Talk to me about recurrent ear infections and tubes

jmkatz

We are seeing the pedi tomorrow and I want to make sure that I cover all of our bases and ask the right questions.  Lucy has had 6 ear infections since July.  Most recently, she was diagnosed Dec. 3, had 10 day course of antibiotics, diagnosed Dec.27, had 10 day course of  different antibiotic, and was diagnosed with double ear infection on Jan 7th, the day after finishing a round of medication.  She just finished 10 days of a third antibiotic and we are getting her ears re-checked, but she is starting to show her outward ear infection signs again (runny nose, cranky, red-rimmed eyes).  

I feel so bad for her and I really think we need to look into the next steps.  If your LO got tubes, can you share your experience?  Anything I should ask her pedi or do to advocate for her before going that route? 

SeaSoul

Cal had 5(?) ear infections (2 double) last winter/spring.  After the last one, we started osteopathic manipulation treatments.  He hasn't had one since (knock on wood)!  I highly recommend you ask your pedi about them. 

jmkatz

SeaSoul:

Cal had 5(?) ear infections (2 double) last winter/spring.  After the last one, we started osteopathic manipulation treatments.  He hasn't had one since (knock on wood)!  I highly recommend you ask your pedi about them. 

Thanks for the suggestion!  I will do some reading up about it tonight  

CMM05

DS2 has tubes. He got them in July when he was 8 months. Best.decision.ever.

It made a world of difference. No more congestion, colds or ear infections. I would do it all over in a heartbeat.

Surgery was so, so fast. By the time they took him in, it was maybe 10 minutes and we were reunited again. It is such a common procedure.

I am an advocate of the tubes also because if you don't fix the ear issues they can have hearing and speech issues.

GL!

 

Kim777

Mason got tubes when he was 9 months old. He had only had two ear infections, but had chronic fluid on his ears for 5 months and was severely hearing impaired so we went ahead with the surgery. The toughest part was not being able to nurse him that morning. DH actually got up and took him on so Mason didn't see me and freak out about nursing. I came on with the other boys. DH was with him pre surgery, then he took the other boys on to get lunch. Surgery was so quick. I was called back, had nursed him, and we were ready to be released before they could even run to chick-fil-a and back! He was a little sleepy/fussy that day and the next. Then he was fine after that. His hearing significantly improved and he started producing sounds shortly after.

leslie&brian

Matt had tubes when he was 7 months old. He had something like 9 ear infections within a 4.5 month span of time. He would go on an antibiotic, and days later he would start with the symptoms again. I'm a nurse and I hate the overuse of antibiotics so I was adamant that we do something for him. Plus, I hated to see him in so much pain

The surgery was so simple and fast. They let DH and I go in the OR with him, and let us hold his hand and give him a kiss while they put him under. Once he was sleeping, they asked to step out. The procedure lasted less than 10 minutes, and within 15 minutes we were in the recovery room with him. He was a little agitated when he first woke up, which is normal, but he was fine the rest of the day. He took a 2 hour nap when we got home, and then was his normal, happy self. 

He only had 1 ear infection since then, and it was right after his surgery, and they just feel as though the ear infection that he had prior to it was never fully cleared up. They gave us antibiotic ear drops, instead of an oral antibiotic, and he's been fine since. 

He was always guaranteed to get an ear infection with any colds or sinus issues, and hes had a lot of colds this winter, and no problems whatsoever with his ears. I'm so, so happy that we decided to have the surgery done.

cmw&tdm

DS got them at 3.5.  He only had one EI per year for the first three years but then last January he got one where the fluid would not go away.  We ended up doing 5 antibiotics from Jan-Apr and each time the infection went away but the fluid was still there and go re-infected within the week.  In April he had tubes put in and I'm glad we went ahead with it.  Our ENT said the fluid had been there so long and was so thick that it is unlikely it would have spontaneously gone away.  Since then he's either had one or two EIs but no remaining fluid and it was cured with one antibiotic.  

sweetpea18

Reese had tubes at 9 months and then tubes replaced and adnoids out at 19 months. It was the best thing we did for her. She had chronic fluid and infections. We always had to have higher order antibiotics and one was so bad she had to have injections of rocephin ( which are extremely painful. Watching her get those was worse than anything she had done in the nicu!) After her first set, she slept in the car on the way home and then was back to herself for the rest of the day. They use twilight anesthesia and they are out for less than 15 minutes. It only takes our ent 6 minutes to put the tubes in! Their ear anatomy isn't mature until 3ish years old and we didn't want to worry about permanent damage and hearing loss from chronic infections.

sasa625

DD only had 3 ear infections, but they were back to back and she had persistent fluid in her ears as well. Our pedi is extremely proactive and suggested we seek the opinion of an ENT. He took one look in her ears and said that she definitely needed tubes.

We just had them put in 2 weeks ago... it was super quick and easy. She didn't even notice that we had walked out of the room (she went happily with the nurses to find her lovey), and the doctor was back in the waiting room after about 10-15 minutes. They got us as soon as she woke up, she asked for a cracker, and that was it. You would have never known she had surgery. Her schedule didn't change at all.

The ENT did say that her ears were full of thick fluid, so I definitely think we made the right decision!

 

jmkatz

Thanks everybody for sharing your experiences!