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If your child has had ear tubes...
-did your doctor recommend them or did you have to advocate for your child to get them?
-what time of year did your child have the procedure?
DS2 has had back-to-back-to-back ear infections since October. In fact, his ears haven't looked clear since before then for any period of time. The antibiotics don't seem to do anything for him. He's allergic to amoxicillan, so he's had to be treated with augmentin or another antibiotic (that I can't remember the name of). I took him to the pedi yesterday and he has another ear infection, but his doc doesn't want to treat it because he doesn't want to give him antibiotics too many times. He's been sick for at least a week (irritable, not eating well, not sleeping well), but he won't prescribe anything unless it gets worse (more red/bulging). I asked about tubes and he said he wouldn't do them since "ear infection season is two months from being over." I didn't realize there was a "season" for ear infections.
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Re: If your child has had ear tubes...
Dr. rec'd AND we pushed. He'd had them on & off for about 10months - but the docs don't refer until they've had 3 straight months of infection. Meaning, if he was fine at his 10 day followup, but had another one 3 days later, they didn't count that. Which is what happened to us constantly.
I'm guessing omnicef, the lovely red poo meds, are what he got ;-) Amox doesn't do jack for either of my kids, augmentin was hit or miss.
It was July when his were done. Between the referral and surgery dates he had 2-3 more infections, it was ridiculous. Ear infection season is real, lots of kids get better in warmer weather for some reason. But a lot of times it's just their anatomy - the ear tubes are just too narrow and not sloped enough to drain properly. Which is the case w/mine. Good luck.
PAC got tubes on Jan 21. He had one EI when he was like 1.5, and then he got another one a week or so before Thanksgiving. Well, from Thanksgiving to right before christmas, we went through 3-4 antibiotics, with NOTHING. The infection would go away (i.e., redness) but his ears were still full of fluid.
Doc referred us to an ENT, who suggested tubes, adenoid and tonsil removal (little extreme, I thought). We got a second op, who suggested tubes only. And so we did the tubes. Best decision ever. We noticed a difference right away.
We are dealing with this now too. DD has had constant EI's since the end of July. There were two periods of time that she was clear for 2-4 weeks, but otherwise it has been constant. Nothing works and she is also alergic to Augmentin (and any other penicilin drug).
On Wednesday she got a does of Ceftriaxone, and injectible antibiotic. We've used this once before (when we were in the ER for the allergic reaction to the Augmentin) and her ears cleared up for a couple of weeks. We go back today for a check and a second dose.
Our pedi just gave us a referral for a pedi ENT at Children's Hospital. That will probably mean tubes, but not necessarily. We are going on 3/3. It was sort of a collaborative decision, but I didn't have to push at all. We did talk about the seasonal aspect of it, but for us it started in July, so I'm skeptical that we will be out of the woods come spring.
I would push if I were you. Or, if your insurance doesn;t require a referral, make an appointment yourself with a pedi ENT.
Good luck.
Landon just got tubes in his ears on the 8th. He had back to back to back to back to back ear infections and was on 4 different antibiotics. My pedi actually reccomended we see a specialist. I have a friend that works with me though and she took it upon herself to take her child to an ENT specialist, because her dr. wanted to keep waiting it out.
I would def. bring it up to your pedi or take it upon yourself to see the specialist. Landon is a completely different baby now that he's not dealing with ear infections. Plus all those ear infections and fluid is your little guys ear, could cause problems with his hearing and speech. I know landon always had fluid in his ears, it just wans't always infected and they said what he was hearing was muffled and eventually would cause problems.
Hope your little guy get's better soon!
My daughter will be three in april. She has had three sets of PE tubes. The first set was when she was eight months old. She had so many EI that she losing hearing. Then she had the next set at 11 months because the tubes were blocked. She just had the last set in October of this year so she was 2.5 years old. With the last set they took out her adenoids because they were causing 80 percent blockage.
She has not had any trouble since having the last set. I would seek a second opinion if it was me.
I don't agree with the season for EI either.