Hello all. I got this email and gave my thoughts, but I have mother's permission to put this up on Lactnet, to see if anyone had anything to say. I am not sure she is getting pressure about the breastfeeding, and maybe not, but if anybody has ideas, let her know directly. "J. was diagnosed with thrush at 3 weeks old and was on Nystatin for 10 days with no results, then was placed on Diflucan. He was then diagnosed at 5wks with a left otitis that was bulging with pus. He was placed on amoxicillin and a decongestant, and now 10 days later he is still fussy and congested. I am a nurse and know of all the "traditional" ways--antibiotics and more antibiotics. We did this with our first son, whom I breast feed exclusively, and then at 18mos and 9 ear infections from Sept-Feb we finally had tubes put in. He has only one infection since. Both of our sons have had the otitis in the left ear. I breast feed exclusively, and do not lay down to nurse. We also do not smoke. We know that it could be an allergy, especially milk. We are wondering if we should have J. (our 7wk old), tested for allergies or what would be a good place to start. I have started eliminating milk products from my diet, however, a book that I am reading "Healing Childhood Ear Infections" by Dr. Michael Schmidt, states that it could take 16 wks for this to become effective. Please help. We would like to help our sweet boy and gain someone's opinion on the next step that we should take and not just cover up the underlying problem. My husband had a lot of ear infections as a child, so our pediatrician says it is probably just hereditary. We don't know which way to go--we want to do the best for our children, just like everyone else. Any help or advice would be appreciated." Sorry if this is not quite breastfeeding related, but this is the sort of thing that gets brought up often "you see! breastfeeding doesn't prevent ear infections". Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html