When you feed your 2 month old baby lying down and her head's not elevated, can it cause ear infection?

Question

They say that when you feed your baby when she's lying down and her head is not elevated (by the use of a pillow or something), it sometimes causes ear infection which I refuse to believe. I would like to ask anyone of you if this is true. Thanks!

Answer 1

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ear-infections/EI99999/PAGE=EI00005
Bottle-feeding. Infants who are bottle-fed are more likely to develop ear infections than are infants who are breast-fed. Breast-feeding helps by passing along immunity from the mother that prevents middle ear infections. To prevent ear infections in your bottle-fed infant, hold your baby upright during feeding. Don't feed a child of any age from a bottle while he or she is lying in bed. Lying down while drinking from a bottle can lead to blocked auditory tubes.

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/Ear-Infection/Ear-Infections-What-Increases-Your-Risk
# Bottle-feeding. Babies who are bottle-fed are more likely to develop ear infections within the first year of life than are babies who are breast-fed. Also, bottle-fed babies may be more likely to get ear infections if they drink their bottles lying down rather than being held in an upright position.5

http://www.safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/viewFile/416/414
Feeding the Infant:
• Never leave baby unattended while
feeding. Besides the possibility of
choking, it is advisable to observe
changes in preferences and feeding
habits and also strengthens the motherinfant
bond. Infants should be fed on
alternate sides to ensure a balance as
is common practice in breastfed infants.
• Never feed baby while they are asleep
or lying down. Until the child can sit up
and hold his or her own bottle, hold
baby semi-upright. This way you can
make sure that the liquid flows directly
down the throat, not into the nose (which
can cause ear infections) or into the
lungs, making baby choke.

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T081600.asp
4. Feed baby upright. Lying down while bottle-feeding can cause the milk to irritate the Eustachian tube which can contribute to ear infections.

http://www.nncc.org/Nutrition/guide.bottlefed.html
Hold your baby close to you in your arms, with the head a little higher than the rest of the body to prevent milk from backing up in the inner ear and causing an ear infection. Never prop a bottle.

http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/298_9542.asp
Holding your baby in a partially upright position during bottle-feeding. This helps prevent formula from dripping into the eustachian tubes. Avoid keeping your baby’s bottle in the crib after feeding.



http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/articles/other/otitis_19/
When a child uses a typical feeding bottle, lack of ventilation or inadequate ventilation causes a vacuum to form, and this can cause problems inside the ear. It works like this: the non-vented bottle is simply a solid walled vessel with a nipple held in place with a cap. The cap holds the enlarged flange end, or base of the nipple, firmly against the top of the bottle forming a tight seal. This arrangement does not permit any air entry, resulting in the creation of a vacuum (negative presssure) during sucking. Fluid may only be removed by the infant in small amounts by overcoming the stiffness of the wall of the nipple or bottle.

The vacuum created by bottle feeding can play havoc with the ear's inner auditory tube. Negative pressure generated in the mouth is transmitted up the tube and into the middle ear where, as a result, fluid can build up. The increased fluid can cause hearing difficulties and infections. Interestingly, none of this occurs with breast feeding, which does not create any kind of vacuum and which actually creates positive pressure within the ear.

Answer 2

in a perfect world babies would always be held in just the right position for the proper drainage of their tubes, becasue yes their tubes are almost flat, a thing that doesn't chnage in some children until they are practically school age (I have two sons who have both had ventilation tubes surgically implanted in their ears, we know our ENT dr on a first name basis) What I am wondering which I didnt' see addressed here, is are you thinking of co-sleeping with your baby and breastfeeding at night while lying in bed? If you are and are concerned about the babies position, you can generally and comfortably prop babies head on the inside of your upper arm while nursing and it creates the needed elevation to keep the tubes from filling.......
I sometime think to that genetics play a big key in whether or not your baby will have ear infections. My husband and I both had several ear infections as kids and so do our kiddos. I was pretty particular about positioning my kids' head while nursing and later bottle feeding and they still got ear infections.
Best of Luck

Answer 3

I'm so sorry for the many extremely rude responses you've gotten. I don't know about your reasons for wanting to feed your baby while lying flat (though many here would assume them) -- but for me, my baby simply refused to eat unless he was lying flat from about the age of 3 months forward. I tried everything, boppys, inclines, just holding him in the cradle of my arm, sitting him up, putting him in a baby papasan seat, but the only way he'd settle down and get comfortable and agree to take his bottle was if he was lying absolutely flat. It didn't seem to matter where it was -- on my lap, on the boppy on my lap, in the bed, he was happy and ate well so long as I'd let him lie flat as a pancake. Obviously I have to get food in him, and this was the only way to do it. Risk of ear infection or not, I didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. He's almost 9 months old now and still will not eat -- ever -- without lying flat. And he's never had an ear infection (knock on wood.) Do what you need to do to make things work. And good luck.

Answer 4

Yes bottle feeding while baby is lying down can and does cause ear infections but doesn't mean it defiantly will. There is also an old-wives-tale that says a baby will get ear infections if the baby is breastfed while lying down. This is not true; in fact breastfeeding actually reduces the risk of a baby getting ear infection over that of bottle-feeding. So if your breastfeeding baby is safe to lye down and nurse. If bottle feeding best not to. Its your kid so feed him or her lying down if you choose.

Answer 5

My daughter was breastfed for the first 4 months, sadly she weaned me. And she was always held parallel with the floor as I used a pillow to keep her level and my arm rested. And now she feeds herself, she may elevate herself on a pillow she may not. She has never had a ear infection...knock on wood. So I don't see any truth to that being the actual cause of ear infections.

Answer 6

Breastfeed Lying Down

Answer 7

Yes it will cause EAR INFECTIONS if your baby is lying down to eat PERIOD weather head is proped up or not. Because when the baby is done feeding and they fall a sleep or something, the milk can trickle down in get into her tiny little ears, and the next thing you know your baby has a fever, and is crying everytime you lay her down. I know because my daughter had a few ear infections, from me being lazy.

Answer 8

it's all connected.... that's why there are specialists ENT's - Ear, Nose, and Throat... you drink down your throat, sometimes you laugh and it comes out your nose, if you lay down it can settle in your ears.

Refusing to believe it is up to you. But look up some anatomy stuff and you'll see it is all connected up there -

- it is impossible for this idea to be impossible.

Answer 9

Yes it can. The milk goes into the babys mouth and when baby falls asleep the milk can drip down his face and into the ear. Now when milk sits in a warm moist place it starts to disintegrate and can cause an infection.

Answer 10

This is true...Our Eustachian tubes are at an incline, whereas the baby's is not. Theirs is almost straight..So, fluid has no where to go, and not a really good way to drain..They do need that bit of elevation to help out until they are older.

Answer 11

Yes, it is true. The fluid goes into their ear canal and doesn't drain properly (It is not slanted down likes ours yet.)
That is why kids get a lot of ear infections.