come in if your kids have tubes

molliedb · February 2010

if you got tubes put in dc's ears, what was your decision making process? how many ear infections did it take before you made the decision?

just curious. eve is on ear infection #3 and this is new territory for me. lily has never had one!

Abrooks · February 2010

Our decision was made after DD had an ear infection straight for 4 months. We went through every antiobiotic and nothing worked and there was nothing left for her to take. I was still iffy about the tubes until we talked to the ENT and he basically confirmed the need to us. It was a great thing for DD and she's only had one infection since then in a 1.5 years.

katattack · February 2010

When DD had multiple ear infections in a 2 month period. I think by the time she had her tubes, she'd had 9 or 10 infections since about 5 months old (she got tubes at 15 months). It was insanity and the antibiotics wreaked havoc on her body. Blech.

She got them in October, has had some nasty colds, and no infections. In the past, a minor cold = infection. Her attitude overall got better and because she had so much fluid on her ears, that was drained and she started talking more.

mcurban · February 2010

mollie, we're in the same boat right now (except w/ Jack, not Tommy). He had three ear infections in 2.5 months and we went as far as to see the ENT.

as of right now, we have decided NOT to do tubes b/c

- it isn't effecting Jack's language

- he doesn't seem to be in pain during the infections

- he is older, so we are hoping that just growing will eliminate the need.

We are having his ears checked monthly for fluid (still there) and infections (none since late December).

Now, if it WERE Tommy, I think we would have a different plan. Being so young, I would worry about how his hearing was effected by the fluid/ infections. Also, there would be more time needed for him to "grow out of it."

It's a tough decision. Good luck!

jml5q · February 2010

DD got 3 or 4 within 3 months. I think our pedi said if they get 3 within 6 months they usually will refer you to an ENT. Our pedi was also concerned because she got all her ear infections in the summer and he'd only think they'd get more frequent in the winter. plus i think being a daycare baby she's more prone to them.

So we got the tubes in early November. Since then she's still had 2 ear infections but they've been so easy to diagnose and so easy to treat.

For us it was a pretty easy decision. She was constantly on strong antibioctic those few months she kept getting infections and i didn't want to have to keep giving her them. So i'm really glad we went ahead and did the tubes.

bobcatsteph · February 2010

We're also in the same boat. One more, and we have to go to an ENT. We actually just got back from the pedi..luckily (I guess) it wasn't her ears this time though. She's had 4 EIs in the past 4 months, though we think two of those were the same infection that never went away.

JezcaM · February 2010

i trusted my pedi and ent. pedi referred us to ent who then said to wait x weeks and if she got another EI in that time, to strongly consider tubes. so that's what we did, and she indeed did get another ear infect, then tubes. problem solved.

gotchagomo · February 2010

DD#1 had chronic ear infections so there really wasn't a set number of infections I can pinpoint. She pretty much always had one going. I was the same way. She had tubes at 11 months so her speech learning wouldn't be impacted so much. Not a single infection since--best thing we ever did! Now she won't quit talking!

ETA--I haven't had a single ear infection either since I had tubes some 35 years ago! It's a very successful procedure if done with a skilled surgeon.

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