If you have children, you know how common ear infections are. They are one of the most common ENT problems. You may already know it but about more than 90% of kids suffer from an ear infection before they turn two years old. Nearly 30% of all kids who have reached three years old have had multiple ear infections. Luckily, there are steps you can take to prevent ear infections in your child.

Tips to Prevent Ear Infections:

• Do not smoke around your children. Having children is a great reason to quit smoking. Exposure to second hand smoke can increase your childreb’s risk for developing these kinds of infections by as much as 50%. Particles from your tobacco smoke can settle in the inner ear tube. This prevents fluid from draining properly and can lead to an infection due to it building up. Even when you smoke away from your children, these particles remain on your clothing and hair.
• Do not bottle feed babies when they are lying down. The inner tubes of the ear open when a person sucks and swallows from a horizontal position. Fluid and bacteria can flow from the throat to the ear and lead to an ear infecton. This is one of the easiest ways babies develop common ENT problems. Babies should be held as upright as possible during bottle feeding.
• If you can, breastfeed your child. This is one the best ways to prevent ear infections and other common ENT problems because immunities are passed from the mother to the child in breast milk. The longer you can breastfeed the better it will be for the child. It is one of the best things you can to to get and keep your child healthy.
• Avoid the common cold.This is much easier said than done as no one seeks out the common cold but there are ways to lessen the risk that your child will catch one. Some advice may be obvious such as not letting sick people hold or get close to your children. You shouls also try not to bring young babies into large crowds, wait until they are older. As they get older, teach your children proper hand washing techniques. These can drastically cut down on the number of germs they spread and are exposed to.

If you notice your child or children get frequent ear infections or suffer from many common ENT problems, you should go in and see your pediatrician. Some children benefit from being on antibiotics to prevent these recurrent ear infections and ward off chronic ear problems or hearing loss. This may also help with children who have multiuple sinus infections.

Some children also beneft from the insertion of a tympanostomy tube. This is a way to better insure fluid can drain out of the inner ear. By also allowing air in, this keeps the inner and middle ear dry and can help prevent ear infections. If you are concered about this talk to your child’s doctor about seeing a specialist such as an ear nose and throat doctor.

Ear infections are one of the common ENT problems children have. Probl;ems with their tonsils is often very common and bettern 300-400,000 children and adolescents have them removed every year. Common sense care can go a long way in preventing many common ENT problems but if you are concerned about your child’s sleep disordered breathing or other breathing difficulties, you should speak to your pediatrician. New treatments are developed all of the time to help parents get and keep their kids healthy so what you may remember having done to you when you were a child may no longer be the treatment doctors recommend today.