On the other hand, the infection may be very severe and especially in the younger child, an antibiotic is prescribed. Which treatment approach a physician may select depends entirely on the individual situation. Under these circumstances I do not think a child with a confirmed middle ear infection is receiving antibiotics for nothing. We have been hearing about all these natural remedies such as herbs and homeopathy. This is a very common question, and unfortunately there are very few studies that may help answer this question.
Government bodies have strict expectations before allowing a medication to be used.
Determining whether a remedy actually works is tricky. Both the physicians doing the evaluation, and the test patients, do not know which patient is taking what. In this way there are no biases. Medications are usually released based on adult data, then further studies are done on children, before the medications are released for pediatric use. Once a remedy is released or use, there is a strict monitoring or surveillance program that records, and if necessary, reacts to any problems that arise.