Y is for Yogurt

Our third child had chronic ear infections from birth to age 5.   Round after round of antibiotics proved essentially futile in curbing the frequency.

I balked at the idea of having tubes inserted in his ears, for two reasons.

1.  Maybe we were missing something we hadn't tried, just short of surgery.  Perhaps antibiotics weren't the answer, but neither was surgery.

2.  I was afraid the tubes would become embedded in his ear canals. A rare complication, but it happens.

So before consenting to surgery, Paul and I prayed for wisdom more sincerely than we had been. You know, in this modern age of medicine, it's very tempting to run to the doctor or pharmacy instead of to God for healing.

It seemed almost immediate, although it's been over 15 years since this happened, that my husband asked
if maybe we should cut out the yogurt. Stephen would eat it morning, noon  and night if we let him.

Cut out the yogurt?  That was my go-to easy "pacifier" for my hungry boy. Hey, I had three kids in four years and it seemed they were always hungry. I was tired, okay?

But we made Stephen go "cold turkey" without yogurt. Boy, was that fun. Not.

And guess what? It was months before he had another ear infection.

We told the doctor that taking our child off yogurt was like magic; he seemed unconvinced. He gave a polite eyebrow raise and a half-shrug of one shoulder. Basically, dismissed my husband's hunch and our decision that was non-medical.

Eventually Stephen did start having ear infections again, and not because of yogurt (because we really limited it).  Maybe we didn't make the whole dairy connection. I don't remember. And he did eventually get one tube put in his ear (didn't need treatment in both ears). And after almost a year, the tube DID start to become embedded, so it had to be surgically removed.  He didn't have chronic trouble after that.


Lesson learned: When God gives wisdom to parents, don't worry how doctors react.