Should I put tubes in my child's ears?

Question

My husband and I are torn on what to do. Our pediatrician says wait it out, we took her to an ENT who sais tubes will help.

She's had 8 ear infections since May 2006. She'll be 2 end of July.

This last one didn't clear up w/ ammoxyciillin so a stronger antibiotic had to be prescribed. Does this mean she's becoming
immune to antibiotic?

If you've had experience with tubes or your child has them or you decided against it. I'd love to hear your reasons for your decisions and the outcome if you'll share. We'll trying to gather as much first-hand knowledge as possible.

Thank you in advance.

She's had no hearing loss we are aware of and has a great vocabulary for her age, os that's not a factor so far.

Answer 1

Ok my daughter has ear infections like they are going out of style. And when I, my sister, and all my cousins were little so did we. So I actually chose it as the subject for a research paper I had to do a while back and found out some really interesting information. Here's the deal...they don't show a difference in hearing loss in the cases of horrible ear infections. Longitudinal study showed that the kids who waited it out and the kids who got tubes had relatively comparable hearing later in life. However, the tubes group showed a marked improvement in behavior and a reduced frequency of "severe" infection. I don't remember exactly what they defined severe as but there was an improvement. My family swears by tubes. My mother claims that ear infection prone babies are almost worse than colicky ones and that tubes are a gift from god. I know that personally my ear drum ruptured 3 times before I got the tubes put in and never after-wards. However, my suggestion is maybe you should mix the two approaches. Try a wait and see for a little bit and then if it's still continuing in a bad trend go for it. My daughter has had ear infections almost monthly (and sometimes two a month) since she was 6 months old. She'll also be 2 in June. So if our pediatrician recommenced tubes we wouldn't think twice and she's (our pediatrician) had made it clear that 2 is her cut off point. If our daughter doesn't start to show a decrease in severity and frequency by then we're going to do tubes probably. And don't worry about the amoxycillin being ineffective. It doesn't always mean that they're immune it can mean that the ear infection is just worse. My daughter has only taken amoxycillin once...every other ear infection we've gotten one of the bigger guns. Perhaps your daughter infections just weren't warranting stronger ones and now they are. I hope this helps you some on your decision and good luck for your family on whatever route you chose! If you want to research additionally with actual peer reviewed studies the full name is tympanostomy tubes and there are actually very many people who are charting the effects of them. You local university library would probably be a gold-mine of information, though it'll be really technical.

Answer 2

My son also had an abundance of ear infections, starting from about 6 months of age. We were needing stronger and stronger antibiotics to clear the infections, and my son did experience some reversable hearing loss. We did tubes twice, once around 10 months and again about age 2. The second time, they used a different kind of tube, which seemed to work much better. They also took out his adenoids, but not tonsils. Unlike your daughter, my son wasn't speaking much. After the adenoids came out and the second set of tubes went in, both his hearing and vocabulary increased dramatically. He has been treated for only one more ear infection since, and he just turned 10. Up to that point, he was having at least one infection every two months, often in both ears. The recovery time from the tubes seemed to be hours, and even with the adenoids, within hours, he was feeling really good. It is hard to make the decision to allow optional surgery on a young child. Perhaps seeing another ENT for a second opinion would help. Good luck to you both, and your daughter too.

Answer 3

My 10 month old has had 7 ear infections and ammoxycillin stop working because his body got used to it. So the pediatrician did UNICEF and he had an allergic reaction to it. Then we did the 3 dosage of shots and a month later he got another ear infection. We tried everything and finally put tubes in his ears and it's been a blessing! He's not scratching or pulling his ears and he was even pulling his hair because the ear infections were hurting so bad! I know we did the right thing, but I'm glad that we tried everything else just to make sure. Ask yourself this question; how many ear infections does ababy have to go through before getting tubes? Good luck!

Answer 4

My daughter had tubes put in her ears shortly after she turned 2. Before then we were at the doctor probably 3-4 times a month with ear infections. She would go in with a single infection, then a week later have a double ear infection even on the medication. We went in for the tubes, she was done in about 30 minutes, and by the time we got home (30 minutes later) she was up running around like nothing happened. They stayed in for 18 months and she only had 1 ear infection that whole time. I would recommend them to ANYBODY.

Good luck

Answer 5

YES, do it!
My daughter had tubes put in when she was 1. She had tons of infections and fluid. We went through every antibiotic they could offer, with no changes. We never thought twice about putting in the tubes, this was to help her and we'd do anything for her health!
She developed a lisp, they say she may have not heard the early sounds she needed to have. She's 8 and has been in speech class for the past 2 years, relearning how to say some sounds....such as words starting with "r", etc.
Please don't wait too long. The tubes fall out without you even knowing, they are so small. It's amazing how they work.
And yes, she was in a daycare setting as a small child when she started having ear infections.
We are looking into having her tonsils and adenoids out very soon, as well. Mainly to help with the allergies she's recently developed.
But overall, she's very healthy and hears perfectly! Do what you can to help your children. They can't take care of themselves, and look to you for help.
Good luck in your decision! =)

Answer 6

Yes! My son had tubes put in at 10 1/2 months. They said he probably couldn't hear for those first 10 months because of all the fluid. He was so delayed because of this problem, that the state had to step in and help.

The night after he got tubes, he sat up by himself for the first time, I cried! He crawled at about 15 months and walked the day before he turned 18 months

Now, people who meet my son can't believe he was so delayed when he was that little. He's now 3, all caught up (except potty training) and incredibly smart & funny. I've ran into people who knew my son before he got tubes and they can't believe it's the same person.

Luckily he only needed one set. The doctors do keep check on his ears but we've had no problems and only 1 ear infection since. Before he got the tubes he had about 8 ear infections in 10 months.

They truely changed my son's life

Answer 7

My son has had tubes 3 times (at 9 mos, 2 yrs, and 3 yrs), and my daughter once at 1 yr. I recommend them highly with the amount of infections your daughter has, and that she's not responding to antibiotics (common problem there days I'm afraid). Its a minor procedure (10 minutes) and literally no recovery time. Even though she has no hearing issues right now, when she has an active infection it is affecting her hearing at that time. It is still possible to get ear infections with tubes, but pretty rare, and they don't get the pain associated with ear infections with tubes in, since there is no pressure buildup and the pus can drain out. Most kids only need them once (like my daughter) and as they get older their eustation tubes get bigger and therefore they get less infections. My son has had them several times as he continued to get tons of infections after the tubes fell out (they only stay in about a year), and he has a major speech delay.

Answer 8

Our son had the same situtaion and it was beginning to emerge in our then infant. He was passing hearing test but then the test were only performed when he didn't have an infection (which was more often then not). It wasn't until he was 3 and only saying 20 words that doctors finally approved tubes for him and our baby (seeing as the trend was repeating it's self). As we were leaving the hospital after the procedure, my son said "Mommy, I want Chicken nuggets"...something that he had never been able to say before! I cried all the way home. Five years later, he's still in speech therapy but doing wonderfully and the baby never had a speech problem!

I highly recommend them and if it helps at all, my cousin is a peditrician and her 10 month old just got tubes.

Answer 9

They have been using tubes in the ears for a lot of years. They are very successful. Never heard of any complications with them. The child goes through so much during these times. Give them the help they need. The ENT are specialists. It is helping them. I don't think you will be sorry.
Too many antibiotics are not good for anybody. After a while they get so they don't work.
Good luck.

Answer 10

First I need to ask if your child is in daycare?? My niece was in daycare and sick all the time with ear infections to the point they wanted to do tubes if she got another one. She was then taken out of daycare and hasn't had an ear infection since then.

Second did the pediatrician recommend this ENT? If so I would be as confused as you are. If not I would listen to the pediatrician. Many people have put tubes in their children's ears with success and others the tubes fall out right away.