Garlic to the rescue!

Well folks, it’s possible that Li’l Miss has another ear infection. Not too long ago, I posted a long rant about my frustration with her multiple ear infections in a row. Then, as you know if you are unfortunate enough to live in my neck of the woods, it started being 100 degrees every day which effectively ended cold season, and the problem went away on its own for the time being. Which of course meant that we kinda sorta forgot about it a little bit. (Look, we all know it is HARD to do more than the basic day-to-day stuff that life requires until something is in your face and demanding it. We did switch pediatricians, which took some work–that’s a solid first step at least. But did you know my old pediatrician wants to charge me a $49 COPYING fee to send her records over? Really??)

Anyway, she woke up from her nap a miserable wreck and totally stuffy from some freak mid-summer bug, so I decided it was finally time to break out a home remedy I’ve heard raves about from a coworker…garlic infused olive oil. She swears that’s what always worked wonders for her kids, and the interwebs seem to concur that this is a totally valid and very effective treatment. Garlic has got antiseptic properties that will actually help fight the infection and associated pain. For many minor infections it can apparently eliminate the need for antibiotics entirely. This article has a lot of good explanations of the mechanisms and variations on the recipe you can try. At the end it also describes how you can massage the ear/neck to help the oil work its magic. (I did as much as I could, but she didn’t have much patience for that part.)

I have no idea how well it worked our first go-round, since I can’t say for certain the ears were the problem. (She actually does understand most things now, but she’s in a phase where she answers “No” to every question that isn’t, “Do you want a strawberry?” or “Do you want to hold my phone?”) I can say, however, that by 30 minutes after we administered the drops she was in good spirits the rest of the night and went down for bed no problem (the basic ear infection litmus test in this household and many others, I’m sure!).

Yet another simple recipe that can’t hurt and definitely might help many of you out there. At the very least it’s something you can try in the middle of the night when you’re wondering how you’ll all live until morning when the doctor’s office opens and you can get your paws on the sweet relief of Amoxicillin!

(Three things to stress, safety-wise: 1) Don’t put garlic directly in or on the ear because it will burn something fierce. That’s why you dilute it in oil first. 2) Make sure the oil is at body temperature when you use it–not too hot or cold, but just right. 3) And finally, never put any kind of drops in the ear if the eardrum has already ruptured–you’ll know that happens if blood or pus is leaking out. But good news! In that case the pain is gone too! That actually happened to me once in college. I thought I was having an aneurysm and would die alone in a dorm hallway, but luckily it was just my eardrum and I can tell you the relief has never been so sweet as when that baby finally popped!)

Would you like some boric acid while you wait for that baby?

So no baby yet, in case you were wondering. Round 2 of “Bring on the Birth!” begins tomorrow. Larms is “resting up” right now, or whatever one does whilst confined to an uncomfortable bed, contracting intermittently, and trying not to move too much so as not to disturb the growing collection of wires attached to one’s body. I’m sure she’ll have a GREAT night’s sleep!

In the meantime, I will distract and amuse you with this amazing natural remedy taught to us by our baby sitter. (She is that kind of experienced caregiver who’s seen it all in her 30 years in the field and whose advice you kinda sorta trust more than your pediatrician’s. You know the type.)

A few weeks ago our daughter was beset by something that I’m sure was technically termed a “cold” but more accurately should be described as a “mucus plague from hell”. Seriously, she had had a few “colds” before and you know, there was a stuffy nose, we threw a vaporizer in her room, and badda-bing, badda-boom, in a few days all was back to normal.

But this thing. This thing started in her nose and then just sort of mutated and morphed until it had taken over her entire face and mucus was literally streaming from everywhere, including her EYES, at a near-constant rate. When she was awake they were almost completely glazed over with freshly-squeeze gunk, and when she managed to sleep she would wake up with eyes completely glued shut by layers upon layers of the dried, caked-on yellow crud. I’ve never seen anything like it, in myself or anyone I know.

And I’ll admit, it had me a little concerned. The pediatrician said to give her Zyrtec. Which we did. I have no idea what, if any, effect that had on her sinuses, but it did nothing to alleviate the eye-goop. So we just lived with it for an entire long weekend, trying to wipe it away with warm water and a cloth whenever we could, but never able to clean her up enough so that she had better than say, 50% visibility at any given time. Not surprisingly, the whole situation really started to wear on the little lady.

Then finally she headed back to the sitter’s when the week started and arrived home that day with beautifully, mercifully, clean and clear eyes. The crust-monster was gone and my child was back! WHAT HAD HAPPENED?

Boric acid, apparently. It seems you can easily create this solution at home and voila! Totally alleviate a whole array of eye problems. The sitter had performed the simple cotton ball cleaning in step 4. Magic.

In summation, while Larms was busy discovering all the ways that boric acid can help make her toilet clean and sparkly, we were discovering all the ways that it can keep your child from looking like a spawn of the Swamp Thing.

If it keeps this kind of versatility up, vinegar is gonna have a fit.

stuffy-nosed haiku

man-made medicine
so sucks in comparison
eucalyptus rules