Ear tubes for toddlers?

Question

I have a 16 month old girl who has her first ear infection now. She has it in both ears and still has it even after her medicine was done. We have an appointment with an ear, nose and throat specialist for this Thursday, and I will be asking him the following questions.. But I also wanted to hear from people that went through this with their child. I understand that ear tubes probably won't be necessary because this is her first time with an ear infection. What exactly are ear tubes? How are they put in? What are the pros and cons of having them? I have heard that in the long run, they can cause more damage than good. And how did you soothe your little one while they were having difficulty sleeping at night?Thanks!!

Answer 1

Ear tubes are tiny cylinders placed through the ear drum (tympanic membrane) to allow air into the middle ear. They also may be called tympanostomy tubes, myringotomy tubes, ventilation tubes, or PE (pressure equalization) tubes. These tubes can be made out of plastic, metal, or Teflon and may have a coating intended to reduce the possibility of infection. There are two basic types of ear tubes: short-term and long-term. Short-term tubes are smaller and typically stay in place for six months to a year before falling out on their own. Long-term tubes are larger and have flanges that secure them in place for a longer period of time. Long term tubes may fall out on their own, but removal by an otolaryngologist is often necessary.
Ear tubes are often recommended when a person experiences repeated middle ear infection (acute otitis media) or has hearing loss caused by the persistent presence of middle ear fluid (otitis media with effusion). These conditions most commonly occur in children, but can also be present in teens and adults and can lead to speech and balance problems, hearing loss, or changes in the structure of the ear drum. Other less common conditions that may warrant the placement of ear tubes are malformation of the ear drum or Eustachian tube, Down Syndrome, cleft palate, and barotrauma (injury to the middle ear caused by a reduction of air pressure), usually seen with altitude changes such as flying or scuba diving)
Your child will receive general anesthesia. This means the surgery will be performed in a hospital so that an anesthesiologist can monitor your child. Typically the procedure takes about 10 to 15 minutes. The surgeon will make a small hole in the eardrum and remove fluid from the middle ear using suction. Because the surgeon can reach the eardrum through the ear canal, there is no visible incision or stitches. The surgeon will finish by inserting a small metal or plastic tube into the hole in the eardrum. After the procedure, your child will wake up in the recovery area. In most cases, the total time spent in the hospital is a few hours. Extremely young children or those with significant medical problems may stay for a longer period. This is a very quick out-patient procedure.

Pros of ear tubes
The tube provides ventilation and drainage that prevents fluid from building up in the middle ear.
Hearing improves immediately.
There is less chance of future ear infections, less need for doctor's visits and fewer antibiotic prescriptions.
Cons of ear tubes
There's a very small risk of infection or other complications from surgery, such as scarring of the eardrum.
If the tubes don't stay in or fall out too soon, additional surgery may be needed to insert another set of tubes.
Your child may need to use ear plugs to protect the ears during bathing or swimming. (Not that big of a deal!)
General anesthesia is required, which carries its own small risks.
For a short period of time (a day or 2 to about a week) your child's balance might be a bit off. This is a normal part of the recovery after getting tubes. Your child is trying to figure out their equilibrium again. If your child was a bit clumsy before, their balance should dramatically improve.

I cannot see how tubes can cause more damage than good. My daughter got her first ear infection at age 2 weeks (along with RSV) and had ear infections every 6 to 8 weeks until she was 13 months old when she had tubes put in. All those infections have caused mild hearing loss. If she did not get tubes, she could have had major hearing loss. (She also has not had an ear infection since she had her tubes put in, and now she is 7 years old!) To help my daughter sleep when she had ear infections, I would give her Motrin/Ibuprofen before be to help with pain. I would also prop her up on a pillow so that she would not lay flat. If the pain is still bad (and it is ALWAYS worse at night), there are pain drops that your doctor can call in for you. Also, you might want to ask your doctor about an antibiotic drops. It is an antibiotic eye drop, but we have found great success with them when you use them in the ears. Another thing that worked with my daughter was rubbing the area below the ear with vapor rub. The menthol seemed to help somehow.
Not every ear infection needs antibiotics. Many ear infections that "linger" around are resistant to certain antibiotics. The resistance is only getting worse. My kids' doctor suggests that unless the fever exceeds 103 degrees F that you just treat for pain relief. It seems radical, but this is what we have done with our boys, and it seems to work. We just use Ibuprofen and the pain drops. Things seem to clear up well all on their own.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Answer 2

Ear Tubes Toddlers

Answer 3

Ask for the numbing ear drops...one of my children had lots of ear infections. Since then, I have been employed as a childcare director and seen many ear infections...and tubes inserted. Sometimes the tubes created secondary infections, but more times not the procedure went as planned and was uneventful.. Tubes are usually just used after successive infections. Seeing the ENT is a good idea. We ended up on a low dose of antibiotic every night for a month, along with a decongestant that did the trick...this was our last resort before tubes...that was 20 years ago...these days they will be quicker to do tubes. From an early ed perspective, you will want to make sure that she hears things correctly because she is forming launguage now. Most children are in and out the same day and then back to childcare the next day as long as they were fever free. Hope this helps. Get the numbing drops!!!

Answer 4

Before tubes, the doctor should find out why the infection. She may have allergies that require medication to keep her passages clear. My 7 yr old is on her 2nd set of tubes. She had them put in because she got lots of infections and when she didn't have an infection, she had so much thick fluid in her ears that she had a hearing loss. The first set stayed in her ears for 1 yr and then fell out. The fluid came back and she had to have the 2nd set put in. Ear tubes are little disc-looking things that keep the ear canal clear of fluid. They are put in at a hospital under general anesthesia. I have never heard of long term problems with tubes, but there is no guarantee that they will stay in for a long time and subsequent surgeries are very possible. Talk to the specialist and see if he recommends allergy testing first. I would only have the surgery as a last resort.

Answer 5

I have 4 children, 2 of mine had ear infections at least 6 times before age 2yrs and never got tubes in their ears. There are certain things that contribute to ear infections. Does your daughter drink fluids when laying down? If she has to go to bed with a cup you will want to prop her mattress up using pillows or a comforter. Just enough so she isn't laying flat, but not trying to sleep sitting up either. Does she take in a lot of Dairy products? You can try soy milk instead of cows milk. Veggie cheese instead of dairy cheese. Organic yogurt instead of dairy. These can be found more affordable at your local farmers market. Wal-mart and grocery stores tend to be a little more expensive. Also, when you wash her hair you can try putting cotton balls in her ears, just don't push them deep inside so you will be able to get them back out easily.
Prevention is where I think you will benefit from your line of questioning for the doctor! More than likely they will give you some drops to put in her ears since the anti-biotic didn't cure the problem. Best of luck. Take care

Answer 6

My son is 14 years old now, but when he was 1, we had his first set of tubes put in. He had them replaced 6 times until he was around 11 years old, until he FINALLY outgrew the problem. I can tell you that with all my experiences, getting tubes was the best thing I did for him. Think of it this way.....you child, without the tubes, was hearing like if you or I stuck our head under the water in the pool. Of course, hearing like that for any amount of time will effect your child's speech, especially at that young age. I would keep trying and give it more time. He is still very young and is still learning speech. I would say the words he is having trouble with over and over again, so he can hear how they are supposed to sound. I would also work on sound combinations with him when you are reading books to him at night. And, I would have him evaulated by an audiologist - my doctor had made that a requirement to have done before we got any tubes inserted. If you havn't had an evaulation, your doctor can refer you to an audiologist in your area. Then, you will need to keep going back to the audiologist at least yearly, probably more like every 6 months. She can detect hearing problems even with the tubes, and then she and your pediatritian can determine the best plan for your son which may or may not involve speech therapy.

Answer 7

I just had tubes put in my daughter's ears two weeks ago. She's 21 MO. The surgery took 10 minutes and she was up and running around again within one hour. She felt much better after doctor drained her ears. However she's having another infection right now. Only now instead of oral antibiotics we can treat her with ear drops.

Answer 8

Great questions. As a father these are things I worried about as well with my children. One ear infection is not a big deal. With that said its good to follow up with and ENT since the infection is still there. Now I need to warn you that I will bet the ENT is going to say tubes. Sorry but a lot of doctors are tube happy. Now that doesn't mean this one will but you will have to go see. What tubes are just that tubes that go into the ear drum so the fluid behind the ears can come out. They are very small and its not something you can see. Your daughter will be knocked out (sorry can't think of better word) and the ENT will cut a hole and place the tubes in. Now I know a friend who said his daughter had that done a lot of times and now she has hearing lost so I guess if you had to keep putting them in then in fact she could have hearing lost.

Let me explain my experience with two of my children and I hope that help you as well. See I have hearing impaired myself but more so from genitics. Anways when my first born had gotten ear infections the ENT wanted to put tubes in right aways. My child wasn't even one at the time. They tried to scare us saying our child would go deaf as well. After I tool my child to the audiologist I go to and found out there was not hearing lost at this time my wife and I decided against tubes. I ended up talking to my chiropractor and believe it or not he said let me adjust him. After that point my child has never had a ear infection again. My family doctor doesn't believe it but to bad. My second child had a lot of ear infections. By this time my chiropractor moved onto education and I just didn't trust anyone. Well after hearing test showed a hearing lost we felt he had to have tubes. The processure was to be simply but our child reacted bad to the medicine that puts the child to sleep. His breathing bottomed out a number of times after the operation. He would not wake up and the nurse was so concerned that she called the doctor back. After a whole day of recovery he did get well again and after a year his hearing has gotten better. With what I know now I doubt I would ever do tubes again.

thanks for the thumbs down whomever. Listen if you are worried about hearing lost in your daughter then take her to have a hearing test. Like I said the ENT trying to scare us and said our son would go deaf and they couldn't do a test until after the tubes. I took him to my own audiologist and he had perfect hearing. He wasn't even one yet. Just trying to give you another side of the story.