Toddler with Yeast in Ear

2/23/08 - My son has continued to have these same problems. We finally had enough and took him to Dr. Kirse, Pediatric ENT specialist at Brenners Children's Hospital in Winston-Salem. We just saw him for the first time 2 days ago and we already like him. He said these yeast infections are very difficult to get rid of. It takes regularly suctioning the ears out and treating the fungus then drying the ear out and getting the skin in the ear canal healthy. He said some ENT's don't like to mess with it because it does take a while to completely resolve it. We have to go once per week right now to have his ears suctioned out. It was nice to hear someone say we can fix this problem, it's just not going to be easy. I can handle that. I just want to fix the problem not just treat the symptoms as they had been doing.

January Response
My 5-year old has had two yeast infections in his ears and is bothered with itchy ears frequently. We have not found any relief for him yet. Have you found anything that has worked? I'm angry that the medicine the ENT prescribed for him today clearly says that it should not be used in children under age 17.

All time best is to use Probiotics it does nothing but fight yeast and encourage good health!!

Yes, yeast infections are commen in dogs, but anyone at almost any time can get them in their eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or any area that has a tendency to be dark, moist/and or humid (sp). Hormone shifts are the leading cause of yeast infections (thats why most pregnant women often wind up with one, talk about hormone shifts!). Yeast infections can cause burning, mild pain, bad odors, excessive drainage, and itching but not always all symptoms are present. He may have none of the other signs of an infection but it's still there hence the ear rubbing (they itch). I think it's a fairly large error in judgment on his ENT doc not to have done another culture to check. I'd think about a new Doc. Yeast enfections can, not always, go away on their own but most often they need to be treated. I've never heard of using an athleats foot cream for yeast but I did have a dog that had a yeast infection in his ears and we used monostat 1. Worked like a charm. But your Pediatrician knows more than I do. Good luck!

My 4 year old daughter has constant yeast infections. They are typically the vaginal kind, but like the other responder said- you can get a yeast infection anywhere that's dark and moist. My daughters ped recommended Lotrimen. I have to admit that I haven't tried it because I'm a little nervous about putting athlete's foot medicine on such a tender area. When she complains a lot about the itching I take a tea bag (plain, unsweetened, green tea from Lipton), wet it with warm water and put it in her panties. I don't know what properties the tea has that works- it's one of those grandma remedies, but it definitely helps her (though I'm not sure how you'd get a tea bag in the ear). I'd probably start with the Lotrimen and see if that helps. As for the ENT, he was probably surprised to see the culture come back as yeast and doesn't really know what to do about it because it's not a textbook ENT problem. He probably just doesn't know a lot about yeast infections, how to spot or how to treat. Stick with your ped on this one.

hi my name is J. and to let you know i have an 11 year old with tubes still, but first of all i have gone threw all of the ear problems too, but i realized that it's not getting better for him so i took him to get allergy tests done to see if that would help his ears any and i'm glad i did because i found out that he is allergic to alot more than i thought, so may i suggest you do an allergy test on your son because allergies will have alot to do with his ear problems, my 11 year old is now on alegry shots 2 a week and he is doing alot better and so are his ears. if you would like to know more feel free to email me at ____@____.com thanks J.

I am 27 years old and have fought with ear infections all of my life. I have used ear candles and they seem to help a bit. If you google ear candles you can find out all about them. My ENT does NOT recommend them but I enjoy them. I don't know how they would work with a child, but I believe that they work for me. So if you are looking for a last resort, very last for a child I would say, I would recommend ear candles or ear cones.