Ear infections and getting tubes?

[teskak]

We are on our second set of tubes, 1 has now come out and the second one is still in.

There are silicone putties you put in the ears, DD does lots of swimming and has not had a problem with it or showers etc

If you are not sure, then one thing is if you are planning to fly anywhere - those pressurisings are painful at best but agony if the ears are already blocked. With the ear tubes DD never has to even think about equalising pressure

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Thanks for everyone's stories.

Since he has just had 2 infections and based on what has been posted here--I feel comfortable holdng off if the Ped opps to push it.

He has his well child this morning and I will have his ears checked just to make sure the last round worked. But I wasn't sure how to handle it if she pushed for something.

Thanks again for everyone's input and I hope everyone's munchkin's ears are doing well with or without tubes.

 

[golfgal]

Two ear infections less then 6 weeks apart generally means he was not given an appropriate antibiotic to kill the bacteria. It is a little hit or miss with prescribing antibiotics unless they do a culture, which they don't do for ear infections. I think tubes at this stage are very premature.

We dealt with ear infections with our kids, our oldest being the worst. He usually got them "out of season", mostly in the spring, summer and fall. I can now trace those times back to the times his allergies spike now and I am convinced that his were more allergy related then anything. DS17 never had tubes because his ears would clear up after being on antibiotics. DS14 never had all that many ear infections so it was never a consideration. DD14 got tubes put in when she was 5 when she got her tonsils and adenoids removed more precautionary than anything--she still was getting somewhat frequent ear infections so they put the tubes in.

For our twins our pediatrician put them on a maintenance dose of Dimatap. They took 1/2 dose a couple times/day to keep their fluids runny. . That helped them tremendously. I would be inclined to suggest that to your son's ped and see what he says.

No matter what, don't mess around with the "homeopathic cures". You just don't want to mess around with ears. No one likes to medicate a child unnecessarily but then again, no one likes to deal with permanent hearing loss either.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Yay!

A bunch of concern for nothing--the Ped didn't even make a peep about tubes or the fact that he had 2 in a row. She just verified the meds, checked his ears and had no concerns (outside of the usual normal well child visit stuff).

She did say that the ear didn't appear infected anymore, but it visually appeared as though their had been an infection and the he still had fluid. (DS says his ear "tickles", but it doesn't hurt, so I guess that is the remaining fluid.)

Our flight on Monday should be interesting--but much ado about nothing.

Thanks again for everyone's stories.

Golfgal, wish I saw your post earlier. Too late to ask the ped.
I do know that there was some sort of recall and change in children's medicines--they don't do "cold" type medicines for little ones anymore. When he first got sick last week (before the ear infection)--not a single thing on the shelves could he take. They were all for either age 4 and above or age 6 and above.

 

[tiggger1]

My ds3 got tubes when he was 17 months old. They have been a life saver. He had 6 EI in 5 months and when they put the tubes in they found out he had what they call "glue Ear" its when the fluid in the ear doesnt drain and gets all thick and sticky, like maple syrup. It causes hearing losses because the eardrum cannot vibrate. They had to irrigate the ear before the put the tubes in and then a few weeks later they had us go for a hearing test. Thankfully his hearing was fine but because of the hearing issues he still has an 11 month delay in his speech.
even if you are going to hold off on the tubes I would recommend a hearing test, JIC

 

[luvmy3jewels]

I know I'm coming in a little late here, but wanted to add my 2cents (for what they are worth). The ENT my son used to see always told us his threshold was 3 ear infections within 6 months before he would even consider doing the tubes surgery.

In our case, ds was sick with continous ear infections for two years before the ped. finally recommended the ENT consult. I think waiting that long was a huge mistake. Ds was continuously on one antibiotic or another for a long time and developed severe excema (I believe from the long term antibiotics). His speech was also affected because his ears were full of fluid while he was learning how to talk. It took tubes and speech therapy before he was able to speak clearly. He ended up having three sets of tubes (one set a year for three years). Fortunately, he seems to have out grown the infections now but those early years were rough!