I know a number of folks who have discovered that giving up dairy resolves the constant ear infections in small children. They may not be technically allergic, but it does seem to help. Later in life, every single one of those kids was able to have dairy without issue.
In a non-allopathic angle, dairy is a damp food (Traditional Chinese Medicine), leading to excess mucus production.
ygg

My sister had her first ear infection at 6 weeks of age and constantly had trouble in this area. When my mom finally figured out that she was allergic to dairy they went away and didn't come back. As an adult she no can have dairy. Back then doctors didn't make the connection, but it seems more well-known now that dairy can definitely be linked to recurring ear infections.

Oh man- I had mastodisis as well. It is so painful I would break out in a cold sweat. Just awful. My PA son has chronic ear infections and we are considering tubes. Before we moved our old ENT said that if my son had one more infection in 6 months they would do tubes.
He's had 2 since August and his new Ped wants to wait and put him on long term antibiotics. My concern is that he also has drug allergies to 2 antibiotics and I would HATE for him to be even more limited in the choices of antibiotics. The other issue is since he does have drug allergies is will he react to the anesthesia if they put in tubes..

Hmm... you guys raise an interesting question.
I am 35 and was born premature by 3 months. From what they say, I was a sick baby. Had colic and chronic ear infections as child.
At age 3, I was diagnoised as deaf/hard of hearing. So I had to wear hearing aids and still do. I never had a problem with the earmolds until about 10 years ago.
After two years of suffering from a pair of earmolds (which I never connected as an allergy), a doctor (dermatologist) found that I was allergic to silicone (or more-latex material) even though the earmolds were labeled as "hypo-allergenic".
I constantly raised this issue with my long-time audiologist, he adamantly refused to check into the issue---kept saying they were "hypo-allergenic". So, I had to keep switching audiologists until I found Texas ENT.