Can anyone give me advice about the tubes for ear infections?

Question

Hello all!! My daughter is 2 yrs old and she gets sick alot. She once had an upper respiratory infection. Well everytime she gets sick, she gets ear infections. I mean I just took her to the doctors 2wks ago and they prescribed her antiobiotics for an ear infection. We live in Florida so the weather is very ify. Some days its 70 degrees and some days its 45 to 50 degrees. Well guess what she is sick again and complaining about her ear.

To get to the point, does anyone recommend the plugs to prevent ear infections? I dont know the medical terminolo

Answer 1

I have 2 children, 12 and 2, both of which had/has tubes. My oldest had his when he was 2 1/2 and my youngest got his right before he turned 1. I highly recommend them. But please keep in mind that it may stop there. After the tubes were in and the ear infections stopped, the strep throat started and they both needed to get their tonsils and adnoids removed. I too thought about going to a chiropractor, but it is not a quick fix, it takes many, many visits to keep the alignment of the spine in the proper position, especially with young children that fall so much. If you have the time though, it is an option. For me, I couldn't stand all the antibiotics going into my son. We would be off for maybe a week and have to start all over again. They do build up a resistance to them, and when they may need them for something serious, they may not be as effective. Also, you need take into consideration how the infections are affecting her hearing and speach. The doctor told me that all they hear when they have infections is muffled sounds. She is at an age where her speach should really be taking off. My son will turn 3 in a couple of months and just now got his first ear infection since the tubes were in....almost made it two years. It is a possibility that he may need to have them again. As that time comes, I will look into the chiropractor before they get too bad. I hope this helps and best of luck with your little girl.

Answer 2

My son got an ear infection when he was 3 months old. His doctor said that it was very unusual for his age. He has since got 2 more, but not close together. I decided to try something out, I stopped washing his hair everyday. Believe it or not he didn't get an ear infection in like 9 months. Once I went back to washing his hair everyday the next month he had an ear infection. Try it, it might help. If it doesn't my sister and cousin both had tubes in their ears (20 yrs ago) and they had to put ear plugs everytime they bathed or went swimming but I don't remember my sister getting as many ear infections after that.

Answer 3

To begin with the weather has nothing to do with her getting sick other than her being in doors where germs are prevalent this time of year. However I don't see why she can't be outdoors in 45 degrees...My daughter was born in Central New York and even on icy cold days I'd have her bundled so her skin wasn't exposed but we were outside walking, or just sitting on the front porch. She rarely got sick.
Anyway you might ask the doctor about tubes, however they may feel she is a bit young for them at this point. Tubes simply allow a drainage of ear fluids.

Answer 4

I agree 100% with trying a chiropracter. I was sceptical of it curing things other than back aches but it did wonders for my son. He was congested from 3 days old to 6 months when I took him for an adjustment. It cost $15 bucks within 2 days the congestion had cleared up and never come back. When he gets sick or cranky an adjustment usually helps within a day or two. A lot of day care workers have said they've seen it do wonders for children with chronic ear problems. If it doesn't help you can still look into the tubes. Good luck

Answer 5

Well, if it a reoccuring ear infection then yes I reccomend them highly.... My son for the past 2 winter had 7 ear infections in 3 months.. We got tubes on his ear a month and a half ago, and he hasn't been sick since... which is great because it is rough takeing care of a child who is sick 90% of the time with 104 fevers puking and all that... And the pros outweigh the cons any day.. They say that there is a 30% chance that they will still get ear infections, but if they dom they won't get sick.. the infection just drains right out the tube... and tyou might have to get ear plugs, because they can;t get water in their ears, but if you are bathing her with a cup of water over her head, then they said that was fine... Other than that there are no bad things about it!!! Make sure you check with the doc about complications.. My son ear nose and throat doc has been doing tubes in small children for 10 years, and had not ever had any complications with the tubes or the anethesia... The procedure itself take about 30 minutes from the time they take him back until they wake up.. then you sit with them in the recovery room for about an hour, and then they send you home with instructions on care and stuff. It is easy and no big deal.. I was nervous at first because they have to put the child to sleep, but I am sooooo glad we did it!!!


I hope all this info helps you!!!! PS.. Without insurance the procedure cost around $5000 dollars.... for everything.. We had insurance but they gave us an estimate anyways!!!

Answer 6

My 2 year old had to have tubes in his ears also. They were a God send! He had two ear infections in the year that he had the tubes (instead of the five that he'd had in the six months prior to getting the tubes), which is normal, but with tubes they are treated with drops instead of antibiotics, which is much better. I would recommend that you go ahead and get tubes for her ears. She may need to have her tonsils out (or does she already?) if the tubes don't work but tubes are the best place to start. Good luck!

EDIT: Check out these websites http://pediatrics.about.com/od/earinfections/a/06_ear_tubes.htm
http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/ears/ear_infections.html

To Wise Guy! - Tubal ligation is not what this procedure is called - that is when a woman gets her tubes tied. Unfortunately I accidently gave you a thumbs up instead of a down... :-(

Answer 7

The tubes are called myringomal (sp?) tubes. (FYI: tubal ligation is when a woman has her Fallopian tubes "tied")

If your child has a problem with constant fluid behind her eardrums (can be measured with a tympanogram done at the doctor's office) which gets infected when she gets sick, doctors do want you to consider tubes. I believe it helps with the drainage of the fluid behind the eardrum.

IMO - have her see an ENT who sees a lot of children. (Pediatric ENTs are not easy to find) They'll probably want to monitor the fluid in her ears - to see if it goes away on it's own and just appears right before an infection, or if it's constantly there. The whole surgery takes, without exaggeration, fifteen minutes to perform. You spend more time waiting before and after the actual surgery. But, it's defintiely something to consider. (Chiropractics has it's place, but for treating physical ailments like back injuries. I don't see a relevance to things like ear infections or asthma, and I would run away from any Chiropractor who claims they can "cure" things like that.)

Answer 8

If your daughter needs them, then I am definately in favor of them. The procedure is very simple. My son had the tubes put in when he was nine months old, and the whole procedure took an hour and 15 minutes...and an hour of that was recovery. My son has only had one ear infection since then, and he is now 2.5yrs old. Definately bring this up to your daughters doctor, and if he seems stand offish about it, insist, or seek another opinion. Remember, nobody knows your child like you do.

Answer 9

I had 'tubes' put in as a child (maybe 6-7yo). That's about 22 years ago.

I remember that I thought it sucked because it was summer time and I couldn't go in the water, and everytime I had a bath I had to put cotton balls rolled in Vaseline into my ears, to make sure no water got in them.

I haven't had another ear infection since then though.... I would definately consider it... especially since she is still young.

Answer 10

My daughter had 4 ear infections in last 3 months but I'm leery about the surgery. At this age they have to put them completely under to do it and there are serious risks associated with anesthesia.