I remember growing up I would have some pretty nasty ear infections. They were the cause of a lot of tears and a lot of discomfort as a child, but the only remedy was the medicine doctors prescribed. We tried a lot of home remedies but they never really did the trick.
One mom in Canada, Echo Featherstone, posted remedy she uses on her son when he wakes up with ear infection pain. At first glance, it seems pretty clever!
What I'm about to share with you, is a coveted family secret given to my mom from aunt Mer. Because as a child/ teen and now adult.. with ears prone to infections and broken eardrums.. I use this all the time.Your child ever wake up screaming in pain of an ear infection? Because it takes 30 minutes for pain meds to kick in, this is the handiest trick you will ever learn.
1. Take a face cloth and heat it up in water as hot as your hands can stand, and wring the water out..
2. Place the hot wet face cloth in a mug.
3. Place mug in the microwave for 20 seconds until the cup is warm and cloth is burning hot..
4. Place open end of mug on your child's head, around the ear- being careful the hot cloth does not touch your child's ear. The pressure from the mug, will help relieve the pressure built up in the ear- VOILA- back to sleep and calmed /not crying.. and then the pain meds will kick in.
😠you are welcome.
-echo
However, some people are questioning the authenticity of the remedy, and even the safety of it.
"Warm and Heat are the WORST things you could put on or around the Ear, I WOULDN'T recommend this, I know from Years of bad Ear Infections, and I too used to do this and put warm/hot cloth or heating pads on/around my ear," Melissa M. Jack wrote. "But Now after years of that the Ear Specialist says thou it may have felt good at the time, it's done more Damage then good, & Now I've also Lost all Hearing in my Left Ear. So Parents/Care Takers PLEASE DO NOT put/place Warm/hearing things around the Ear when it's Infected, As it's the WORST thing you can do and the Long term effects end up being worse then the actual ear infection."
"Yeah..I tried this and burst a hole in my ear drum," Sue Vandevoir Rankin cautioned. "DO NOT DO THIS! My ear dr. about died when I told him what I had done."
"DON'T EVER do this!!!" Michelle Oliveira Casqueira warned. "I was hospitalized for over a week on IV because my parents did this and what it actually does is loosens wax and infection and it goes deeper into the ear therefore harder to treat!! My face blew up like a balloon and if I hadn't gone to the ENT when I did I could have lost my hearing in that ear because my ear canal almost closed. Don't always believe what you see!!"
Featherstone is sticking by her claim though, saying her son's doctor said it was okay.
"My son's head and neck surgeon (for his ears and throat) said this was an incredible idea," she said. "he was impressed and debunked the myth of bacteria growing. although it does nothing for the infection, it will help it feel much better. 🖤 and after that! I decided to post!"
Now personally, I'm a bit of a cynic so I wouldn't try this remedy knowing it ruptured the ear drums of some people, but I guess everyone's body reacts differently. Featherstone's post has been shared over 350,000 times, so clearly there are people who believe it!