How do you get your toddler to drink more?

[momtonb&ab]

i would say yes, that if he has pressure in his ears drinking would be uncomfortable.  (swallowing hurts when your ears are blocked).   you might see improvement when the ears start to clear up, but if he will drink from your water bottle i would let him until things start improving.  any hydration will flush the toxins out of his little system as those ears start to clear up.

have you thought of seeing a chiropractor for his ears?  (sorry to be OT but it is all kind of related).  our chiro has done amazing things for dd's ears (she had 8 ear infections in one year and it seemed like the fluid was never going to go away) but he did amazing things to help relieve it and they are SO much better now. 

[Tweakster]

Hmm that's interesting Cherie.  Tell me more.  Do you know what he did exactly that helped?

[momtonb&ab]

he adjusted her, then did some work specifically on her sinuses to 'release' the fluids.  if you have a chiro but chiro isn't sure about what to do, i can give you his name and i am sure he would talk to your chiro about it.  it is all chiropractics - and it is amazing.  it doesn't hurt, it is all gentle maniuplations with his hands and is quite relaxing.  once, when ds had the most vicious sinus cold and cough and was spiking a fever, 3 treatments in a day were all it took to relieve the sinus pressure and almost eliminate the cough.  all with chiro using his hands to tap and massage the sinus passages.   really cool stuff.   we LOVE our chiropractor and go to him as a first course of action for most anything.  more often then not we don't need the doctor after we see him.

[Tweakster]

We have a chiro right in our paed clinic.  I am going to ask our doc about that as a possible treatment.  Basically at the moment we have been given Singulair and a nose spray for his 'allergies' for a 6 week course.  If we go back to the ENT in 6 weeks and the ears haven't drained any, he wants to do tubes - currently Finn is operating at a 40% hearing reduction :-(  Maybe if we can get into the chiro in the meantime, we can help it along and forgo the tubes. 

I have a sphenoid sinus infection right now, maybe I need to go lol

[momtonb&ab]

oh yes, totally go yourself too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  and fwiw, my kids love the chiro - they jump right up and sit still and love being adjusted.  i think they know it is great for thema nd are happy to do it. 

i strongly recommend chiropractics!  it really has made a difference in so many ways for us.  we went because DS had a problem with his hip and ended  up discovering that their ears, and a lot of colds, and sleep disruption could all be solved and improved with simple adjustments.