Carrots and Ear Infections

I've been under the weather all weekend long. It started with a sore throat on Thursday evening and grew over the weekend to include throbbing sinus pain and a completely stuffed nose. Naturally, I went to the doctors this morning and as with every time, I was amazed that she prescribed tea, carrot juice and nose drops. Yeah.

My regular doctor here (the Hausarzt) is very homeopathic. The fact that I am still nursing has her erring on the side of caution. ALL.THE.TIME. So, I am hoping and praying that the tea, nose drops and carrot juice help to cure me because being sick bites the big one.

While I was there, the doctor asked how Alexa was feeling. I told her that she's been having trouble sleeping the past few nights and that yesterday and today she was pulling on her ears. She very kindly checked Alexa's ears and the poor little bean has fluid in her right ear again. No antibiotics here though. I have to massage near her nose and give her carrot juice. Not kidding.

I was swimming in a sea of sinus headache and trying to keep Alexa from wiping everything off of the good doctor's desk, so I let the carrot juice suggestion go by without so much as a "Huh?!". However, once I made it back home I tried to figure out why in god's name she would prescribe carrot juice for an ear infection.

All this talk of carrot juice had me very intrigued, so I googled it. The World Carrot Museum had a ton of really cool and interesting information on the health benefits of carrots. Apparently, carrot juice can help dispel mucus from the ear. No wonder the doctor recommended giving Alexa a little carrot juice.

Carrots have other amazing health benefits as well: they're very high in potassium, carrots can help reduce bad cholesterol and also when eaten regularly, can help enhance the quantity and quality of breast milk in nursing mothers. Carrots are amazing!

Sometimes the American in me just wants a prescription for antibiotics and to call it a day with all of this being sick nonsense. Other times, I'm amazed that a little patience, a lot of tea and water and some rest can cure just about every illness. There are so many home and natural remedies that actually work, we just need to take a little time to educate ourselves about them.

After reading about all of the amazing health benefits of carrots, I did in fact look up several recipes for carrot juice. I even whipped up a batch for my little bean. Here's hoping it helps!