Salt seems to be my favorite topic this week. After writing about salt and love, I am now switching to the topic of salt and water - in other words, saline drops.
These drops have been our saviors from the dreaded ear infections, mostly affecting young kids in the U.S who attend day care. It is not limited to kids who attend day care or to kids alone. Anyone can get it. But the probability of a young kid, attending a day care, catching a cold that leads to an ear infection is very high.
A few weeks before she turned 1, our daughter started attending day care. It didn't take long for the ear infection to follow. It was tough to see her go through the pain and antibiotics. When we called up my father, a general practitioner in India, he kept repeating we should use saline drops as soon as she catches a cold. Keeping the nasal passages non-stuffy would prevent most infections. That sounded simple as well as safe. After all, it was non-medicated. The tough part was getting her to stay still to spray her nose with the drops. She cried and resisted which made us not follow through.
Couple of months later, she had another ear infection. After that, we knew we had to give this advice a serious try. Eventually, she realized these drops were helping her and the resistance and crying decreased. She would even sit through when we used the suction tube, that was provided by the hospital to babies, for clearing out any mucus. Since then, she did bring home the usual series of cold, cough and other health problems, but thankfully did not get another ear infection.
When our son was born, we were equipped with this information. Though he was quite strong-willed and stubborn, he quickly got the idea that these saline drops helped him and did not show any resistance. We even sent it to the day care when he had cold or cough. He used to surprise his day care teachers by sitting quietly when they use it there.
Looking back, I can say this simple concoction of salt and water worked like a charm. I am not trying to say it can prevent all ear infections. However, this simple remedy helped us a lot. Now, be aware that I am not a medical person. So, I suggest you take this (post about salt) with a grain of salt!
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| salt + water = saline |
These drops have been our saviors from the dreaded ear infections, mostly affecting young kids in the U.S who attend day care. It is not limited to kids who attend day care or to kids alone. Anyone can get it. But the probability of a young kid, attending a day care, catching a cold that leads to an ear infection is very high.
A few weeks before she turned 1, our daughter started attending day care. It didn't take long for the ear infection to follow. It was tough to see her go through the pain and antibiotics. When we called up my father, a general practitioner in India, he kept repeating we should use saline drops as soon as she catches a cold. Keeping the nasal passages non-stuffy would prevent most infections. That sounded simple as well as safe. After all, it was non-medicated. The tough part was getting her to stay still to spray her nose with the drops. She cried and resisted which made us not follow through.
Couple of months later, she had another ear infection. After that, we knew we had to give this advice a serious try. Eventually, she realized these drops were helping her and the resistance and crying decreased. She would even sit through when we used the suction tube, that was provided by the hospital to babies, for clearing out any mucus. Since then, she did bring home the usual series of cold, cough and other health problems, but thankfully did not get another ear infection.
When our son was born, we were equipped with this information. Though he was quite strong-willed and stubborn, he quickly got the idea that these saline drops helped him and did not show any resistance. We even sent it to the day care when he had cold or cough. He used to surprise his day care teachers by sitting quietly when they use it there.
Looking back, I can say this simple concoction of salt and water worked like a charm. I am not trying to say it can prevent all ear infections. However, this simple remedy helped us a lot. Now, be aware that I am not a medical person. So, I suggest you take this (post about salt) with a grain of salt!
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