Ear Infection 1yr old. How many is too many? Pacifiers?

Question

Hello- My son has had approx. 5-6 ear infections already and he'll be 1 old in a few weeks. We are bringing him to a specialist soon for ear, nose and throat. Anyone out there have in suggestions on how to deal with them, any advice on why they get them so often and anyone who has had kids get tubes at this age? He uses a pacifier at night, naps and when in distress only..could this be a bad thing leading to ear infections?

Answer 1

More than 6 in any 12 month period is one reason for ear tubes.... the infections occur behind their ear drums and then it gets trapped.. There is no known cause.. it doesn't matter what you do they will still get them (inner ear infections).. An ear ache is something completely different and a specialist will tell you the same thing.. So a binkie would not be the cause of the problem. The only way to deal with them is to give tylenol and motrin for fever and antibiotics, to help clear it up.. I know this because my son has dealt with reoccuring ear infections for the past two years.


Yes I recommend tubes highly.... My son (who is 2 years old) 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 taking 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 do they won't get sick.. the infection just drains right out the tube... and you might have to get ear plugs, because they can;t get water in their ears, but if you are bathing with a cup of water over the 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 sons 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 2

Your child sounds like a prime candidate for tubes. Both of my boys got them around 17-19 months and 1 got a second set at around 3 1/2. I think the rule is 6 or more infections in a year. Meaning infections that have cleared up, not the ones that need more than 1 round of antibiotics. I know you are very concerned about the thought of surgery, but it honestly is a very simple procedure. In fact, you won't finish a cup of coffee and it will be over. What helped me with the decision is my preference of using ear drop antibiotics that treat the infection at the site, versus an oral antibiotic that goes through the entire system. My older son had a mild speech delay that has been attributed to the infections and then chronic fluid without infections present. Now that he has a second set of tubes in place, I have noticed major improvements in his articulation.

Boys are more likely to get ear infections than girls. It's about anatomy. His Eustacian tubes must be horizontal and as he grows, they will become more vertical and allow gravity to help drain the fluid naturally. One nice thing about having tubes is you know exactly when they have an infection because the fluid drains into the part of the ear you can see and usually leaves a puddle on their sheet. You keep the drops at home and don't have to keep going to the doctor with each infection. Giving ear drops isn't exactly a joy at my house, but they kind of get used to it.

The tubes were much more effective with my younger son than my older one and I don't know why. My older one continued to get infections with his first set of tubes with about 1/2 of the frequency, but rarely gets them now. I suspect he has some type of allergy but have not investigated it (with my luck it's dust...tough battle to win). My younger son has only had a few infections in the 1 1/4 years since he's had the tubes. I don't think he has allergies.

Incidentally, both kids were fine once they had a nap after surgery. No big deal.

By the way, I read the other posts and milk allergies are pretty rare and are usually accompanied by digestive symptoms. Also, I believe I read that pacifiers may actually help decrease the liklihood of ear infections. Good question for the ENT. Glad to hear your child uses his pacifier on a limited basis. We did the same thing with the first one. Not so easy with the second one, but nothing was!

Good luck. Just do it!

Answer 3

My son had tubes put in at almost 14 months. He had had 5 ear infections in 5 1/2 months. Part of his problem was that we caught every cold that went around (I was working at an elementary school part time). When he developed a runny nose, we automatically scheduled a Dr's appointment for the following week, knowing that he would have another ear infection.

A tendency for ear infections can run in the family as well. I had a lot of ear infections as a child. There are other things that can contribute and the ENT Dr will probably discuss them with you before making the decision to put in tubes.

If you do get tubes for your son, it's not a painful procedure. The kid sleeps through the entire thing. The hardest part is going without food before the surgery -and of course the waiting for the parents.

Good luck and go prepared with a list of concerns for your doctor to discuss with you.

Answer 4

There are some previous remedies that some people swear by skill of. inspite of the incontrovertible fact that, you ought to continuously examine inclusive of your baby's physician until eventually now attempting something. The eardrum is extremely mushy and can truthfully rupture in case you do the incorrect subject so which you ought to be very careful. With that mentioned you need to purchase purple Oil over the counter in any pharmacy. warmth it very extremely so this is only extremely heat and drop a drop into the ear or onto a cotton ball and place the cotton ball extremely into the ear canal. you additionally can use a heating pad and set to heat or medium warmth....(no longer too warm please) and function the baby lay on the pad with the contaminated ear on it for short blocks at a time. this might draw any fluid out of the ear and get rid of the stress from the eardrum. additionally sucking on something can help with the soreness of an ear an infection via fact the sucking action looks to additionally launch stress from the eardrum besides as giving the baby something else to pay interest on. different than that the antibiotics ought to kick in quickly and get rid of the an infection. lots of love and endurance on your area will help soothe besides as something.

Answer 5

Make sure you get drainage tested. My son had a lot of ear infections when was this age. And he ended up needing 2 surgeries. It was a staph infection and was never picked up. The dr. lanced his eardrum at 10 months old.

Answer 6

well that is alot of ear infections for a one year old to have.Have you tried warm sweet oil ? Put a few drops in the ears to relieve the pain.My Son has Allergy's and he had alot of ear infections also.But after we took his tonsils and adnoids out he has only had like 2 and he don't get colds that often.I my self don't my self recomend getting tubes in But I would ask alot of questions when you go to see your Dr.Good Luck

Answer 7

i would be careful in deciding on tubes! do you or anyone else smoke in the house? also does he drink a bottle while laying down? that can contribute to the infections. good luck to you and i hope all works out soon!

Answer 8

Does he have chronic drainage from his nose or is he constantly stuffed up? Possibly he's experiencing a milk allergy. Before I'd do tubes, I'd try removing anything from his diet that may be causing a runny nose. Milk, eggs, nuts, etc.

Answer 9

no pacifier is not the problem. he might have a tooth coming in and that's causes ear infections.

Answer 10

DEAR THAT IS NOT IT
IT IS FAMILY HISTORY FROM YOUR SIDE OF THE FAMILY ARE HIS YOU NEED REALLY ASK BOTH OF THE FAMILY QUESTIONS BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT IT IS OK NOT THE PACIFIERS AND DO NOT BREAK THAT CHILD LITTLE HEART OK IT IS NOT FAULT IT IS THE GROWN UP LIKE I SAID ASK QUESTIONS NOT TO BE MEAN BECAUSE I AM NOT I LOVE EVERY BODY IN THE WORLD TAKE CARE