In a message dated 6/15/2007 3:47:38 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Research  shows that bottlefeeding increases the incidence of ear infections. 
 But,  what increased the risk of those ear infections- the ABM or the 
positioning  while being bottlefed, or the pooling of the liquid in the baby's 
mouth, which  occurs anyway, even while being fed EBM?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
hi!
 
purely anecdotal here, but:
 
if it's any reassurance or consolation to you, i just wanted to let you  know 
i am coming to be tempted to believe the head shape and  size/shape of the 
eustachian tubes has more or as much to do w/ it as  what we feed our babies!
 
 mine have all been exclusively bf'ed - never even had a pacifier or  
artificial nipple of any kind even once - and our 3rd son had NINE ear  infections in 
a year ! (and we don't give them cow's milk at all, ever in their  entire 
lives and they don't start solids until the 2nd half of the 1st yr - so  it's not 
dairy). since my babies sleep through the night pretty much from birth,  he 
wasn't doing a lot of night or side-lying nursing by any stretch of the  
imagination.
 
 my ped says many ethnicities are more prone to ear infections based  on the 
shape of the head (we are such a mix i don't even know which ethnicity  would 
be the culprit so i blame my husband's side on general principals   ;-)   ) 
and the fact that certain shapes tend to block or bend the  tubes a bit more 
until growth spurts help open them up later. 
 
we waited as long as we could before surgically intervening w/ ds #3 but he  
began to have higher fevers w/ each infection and just before he turned 2  
started having seizures. we got tubes in his ears and i now feel guilty for  not 
having done it sooner, it has made all the difference in the world. my 4th  
baby had an ear infection by 2 weeks old !! (also slept through the night since  
birth and had nothing but the breast) but she was born at christmas and my  
school aged children had colds, so in her case i'm thinking bacteria + that  
newborn football shaped head helped cause hers. but she's never had another  
since and she's 18 mos now! 
 
and my 1st 2 never had any at all. my 2nd two are definitely more  chicken 
mcnugget-headed (yes, this is my diagnosis based on my vast medical  repertoire 
- lol) while my 1st two are almost perfectly round headed. as i  mentioned 
before, we have almost never done any side lying nursing or night  nursing so i 
just don't think pooling is a factor at all (for us, anyway) and my  babies are 
always worn or held so there have been no outside influences on their  head 
shapes that i might be curious about (ie, no plagiocephaly). good luck to  you 
in avoiding ear infections   - your baby is lucky to have such a  diligent and 
concerned mama! 
 
~jacqui gruttadauria, bsw
near detroit, michigan



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