in the morning, midday, and before bed.  She actually would apply it to herself.  When I asked her if she wanted a compress, her answer was always yes!

Her ear continued to drain, less and less each day.  She only had a little pain first thing upon waking, after a night of getting re-clogged.  The morning compress gave immediate relief.

I also gave her a little Echinacea tincture in a little juice 1-3 times a day, depending on the day and how the infection seemed to be going.

The onion was not an immediate "cure" but it was immediate relief.  It allowed her body to continue it's own natural course of healing via the immune system. 

As long as the ear was draining, I felt confident that her body was doing what it needed to do to clear the infection. 

Even if I had decided to get her anitbiotics, they would not have been an immediate cure.  I would have had to give them to her (I am guessing) a couple times a day, for multiple days.

I believe that the more we avoid using antibiotics, and instead allow and trust our immune systems to clear infection, the healthier our immune response will be. 

Often antibiotic use will lead to repetitive infections that will continually worsen over time.  In the long run, overuse of antibiotics weaken our immune systems by depleting our internal ecology of diverse life and by not allowing our immune response to get exercised.

There a few ways that I have heard of folks working with the onions. 

One, is how I have described, and seems to work well with little ears. 

Two, is an onion is sliced into two slices and sauteed, with a little olive oil, whole, until translucent.  Then wrapped in cloth and applied to both ears at once.

Three, is an onion is cut in half and wrapped in foil and heated in an oven until softened and juicy.  It is then removed from the foil and placed on the ear (once cool enough) with a cloth in between the two.  This sounds lovely and may be what I would choose for myself.  It can be reheated and used multiple times, changing out the cloth each time.

Another popular remedy for ear infections is a garlic and mullein flower oil that you can buy in stores or make at home.  The garlic is antibacterial and the mullein flowers are pain relieving.  A few lightly warmed drops put into the ear, multiple times a day, are the standard procedure. 

I actually made garlic oil when I made the first onion compress, to have on hand, if I felt like I needed a stronger medicine than the onion, but I never used it. 

I was slightly afraid that her ear drum could have torn after the first drainage, because I did not know if it was an outer or inner ear infection.  I did not want to risk putting anything in her ear, in case it had torn.  I don't think that it did, but I was not 100 percent certain. 

I also really wanted to see if the onion could be helpful all on its own.  I also really appreciated the healing properties of the light steam, offered by the compress, which the garlic oil would not have provided.

Onions and garlic both contain sulfur, which has antibacterial properties.  I am unsure if this was a bacterial or viral infection, but she had no fever or other viral-type symptoms.  The mucous discharge had a yellow tint to it.  My guess was that it was bacterial. 

I am continually amazed at how common herbs used in simple ways can have drastic effects on our health and healing process.