this is slightly off topic, but I just read a study that suggests that pool/chlorine causes asthma in children, that babies who take swim classes are more likely to end up with childhood asthma.  Doesnt help with the ear infections but maybe will help your decision on the swimming or not.
Good luck

Hi,

Basically, any water in the ears can cause an ear infection.  My eldest daughter  had many
ear infections and we found the best thing to do was to prevent the water making contact with the ear. She would get an ear infection from the pool, the sea and even washing her hair.

 One doctor suggested that we put 2 drops of olive oil in each ear before she went near water .  It worked much better than ear plugs, blutak, vaseline plugs, waterproof headbands etc.  Within 6 months of using the olive oil she outgrew the problem.

I think some children have more sensitive skin than others.

My youngest daughter has been swimming since she was 6months and she has never had an ear infection.  During summer she swims 2 or 3 times a day and loves jumping in, over and over again.  In the bath she loves to lay flat on her back in the water.  We've never needed to do any preventive measures for her ears.

My husband worries about gastro being picked up from the pool. But she has never caught
that in the 3 years that we have been going.

I think it is important for children to learn the basic survival skills in water at swimming lessons.  Drowning is much more dangerous than an ear infection.

When joseph was 12mths old i took him to swimming lessons and he got a really bad ear infection and i had to stop taking him. Now he wont go near a swimming pool and evertime he gets water near his ears he screams the house down. Even if i cover his ears he still has a fit . I would hold off i think that pool water is much worse the chlorine and salt in the water are bad for their ears. My doctor gave me a dressing down about it, i felt like i was in trouble with my dad, lol.

Pool water can cause ear infections, so can bath water. My husband had gromets 4 times as a child and multiple ear infections - he has been told if he gets another bad ear infection he could go deaf as his ear drums are so badly damaged. Because of this he is very pedantic about keeping our boys ears out of water - bath and pool. You can get great ear plugs from chemists to stop water getting in the ears (for children and adults) and I will be using these for our boys when they go to public pools. We are lucky and have a pool to use just accross the paddock at my uncles so haven't been to a public pool yet so I haven't used them yet. I am always very carefull that their ears are dried out well if they do go under though.

Yes.pool water can cause ear infections ,I am sure it is called Tropical ear.My children often suffer from ear infections if they have been swimming a bit and usually only after pool water.There is some drops available from chemists for mild cases and I am sure it is called actually called Tropical Ear also.As a child I suffered very badly from ear infections and caused  deafness in my left ear until I had my ear totally reconstructed  they literally cut about a 5 cm cut behild my ear and peeled my ear right back,at age 9 .I regained some hearing  from the operation but still have a slight hearing problem in my left ear.Ear infections are horrible and if a pool is causing it I recommend not swimming or looking into a pair of ear plugs for swimming.

                                                            Cham

I suffered from ear infections regularly untill i was 10 yrs old but i did'nt go swimming mine was caused through cold make sure the babies ears are dryed after swimming and baths, your not going to be able to avoid the ears getting wet.this was just one of those things i was prone to along with toncillitus, but i grew out of it use ear drops as often as needed to prevent infection and keep the ears dry were possible. I would'nt avoid swiming as i can't swim now because i was chucked in and lost my confidance see if you can get some ear plugs if you think thts the cause. Good luck Jo xxx

I've had mine at the public swimming pool from 6 weeks and she's never had an ear infection.  It wold have been sooner but she was an August baby and the pool didn't open until she was 6 weeks old.  This doctor diagnosed her with an ear infection but she had pneumonia not an ear infection.  I've been told that if a child is prone to infection then there can be many reasons and one of them is chlorine.  Another is water staying in the ears.  I guess tap water contains chlorine and they can get blocked ears from baths too, but the chlorine levels in a pool are much higher and they are more likely to get blocked ears in a pool then in a bath tub.  That information came from a swim clinic hosted by olympic swimmers.

It is a fact that babies and toddlers are prone to ear infections when they are put through "Swimming classes"....water not only can get into their ears but up through their nose and into their ears.  You develope a bump in the tube from nose to ear around your 18th year, prior to that, there is nothing to stop water going right on in there except for your ability to blow out through your nose when you are submerged, which babies do NOT know how to do.  Be very careful, not only can they get mild ear infections, they can become serious and require years of wearing Grommits, hearing loss or worse encephilitus (spelling un sure of) which is swelling of the brain.  Just think.  Why do they use so much chlorine in public swimming pools that you can smell it on entry??  because they are sess pools of germs and they're attempting to Kill them thats why.  Please people, do be very aware and careful when submerging your babies heads under water of a public pool.  have fun splashing, get them comfortable in it, but be aware, and make informed deccissions.

Our nurse advised us to wait until Jayden was 6 months before he started swimming in a public pool.  Not because of germs or anything, mainly because of the chemicals in the pool to kill the germs.  He currently has an ear infection, however I don't equate that to swimming at the pool, I think his ear canals got inflamed in connection to a sinus infection and cold he had. 

My kids haven't been swimming at all in recent weeks and currently are on antibiotics for middle ear infection.

They both have a cold and as such the tubes linking the ears/nose/throat (sorry I'm not medically trained and dont know the proper words as such!) are blocked preventing any excess moisture draining away and this is what has caused their ear infections.

Some kids are more prone than others.  This is the first time in 3-4 years they have been treated for ear infection, and they have swum in pools - all public ones for swimming lessons before.  They just haven't been interested this year.