Tell me about getting ear tubes

SigmundsGirl

Evan is on his 7th ear infection since January, so we have an appointment with the ENT this Wednesday to talk about tubes. Tell me about your experiences with your LOs.

Oh, and we tried to use ear plugs when we gave Evan a bath last night and he freaked out. Any ideas on how to make this transition smoother?

TIA. 

emcgloin

My nephew just had tubes put in about a month ago.  He hasn't had an ear infection since; but a couple weeks ago, my husband started researching tubes, why ear infections occur and possible solutions.  Here's an interesting article that may be helpful or worth a try before resorting to tubes:

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/04/28/ear-tubes.aspx

Good luck! 

ayersfam20

Abbie got tubes at 8 months old.  Best thing we ever did!  Her health improved and her weight improved since she wasn't on antibiotics all of the time.

The hardest thing was her not being able to eat the evening before.  We gave her lots of apple juice to fill her tummy.  The anesthesiologist came out to meet her ahead of time and brought out the mask he was going to put on her to let her play with it and get used to it.  If they don't do that, I would ask them to - made it much easier on her.  He came back with a warm blanket to wrap her in and carried her off.

They kept trying to make me feed her in recovery, but she was having none of it.  I gave up and just let her sleep.  She woke up an hour or 2 later, ate, and was perfectly happy!  It was like nothing had ever happened for the rest of the day.

 She was ok with the ear plugs, so no advice there.  Maybe let him practice putting one in your ear first to show him it's no big deal?

KelleyA

Hugs!  That sounds so rough. 

Cajun_gal

Dylan just got tubes almost 2 weeks ago. Not sure if they're doing their job yet but he has been so much happier since. The procedure itself was very easy. We were away from him a total of 15 minutes and were with him when we woke up. His procedure was at 8:15, and we were on our way home by 9:00. He slept a lot that day 2 3-hour naps and was back to normal the next day.

Cajun_gal

Also his ENT said we don't need to worry about keeping water out of his ears during baths so the ear plugs may be a non-issue. She said it's only an issue when combined with pressure like 4 feet below water.

SigmundsGirl

Cajun_gal:

Also his ENT said we don't need to worry about keeping water out of his ears during baths so the ear plugs may be a non-issue. She said it's only an issue when combined with pressure like 4 feet below water.

Good to know! I hope this is what our ENT will say. The little man is miserable and I don't want to make it worse.

Glad the procedure went well for you guys.

tobewed09

DS started getting ruptured ear drums around 5 months old. It was awful. We would never know he even had an ear infection let alone that his ear drum was about to rupture until it was happening....the screaming gave it away. He constantly had fluid in his ears, mainly his left ear, that is the eardrum where everything was happening. When we saw the ENT they did a hearing test on him where they put DS and I in a soundproof room and there are speakers on either side and each would make noises to see if he would react. Before surgery he didn't hear anything, it was horrible....I was crying. After surgery he responded to every sound.

The surgery was very quick, maybe 15 minutes in the waiting area. I thought the toughest part would be the no food or liquids. We had the surgery at Texas Childrens in the med center and there was sooooo much to distract DS he never once cried or complained about food or water.

We had the surgery on February 7th, 3 weeks later we flew on an airplane. We haven't had any issues since the surgery. Also, our ENT said there is no need for ear plugs since the technology has evolved. If they get water in their ears it's fine. DS' speech has also improved tremendously, the results we noticable almost immediately. I would highly recommend it, especially if your LO has constant fluid in his ear like mine did.

Not sure who your ENT is but I had three different people recommend Dr. Newton Duncan to me. Him and his entire staff were/are wonderful.

 

step2mom2010

tobewed09:

DS started getting ruptured ear drums around 5 months old. It was awful. We would never know he even had an ear infection let alone that his ear drum was about to rupture until it was happening....the screaming gave it away. He constantly had fluid in his ears, mainly his left ear, that is the eardrum where everything was happening. When we saw the ENT they did a hearing test on him where they put DS and I in a soundproof room and there are speakers on either side and each would make noises to see if he would react. Before surgery he didn't hear anything, it was horrible....I was crying. After surgery he responded to every sound.

The surgery was very quick, maybe 15 minutes in the waiting area. I thought the toughest part would be the no food or liquids. We had the surgery at Texas Childrens in the med center and there was sooooo much to distract DS he never once cried or complained about food or water.

We had the surgery on February 7th, 3 weeks later we flew on an airplane. We haven't had any issues since the surgery. Also, our ENT said there is no need for ear plugs since the technology has evolved. If they get water in their ears it's fine. DS' speech has also improved tremendously, the results we noticable almost immediately. I would highly recommend it, especially if your LO has constant fluid in his ear like mine did.

Not sure who your ENT is but I had three different people recommend Dr. Newton Duncan to me. Him and his entire staff were/are wonderful.

We had the same issue with ear infections, not knowing and then ruptures! We are seeing Dr. Jones with Texas Children's (he is in the Med Center and also out at the Katy Campus).  We also had the hearing loss issues and decided to go this route instead of the other.  The staff at TC and the Dr's office have been great. 

He said the same thing about water and ear plugs.  Unless you are dunking them, not to worry about it.  We will put off swimming till this summer and use plugs.  I will let you know how that goes.