My girl’s daughter is suffering with an ear infection, and as I was texting her about what we did for Babygirl, I realized that I never actually wrote about anything beyond our struggles with getting her to take meds (hint: make her your helper).

Per our amazing go-to sick guide, Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Natural and Conventional Treatments for Infants & Children, we did a few things to make her feel better and help her clear the infection. In all, it took 24 days from diagnosis to the “all clear,” and she had a fever for 48 hours before we took her in. We used amoxicillin for ten days, on the advice of the doctor at the urgent care center. If we had to do it again, we might not have gone that route—I think her doctor would have skipped it—but it is what it is. Anyway, when we took her in after ten days, her left ear was still a mess. We decided to give it time to heal without another course of meds, and bring her back in two weeks, at which time it had cleared completely.

In the meantime, we had already started other treatments within a day of the antibiotic. We used:

-Ester-c With Citrus Bioflavonoids. This Vitamin C is in a powdered form, because I couldn’t swallow the huge pills. I drink it in orange juice and pass it to her via breast milk. One dose has 1500 mg of Vitamin C. We also continued our daily regimen of having berries with our breakfast every morning, as they are high in Vitamin C. Here is a list of foods that are high in this vitamin, which has been proven to help boost immune system function.

-ChildLife Essentials Echinacea. It’s made for kids, vegan and has no alcohol in it; it uses orange oil for flavor. For kids 1 to 12, the recommended dose is 10 drops four times a day. We put it in her water and she loves the taste. For ongoing immune support, you can give it three times a week.

-Culturelle Probiotics For Kids. The antibiotic stripped her of her good gut bacteria and she had diarrhea within a day of starting them. We immediately started this probiotic to fight back. I give her half a packet, twice a day. It’s tasteless, but it doesn’t dissolve well in water, so I put it in a tiny amount of water, suck it into the syringe, and let her help me put it in her mouth.