probiotics?

Has anyone ever given their children probiotics? In the last 2 weeks my son has had an ear infection/strep throat, 2 antibiotics that brought on a horrible yeast infection and now a cold. I'm a bit concerned about his immune system. I feel like I'm just pumping him full of medicines and they each have nasty effects on him.
What brands have you used? There's just way too much out there on the internet, and I dont' want to just buy anything and pump him full of something else new!

My son (he's 30 now) had quite a few ear infections as a toddler. Tubes in his ears eventually relieved the problem. But, I've always gave him cultured yogurt, especially when he was on antibiotics, to avoid tummy distress. If your child is still taking a bottle, you can add a dollop of yogurt to his milk or formula, shake well and let him drink it. (Make sure he drinks it right away as in a while, it will start to culture the whole bottle.) If he's older, just let him eat it. But make sure it has active yogurt cultures. Dannon, Breyers, etc. should all be fine. Unless he's allergic to dairy, there should be no downside to trying this.

HTH.

I'm not sure if you could get a child to drink this, but garlic is a really good overall fixer. I've had a couple of health issues lately that required multiple rounds of antibiotics. Which lead to candida and the predictable yeat infection. I started drinking about 10 ounces (a big cup) of a sort of "garlic broth" every night before going to bed and it eliminated the candida in about 4 days and the yeast infection disappeared a couple of days later.

Basically, you peel about 8-10 cloves of garlic and drop them into about 2-1/2 cups of boiling water. Let them boil for about 1-2 minutes. Then turn the burner off, cover and let steep for about 20-30 minutes. (Like making tea)

When it's done, add some salt for taste. Maybe a teaspoon to the pot (just taste & add as you like). We've also added hot sauce to ours (probably not ok for a child). Strain out the garlic cloves. Pour it into a cup and drink. My husband and I actually like the taste of the broth, but we really like garlic.

Again, not sure how a child will like it. Make some yourself & try it to see how it tastes first.

I just googled and found this site that talks about garlic's healing properties. And coincidentally, gives pretty much the same recipe for making garlic broth (wow! I thought I had sort of made it up myself. Guess not. Looks like it's been around for awhile)
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/garlic.html

My son (he's 30 now) had quite a few ear infections as a toddler. Tubes in his ears eventually relieved the problem. But, I've always gave him cultured yogurt, especially when he was on antibiotics, to avoid tummy distress. If your child is still taking a bottle, you can add a dollop of yogurt to his milk or formula, shake well and let him drink it. (Make sure he drinks it right away as in a while, it will start to culture the whole bottle.) If he's older, just let him eat it. But make sure it has active yogurt cultures. Dannon, Breyers, etc. should all be fine. Unless he's allergic to dairy, there should be no downside to trying this.

HTH.

Even if he is allergic to dairy, soy yogurt is readily available. The big tubs of it (quarts) are inexpensive too. My lil' guy (two years old) loves it.

Nimbus, my son was practically "weaned" on yogurt and used to make big giant yogurt "sundaes" from homemade unflavored yogurt, applesauce and cinnamon with a little wheat germ on top.

I used to make a gallon or more of yogurt for him every week. It's really not difficult to make. Glad your son enjoys it too.

My son eats a yogurt every day, but it seems like it's not enough. the diflucan he's taking seems to be helping even with the stomach upset. I'm just worried about him because we went from ear infection to strep to cold all in about 2.5 weeks.
there is NO way i could get him to drink garlic broth! (but it is a great homeopathic idea!) I thnk I may end up getting Culturelle supplements for him in the future and see if they help.

Megan, GLAD to hear you were already giving him yogurt. Greyt stuff, all around. Some probiotics might well be the next right step for him. I don't have any experience with them, except giving them to my dogs. Hope your baby's feeling better SOON!

Megan,
About the three illnesses in two and a half weeks. Yeah, it is a lot, but from my experience (two kids) these things do seem to come in waves. No good logic to it, but it could be an immune system that gets weakened from fighting off one thing and then isn't tough enough for the next one, etc. Vicious cycle.

But the good thing is that they do get through it, and then you'll likely go months without anything. The little immune systems are getting stronger as they fight off more and more different nasties. Eventually, they'll be ready for the real world. (I hate getting sick, and fortunately it is pretty rare for me personally. )

Good luck!

My daughter suffered from earaches as well when she was little. After a series of antibiotics I was panic stricken to see tiny little white dots in her mouth. (I now know it was a common case of thrush.) My mother-in-law advised me to cut the head off of a black hen and allow 10 drops of blood in the baby's mouth. I broke into tears. Sarah's pediatrician got a good laugh out of it.

I was worried about him having thrush too since he started to lose his voice (which I now know is the horrible cold he has) but we started diflucan so I knew we'd knock that out too!

But I have to say that's the funniest home remedy I've ever heard of! I hope she never used that treatment on you!

Megan, my daughter (13 mos.) also gets yeasts infections when she takes antibiotics. We use Florastor Kids and definitely recommend it. It's a powder form that you can mix into his yogurt or even disolve into some milk. Just make sure that he eats/drinks all of it immediately - it's active and will start to react with whatever you mix it with. You can give it to him twice a day. It's a little pricey, but it works, and quickly. You can get it at Walgreens, but you have to ask for it at the pharmacy counter - they keep it in the back.