Have any of you struggled thru ear infections in your young child. My son is 13 months old and just diagnosed

Question

...with his 6th ear infection (both ears every time might I add) and the drs are starting to consider doing the tubes in his ears but he has already had one surgery at nine months to drop an undescended testicle and I dont want to see him have to go thru another surgery even though i know its probably for the better. Have any of you had to make this decision of whether to opt for the tubes or not? Please help

Answer 1

I had ear tubes in my ears as a kid because apparently I had a lot of ear infections. I'm sure you know about them, but really, I can't remember them being put in at all. I might have had to have them in a couple times...I can't remember, but in the long run, my ears are fine now, and unlike the above post, I swim and drink and eat whatever I please whenever I want.

Answer 2

I had this with two of my children. Ultimately it will be up to his dr. whether he needs it. In some children, their own tubes are really small, so there ears don't drain well, so every time they get a sore throat (which happens a lot) it backs up. My daughter had constant infections, and the dr. said scar tissue would build up from that and would affect her hearing. Until you do decide, try keeping water out of his ears, bacteria grows in the water that doesn't drain. Buy ear plugs or just be really careful about water, tilt his head to the side, gently tug the ear lobe to get water out. It was scary when we had the surgery, my two had it within days of each other, and had the whole shebang, tonsils, adnoids, and tubes, and they have had no infections since, and it has been almost seven yrs. Sometimes the tubes just give them time for their own tubes to grow. It is outpatient and they go home same day, which doesn't make it any less scary.

Answer 3

I know how you feel my youngest had so many ear infections that it felt like he was on antibiotics more than he was off, and I just hated seeing him in so much pain. We opted to have the surgery for tubes and our Dr. advised that we have his tonsils removed at the same time since his tonsils seemed to get infected with each ear infection. We thought long and hard and are so happy we decided to have them removed and he never had another ear infection after that. The following year we had to take some care with the tubes when bathing or swimming but it was well worth it. Having any kind of invasive treatment of you child is such a personal thing and you need to be comfortable with your decision. Good Luck

Answer 4

My three oldest children all had tubes in their put in their ears at 17 mos, 8 mos, and 13 mos, respectively. By the time tubes were recommended for my oldest son, he was deaf in one ear and had about 10% hearing left in his other ear because there was so much infection in his middle ear. After receiving the tubes, he actually walked around covering his ears and crying because even the quietest sounds were too loud to him. At his post-op check a week later he had 100% of his hearing back. With my two oldest children, having the tubes did not stop the infections but alleviated any pressure on the eardrums by allowing the fluids to drain from their ears instead. All three of them outgrew their ear infections by 3-4 years of age. The hardest part of the surgery was actually the 15-20 minutes while they were waking from the anesthesia. Most children are given gas only and aren't affected much, but due to an inherited drug sensitivity my children required IV sedation instead. Anyway, they are 11,7, and 5 and have no lasting effects from their infections or tubes. Ironically, my 2 yr old has only had 2 colds in her life, 2 stomach viruses and not a single ear infection. She's healthy as a horse.

Answer 5

Hello! Yes, I've had considerable problems with a three year old with ear infections. I do recommend the tubes (a very simple and "quick" operation by the way),..but...make sure that the tubes are "removed" by six months. The doctor we had didn't remove them as he said they would drop out. About a year or so later they did, but also punctured and left a hole in both his ear drums. He now faces surgery to correct the damage caused by the tubes. The tubes do work however, and allow the ear to drain while they are in.
One of the best things you can do is not allow water to get in your son's ears. We use a special headband (which we got through our ENT doctor), when our son is taking a bath or swimming. It really works wonders! He hasn't had an ear infection in more than a year now.
I hope this helps you out. I really feel your pain on this issue! Again..the tube operation is very quick and simple. It does relieve fluid retention in the ear. The only downside is to make sure they are removed at exactly six months and "not" allowed to remain loose within the ear canal.

Answer 6

My son had chronic ear infections as well, and both my wife and I were loathe to have any surgery performed on him. I understand that this is reported as a safe procedure (tubes) but my emotional gut reaction is it is still invasive and destructive. Our solution was to be more vigilant with his physical gestures (was he pulling at his ears? was he crying even after being fed, held, nursed, changed, etc?) and monitoring his health. Pretty much, if he had the sniffles, we would inevitably make a trip to the pediatrician and have his ears checked for any redness. I know Dr's will also say that too many antibiotics are also not good, but the good side of this for my son is no tubes and no more ear infections. Doctors will say the risk of not inserting tubes is irreversible damage to hearing, but my own take is, in this litigious world, Doctors are prone to tow a more statistical/legal line, rather than one that is optimal for the health of the individual. In other words, they will opt for a known statistically safe procedure (so far), rather than the unknown of an individual's process for self-healing.
These are probably concerns you have already considered; I'm just adding my voice to the consensus.

Answer 7

my son is 2 1/2 and he also suffered from recurrent ear infections. So through my decision and the ENT doctor we got the tubes put in. The procedure only takes about 15-20 mins and then he will go to recovery for about half an hour, then home you go. My son has had his tubes for about 9 months and the ear infections have decreased. He has only had one infection which he has now. So i think it is a good idea and it will make your child feel better since he won't have to suffer through the infections as frequently.

Answer 8

My older son was in daycare from the time he was 6 months old until he was about 18 months old. From 6 months to about 14 months, he had *8* ear infections. We took him to a pediatric ENT, and she said that she was going to hold off on the surgery because it was the end of cold and flu season, and chances are he wouldn't get any more. Plus, he was getting older and his eustacean tubes were lengthening and growing and would start to drain properly. (He used to get a double ear infection every time he got a cold. Ugh!) She was right...he hasn't had an ear infection since then (he's 28 months old).

Was this doctor who saw your son his regular pediatrian or an ear nose and throat doctor? You should take him to see a specialist, and definitely since surgery is involved, get a second opinion! This is a fairly minor surgery, but it IS still surgery.

Answer 9

My son also had ear tubes and I would reccomend them. It made a great difference and got him off of almost constant antibiotics. He was only 7mos. and never remembered having them. When they fell out he went through a couple of bad infections that actually ruptured his eardrum twice, but has since grown out of the problem. Just weigh the pros and cons. It's a simple procedure, no pain very light anesthesia. I'm sure the infections hurt worse than the tubes. Have you ever had an ear infection as an adult? I did once and knew immediatly why my son was always fussing, crying and pulling at his ears. It is very painful!

Answer 10

My son also had frequent ear infections as an infant. His pediatrician referred him to an ENT Specialist and it was decided after his first visit he needed tubes put in at 9 mo. I didn't want to put him through surgery, but hearing the effects of not doing anything helped me with my decision. He did extremely well for an infant as far as tolerating the surgery. I was afraid when he went in for the outpatient surgery but it is really a quick procedure. He has had to have 3 sets of tubes put in due to them coming out but has now been without them for several years and is doing great. Another thing you should maybe look into is having him evaluated by a chiropractor. I know, sounds odd but after doing a little reading up on it you'll see why.