My daughter (who’s 38 now) had chronic ear infections. We used to use “sweet oil” in a pinch. You used to be able to buy it at the drug store. Warm it up, drop a couple of drops in the ear, then a little cotton to hold it in. It helped.
Finally had to have tubes put in her ears.
Same with my 35 year old son. Many, many ear infections every year. It got so, the only way i knew he had an infection was I would see him pulling on his ear. He got so used to the pain that it was only a minor inconvenience for him. Turned out, that he had a hole in the eardrum that no one ever saw because of the constant inflammation. He had a patch put in and he’s been good to go for about 18 years.