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If you have or considered tubes, please come in.
I need opinions and perspective from others moms. DD was just diagnosed yesterday with ear infection #5 in her right ear ear. This is her fifth infection in 8 months in that ear (her other ear has never had an infection). My pedi told me that her guideline for tubes was 6-8 infections in a calendar year. We had to see a different pedi yesterday, but I obviously will discuss this with our pedi at her 2 week ear recheck.
I'm torn on what I should do. Today's pedi said that it's not a huge concern as long as antibiotics clear it up, which they always have. However, she is allergic to penicillin, so she is limited on what she can take. In my mind, we really have 2 options to consider:
1) Ask to get tubes put in that one ear
2) Continue to just use antibiotics as infections come, but take the risk that she could become immune to the very few antibiotics she can take and thus put her at a higher risk if she ever got really sick when she gets older.
I need thoughts and opinions for those of you whose LOs have tubes or if you've ever considered them. What else should we consider? Are there other things that come into play here that we don't realize? WWYD in our situation?
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Re: If you have or considered tubes, please come in.
Ditto most of this.
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Since this is #5 and your pedi's guidelines are 6-8 i'd probably hold off on the tubes for now. especially since winter/cold season is almost over and its less likely she'll get sick in the summer. however, if she gets another one in the next couple months i'd probably move ahead with the tubes.
we decided to get tubes because dd had maybr 5-6 EI, but they were all in the summer and our pedi thought it would only get worse during cold season.
if you do decide to go with tubes i'd probably go ahead and get them in both ears (i'm not sure they'd only put it in one ear anyway) because i'd hate to have one done and then she get an EI in the other ear without the tube. i say if she's already going under, you may as well do both.
hope she feels better soon.
Yes, she has both. It is horrible! Then last night, she vomited every 15-30 minutes for over 2 hours straight and then it took us over 2 hours to get her to bed. My poor baby!
I probably have a more personal interest in her ears/hearing than most moms. I am deaf in my right ear (the same ear in which she's having the infections) due to an ear infection I got when I was 4. I am so afraid that the same thing could happen to hear, so I am extremely overprotective of her ears. I hadn't considered her language and hearing issues, either. That's definitely something to consider. Keep 'em coming!
Ditto.
We talked to our pedi about tubes for DS after his 4th EI in 6 months and she said they didn't start considering it until after 6. I was not happy with that, but decided to let it ride and see how he did. That was in November and he hasn't had another once since. I'm not sure if that's helpful, but I know at the time I felt like he was never going to be fully clear and tubes were the only solution, but all I needed to do was give it more time just like the pedi suggested.
This is exactly the reason that made me not even think twice. Both my dad and DH had really bad ears as kids and my dad has some permanent hearing loss as a result.
DD had 7 ear infections between September 1 and April 1, 2 of which were resistant to the first round of antibiotics. When we took her to the ENT, she had fluid in her ears meaning another EI was brewing. He ran a hearing check and noticed some hearing loss which he attributed to the fluid in her ears and said that it *hopefully* will be addressed with the tubes.
All that said, he didn't say that we HAD to get tubes. He noted that they would bring DD relief as well as me, of course, in that I wouldn't have to suffer in her suffering.
At the very least I would recommend that you have a consult with an ENT so that they can look at her ears and give you their opinion as a specialist.
We saw Dr. N O W L I N with Children's Ear Nose Throat Center and have been very happy with our experience there.
You've gotten some great advice, but wanted to add to it that with my DS is wasn't so much how often he got the infections it was that antibiotics were no longer working. It's not a good place to be. The poor guy was miserable and when we did do a hearing test he failed badly. That was all it took for me.
You may want to go ahead and consult with an ENT just to get more information on your options. It's true that with summer there are generally less infections..so you may be able to put it off for a few months but at least go get the hearing test and see if it's an issue. If not, you can probably wait it out some more.
if this is the case then i'd go to an ENT now!
I totally agree. It can't hurt to get the opinion of an ENT. At least talk to them and see what they think.
I haven't had a chance to read the other reviews so I'm sorry if any of these is repeat.
We had 6-7 infections this year (some were back to back so I'm not sure if they were new or same one taking long to clear) so we went to an ENT specialist couple weeks ago. Based on the fact that his ears were clear at the time and the cold/flu season apparently officially ends on tax day in Austin, she recommended we wait and see if he gets any more this year. If we get another one, I'm definetely going to push for the tubes though. His hearing was checked and fine despite reoccuring infections. I know the tubes only last for so long so I would rather get them at the beginning of the cold season then the end. You may want to consider that as well.
52 Choices For Better Health
DD was in daycare for three days before getting her first EI - she got six within about four months. She'd get a cold, and like clockwork, start running a massively high fever and be in extreme pain. So for us, it was a no brainer - clearly the fluid from the colds was not draining properly.
Our ENT has an audiologist in-ofice, and so before we saw him we saw the audiologist and I THINK we got immediate results from him. The results were not good - her hearing was very behind normal. It was definitely from a lingering infection as it returned to normal after the tubes.
After the tubes, she had drainage from her ear all the time - thick, nasty goo that you'd have to wipe with a kleenex. She did get one more infection, but normally we'd treat any drainage with antibiotic drops vs. orally.
In your situation, I may wait for one more infection to come on - but after that, I'd probably start a plan of attack - whether tubes or investigating other causes.
I've never tried this, but I've heard several people say that chiropractic care for children with ear infections can help dramatically.
Its a tough position that you are in, but trust your gut. Mama instinct is usually right
We do this now. We actually had Teagan's tubes taken out. We also do laser acupuncture to keep his ears (and other areas) in check. Works like a charm!
52 Choices For Better Health