anybody know about tubes in ears?

kmm2150

We are on ear infection #3 (DD will be 4 months old this saturday) and the pedi has recommended we visit an ENT to talk about the possibility of tubes if we can't get out of this cycle.  I remember other kids having tubes when I was young, and I know it's very common, but just interested to hear if anyone has experience with them for your LOs?  How old were they? How did it go? Any complications?

It makes me nervous - general anesthesia, holes in eardrums, having to keep water out, etc. - but I feel so awful for her with these endless earaches!

meaganbrand

no experience with my little one, but i had tubes 3 different times when i was little. my mom said the first time, i woke up to birds chirping that i hadn't noticed before. i never had any complications up until 7 years ago. i got a hole in my eardrum that wouldn't heal and had to have a skin graft to patch it. but i was 21 so it wasn't like i was little and had a super traumatic experience. the only limitations i had and still have is not being able to go deep underwater because the pressure hurt my ears (also how i got the hole in my eardrum)

janamg

My neice had to get tubes either just before her first b-day or just after I don't remeber but ne way my brother said it was more traumatic for him and his wife then it was on her. She woke up laughing after th sugery. She has been great since. That is the extent that I know.

Kelicita

My first son had chronic ear infections for the first TWO YEARS of his life.  Monthly at least!  He had tubes put in just before his second birthday and hasn't had one single infection. 

 I was a wreck about it, afraid it may be an unnecessary intervention, however I have ZERO regrets.  

They sedated him and took him back to the ER.  The ENT drained the fluid in his ears and placed the tubes.  I had walked from the pre-op to the waiting room, grabbed a cup of complimentary coffee and just as I sat down, they called me to recovery!  His procedure was THAT short!  I dumped my coffee and ran!

He had hardly any after effects.  He was a little fussy when he woke up and  vomited once a tiny bit after we arrived home.  Otherwise, it was a BREEZE and like I said...no more infections and he just turned 7.  He has only needed antibiotics once since then for a sinus infection. 

karleegirl

Ds2 had 6 ear infections from 3 months to 8 months. He got his 1st set of tubes at 8 months. He did fine with the surgery. He was tired and fussy that day. He went back to daycare 2 days later. He had 3 more ear infections and then got his tubes replaced and adenoids out at 15months. That was a miracle for us. He's had no more ear infections and he's 5. Recovery from that was about 2 days of fussiness. In the recovery room he needed 2 doses of morphine that i had to request. I think that was more from the adenoids. The only problem is he's still funny about water on his face since we avoided water in his ears so long.

jeapplegate

I personally had tubes when I was 5.  Getting them was no big deal. Had it done on a friday, was back at school mon.  I have no negative memories of the procedure at all.  It was annoying to have to wear ear plugs when I went swimming, but I never had another ear infection after that.  I also had decreased hearing before receiving the tubes and was developing speech problems due to not hearing the sounds correctly.  They cleared right up after I got the tubes. 

MamasBatty

Kelicita:

They sedated him and took him back to the ER.  The ENT drained the fluid in his ears and placed the tubes.  I had walked from the pre-op to the waiting room, grabbed a cup of complimentary coffee and just as I sat down, they called me to recovery!  His procedure was THAT short!  I dumped my coffee and ran! 

 

This was our experience too My son just had this done two weeks ago, and the ENT said it literally takes him less than 60 seconds to do. We noticed no difference in ds afterwards, we did try to be sensitive to the fact he might need us to be quieter while he adjusted...but it didn't seem to matter. He was his happy self! I don't have any experience with how it helps yet...but good luck to you!

megs68

DD got tubes when she was 3 months.  She didn't have ear infections, but had fluid in her ears and was failing her hearing tests.  They helped a ton.  I was very nervous for the procedure since she was sooo little but like PP said, it was so quick.  She was waking up as we walked into the room and was pretty cranky right away but ate and calmed down and went back to normal quickly.  Since then, her hearing is better and she's eating so much better (we were having troubles with not eating enough - I think the fluid was bothering her). 

RA1109

My son had them when he was 6 months old and it was a great experience.  He went from sick and in pain all the time to healthy and happy.  He was a different baby.  They fell out when he was 2 and he hasn't had any issues since.

When I was little my parents didn't get me tubes and I have a bunch of ear issues because of it.  I have scarred eardrums and I get a ton of wax buildup that I have to get removed by a doctor every few years and it's really painful.  I probably would have been better off with tubes.

I also have two friends who waited too long to get their kids tubes and then discovered that their kids had hearing loss and were verbally delayed because of it.  One seemed to catch up pretty quickly when she got the tubes at 1, the other got tubes at 1 and is still about 20% behind verbally at 2.