Does Lying Down To Nurse Cause Ear Infection In A Baby?

Posted on Sun, 23 Mar 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 23 Mar 2014 Answered on

Tue, 8 Apr 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : my baby is of 1 month. does lying down to nurse cause ear infection on ny other harm

Answered by Dr. Vaishalee Punj (9 minutes later)

Brief Answer: No it does not Detailed Answer: Hi Thanks for posting your query on HealthcareMagic. Lying down to nurse does not cause any harm or any ear infection. The better position to nurse the baby is to hold him/her in your lap, hold the head a little higher than rest of the body by placing your forearm and hand below his back and neck. This position will allow the milk to go down the throat and will not cause any harm If you want to lie down next to the baby and feed, it is also ok. You can also make the baby lie on you while you recline slightly and feed him Mostly if the baby's body is lower than or in alignment with the head, it will not cause ear infection etc. Hope it helps. Let me know if I can assist you further. Dr Vaishalee

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar