swimmers ear-dangerous water toys-safety

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outdoorsgal

LifeTime Supporter
Jan 24, 2015
943
Phoenix, AZ
haven't had a week of swimming and the kids all have ear aches. going to doc today cuz can't seem to get rid of aches, at least for one of my kids with garlic oil and homeopathy. i'm thinking i might need to take away the water squirters since the only part of their little bodies that are out of the water is their head so they must end up getting water in their ears. we got just a few water toys so far and the other 2 have been dangerous, too. we have a big rocking horse that the kids fall sidewords on. i'm so glad we got a 12' wide pool instead of 10 foot! i told them they have to wear their bike helmets in the pool if they r on that toy together since they have fallen close to the side many times. my son has already had a visit to urgent care and had to get stitches due to my oldest hitting him in the head with a glow in the dark noodle (the side that has a battery). this is besides my daughter tripping in one of the pool trenches in the backyard and into a mirror i had against the wall to give to one of the workers. a few centimeters closer to her main artery, she could've died. plus our 4 chickens have died with the temporary placement for construction. they were under a tree but sought out more shelter in their coop and overheated. :( it's not been fun for us to have a pool so far!

does anyone have tips on swimmers ear and kids? the kids were in the pool for 4 hrs before they got the swimmers ear. my husband thinks they shouldn't be in the pool for so long and that's why they got swimmers ear. sigh. i want for them to be able to be in the pool for 4 hrs when we can.

thx!
 
Geez your kids. Did they have all this bad luck before the pool construction started? :???: My daughter would get ear infections when she'd take a bath, plus just getting an inner ear infection every year because she's a kid. But 15 months into having a pool and she hasn't had anything pool related. how old are they?
 
When I was a kid I always got water stuck in my ears and would usually get a headache, but not swimmers ear, at least not more than a minor ear ache. My mom heard about putting alcohol in your ear to get the water out. Since then I've always taken a cap full of 50-70% rubbing alcohol and dumped in my ears after swimming. Just let it sit for a couple seconds, then hold a towel over my ear and let it drain out. My wife read about, and currently uses, an alcohol, peroxide, and apple cider vinegar mixture on our kids. One of them is getting over swimmers ear now. She/we will have to be more vigilant in treating their ears when they get out of the pool from now on.


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ComputerGuyInNOLA said:
I just read yesterday about swimmers ear. I read to use alcohol and vinegar. Below is a link to an article at The Mayo Clinic that describes it. Evidently the bacteria grows when water is left in the ear. As Borjis said, you need a good test kit to make sure your water is sanitized properly. I hope it helps with the little ones.



Swimmer's ear Prevention - Mayo Clinic
Click to expand...

My sister had the same problem. The above did the trick for her and jumping up and down with her head to the side to help shake the water out.

Kim
 
You don't have to have bacteria in the pool water to get swimmer's ear (though swimming in water with elevated bacteria levels can make it more likely to occur). You've got bacteria all over your body, including inside your ear, already, and your kids will subsequently be touching soil and other material with bacteria and then touching their ears. As the Mayo Clinic notes, "It's often brought on by water that remains in your ear after swimming, creating a moist environment that aids bacterial growth." and "The most common cause of this infection is bacteria invading the skin inside your ear canal." As the Mayo Clinic further notes, "If you have swimmer's ear, your natural defenses have been overwhelmed." As the Mayo clinic notes for prevention, "Keep your ears dry" and if prone to such infections one can use vinegar and alcohol to promote keeping the ears dry.

So the focus after swimming should be on getting water out of one's ears to keep them relatively dry.

If you do a Google TFP forum search on "swimmer's ear" you'll find plenty of threads on the topic with a variety of situations -- even people who get it from showering (also this post). People have reported good results with the Mayo Clinic (and I'm sure doctor's before them) suggestion of using a vinegar and alcohol mix.
 

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i lost this post within a break from the forum while enjoying the pool and working in the backyard (and dealing with kids swimmers ears and such... lol). nope, we didn't have bad luck like this before the pool. the kids r 10, 8 this July, and 6. one of the boys is ADHD and the other autistic and considering their energy levels i guess we're blessed nothing has happened to them before this! the pool has been treating us pretty well ever since but i still think i'm bringing back that huge rocking horse when we get back from vacay. It's tall and the chances of them falling sideways and hitting their head on the side of the marbella r looking too good to me. they use a lot of squiring toys and the only part of their body that is out of the water to squirt is their heads, so that's probably how they got the swimmers ear. the doc said what chem geek said, it was due to water in the ear. my daughter who was in the hospital and had antibiotics got it worse and exactly what Mayo said is what i thought; her defenses were down due to antibiotics. kids have smaller ear canals so they r more susceptible to swimmers ear. anyway, thx for the thoughts! we have been using vinegar and water along with the medicine from the doc.
 
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