Tips for Healthy Children’s Ears:

If your child gets a lot of ear infections or has had glue ear in the past, you can take steps to reduce the risk that it will happen again. There hasn't been much research to show for certain that these steps help, but they are worth considering.

• If you're pregnant or you've just had a baby, consider breastfeeding your newborn (or giving him or her breast milk in a bottle), even for just a few weeks. Breast milk rather than formula milk seems to protect a child against ear infections and glue ear in the years to come.

• Don't smoke near your child, and make sure no one else does. Exposing your child to cigarette smoke will put him or her at higher risk for both ear infections and glue ear. Being in a smoky atmosphere may mean your child's ears take longer to clear of fluid after surgery to put in grommets.

• Be on the lookout for problems if your child gets an ear infection or a cold. If your child has an ear infection, ask your doctor if antibiotics are necessary (antibiotics are drugs that kill germs called bacteria). If antibiotics are used too much, bacteria can grow resistant to them. This means the ear infection may come back. And children who get lots of ear infections are more likely to get glue ear.