Has anyone had to do tubes for their LO?

randomnamehere · January 2013

We had our 15 month appointment yesterday and the pedi referred us the ENT. My LO has only had 3 ear infections- but they have all been wihtin the 2 1/2 months. So, they don't seem to be really clearing up much.

His last one was when he was sick with bronchilolitis almost three weeks ago now. She said the left ear still looked infected and the right had so much gunk (not just wax) in it she could not see the canal very well. She thinks he may have had a rupture. She also thinks that this may have something to do with his slow weight gain- he is only 19 lbs. Was 19 lbs at 12 months appt, then lost some weight when he was sick. Maybe also, something to do with not talking much yet. He really only says "no, no, no" and mama and dada.

Obviously, I will do what is best for him. just looking for some insight. Thanks!

alstumb@gmail.com · January 2013

We did tubes at 10.5 months, so I can't really say if it had any influence on his speech, but they were definitely worth it! He hasn't had any issues since he got them in August.

The worst part was him waking up from anesthesia. He cried a lot and had no idea what was going on. But by the time they let us leave, he was fine. The procedure literally took 5 minutes!

randomnamehere · January 2013

MRoss1982:
No insight, but I hope he gets better soon! If he needs tubes, I've heard it's a quick procedure.

Thanks! He does not seem to have much if any discomfort which I found odd. He is pretty much back to himself after being sick.

randomnamehere · January 2013

alstumb@gmail.com:
We did tubes at 10.5 months, so I can't really say if it had any influence on his speech, but they were definitely worth it! He hasn't had any issues since he got them in August. The worst part was him waking up from anesthesia. He cried a lot and had no idea what was going on. But by the time they let us leave, he was fine. The procedure literally took 5 minutes!

Happy to hear you are no longer having issues. I think the whole "out of it" thing is what is going to be hardest for us as well if this is the route we have to go.

memali26 · January 2013

This will be long, sorry

My girls both have/had tubes, and I completely believe it was the best decision we've made for their health so far. DD1 had 6 ear infections between 5 months old and 13 months old, and got the tubes at 14 months. It was a very quick procedure, she was only away from us for 15 minutes total. It was done under general anesthesia, which was a little scary, but she came through perfectly. She woke up groggy and out of sorts, but not upset. After having some juice and resting for a bit she perked right up and we took her home about an hour and a half after surgery. She napped for a solid 3 hours then was up and running around like nothing had even happened that morning. She did have a language explosion within a few weeks of surgery and has been above average for speech development since, so I think the tubes really helped with that. Our ENT said it probably sounded like she was hearing under water due to all the fluid build up prior to tubes.

DD2 had 5 ear infections between 5 months and 10 months. The last 4 were all withing 3 months, with the final one being 2 days before she had her tubes placed at 10 months. Again, very quick, only away from us for 15 minutes. She had a harder time after anesthesia, she was very upset and it took us almost half an hour to calm her down, but she is the feistier of my girls anyway We had to stay long enough to make sure she kept her bottle down, then took her home about an hour after surgery. She napped about 2 hours and was back to normal. She even took her first steps a week after the surgery

If you have any more questions, ask away and I'll help if I can. Tubes were really a great decision for my kids and improved quality of life around here since we weren't running to the doctor every 10-15 days or having someone constantly on antibiotics. Though we do have a really great relationship with both our pedi and ENT since we've seen them so often :P

randomnamehere · January 2013

memali26:
This will be long, sorry
My girls both have/had tubes, and I completely believe it was the best decision we've made for their health so far. DD1 had 6 ear infections between 5 months old and 13 months old, and got the tubes at 14 months. It was a very quick procedure, she was only away from us for 15 minutes total. It was done under general anesthesia, which was a little scary, but she came through perfectly. She woke up groggy and out of sorts, but not upset. After having some juice and resting for a bit she perked right up and we took her home about an hour and a half after surgery. She napped for a solid 3 hours then was up and running around like nothing had even happened that morning. She did have a language explosion within a few weeks of surgery and has been above average for speech development since, so I think the tubes really helped with that. Our ENT said it probably sounded like she was hearing under water due to all the fluid build up prior to tubes.
DD2 had 5 ear infections between 5 months and 10 months. The last 4 were all withing 3 months, with the final one being 2 days before she had her tubes placed at 10 months. Again, very quick, only away from us for 15 minutes. She had a harder time after anesthesia, she was very upset and it took us almost half an hour to calm her down, but she is the feistier of my girls anyway We had to stay long enough to make sure she kept her bottle down, then took her home about an hour after surgery. She napped about 2 hours and was back to normal. She even took her first steps a week after the surgery
If you have any more questions, ask away and I'll help if I can. Tubes were really a great decision for my kids and improved quality of life around here since we weren't running to the doctor every 10-15 days or having someone constantly on antibiotics. Though we do have a really great relationship with both our pedi and ENT since we've seen them so often :P

Thanks so much for your response. I am happy to hear positive reviews. I feel like we were living at the pedi's office the last two months or so... I really am hoping he starts to talk more. He babbles all day long.

sozay23 · January 2013

DD had tubes in October and I am SO happy we made that decision. She had six infections in ten months. Every time she got a cold it developed into an ear infection. The worst part was that she rarely got a fever and almost never complained so it was very hard to know when she had one and I was always second guessing my instincts. I also was very unhappy with constantly giving her antibiotics. ENT said it was our call- we did dairy free for a month first but while her skin and stomach responded beautifully it did nothing for her ears. Procedure was so quick- like pp said, 15 minutes. She came out of anesthetic beautiful- never even cried just immediately asked for food. If you do it make sure to ask for the first appt to make no food/water easier.

I would do it again in a heartbeat and am so happy with our decision!

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