What is the worst thing that can happen to a one year old with an ear infection?

Question

What is the worst thing that can happen to a one year old with an ear infection?
Our one year old continuously get them in both ears and we are scared that he may go deaf, have a speech impediment or something major like that.. Is it possible?

Answer 1

Figure out what is causing the infections! Usually it is caused by allergies (cow milk being the most common).

You could also try a chiropractor.

My favorite home remedy is Garlic ear oil drops.

Your sons body needs to be able to help fight off these infections. You need to incorporate some immune building foods in your childs diet.

Answer 2

When you say continously - is there any time in between where he doesn't have an ear infection? If not, he might have one of those drug-resistant "superbugs" that's out there and might need the big gun antibiotics to get rid of it.

If there is time in between where he's infection-free, he might just be one of those kids who picks up every ear infection. They usually outgrow it.

Deafness and speech impediments have a SLIGHT possibilty, but you might have a better chance of winning the lottery.

I had more than 30 ear infections from the time I was four till I was 8 years old. I remember telling the doctor I knew what it was and he asked me when I went to "doctor school". (I was a little kid!) It was just a fluke thing. I got mono when I was 8 years old and haven't had an ear infection since. (And that was over 20 years ago!) I'm not saying this is what is going to happen to your child - it's what happened to me. I have no residual problems from that. (My hearing loss was caused by no earplugs with loud music at concerts and happened when I was 25.)

If it would make you feel better, speak to your doctor about a speech and hearing evaluation - it can be done on little kids, and many states offer it free of charge to children under 2 1/2 years old.

Answer 3

Yes, all these things are possible. Has your child seen an ENT (ear, nose & throat) doctor? If the child continuously has infections, it means there is always fluid in the ear which can cause hearing loss and speech delay. The ENT will likely recommend having ear tubes placed. The surgery only takes about 10 minutes.

My daughter has had ear infections since she was 4 months old. She recently got her 3rd set of ear tubes and had her adenoids removed at age 21 months and once the fluid problem was cleared up, she started talking alot more.

Answer 4

Ear problems should always be taken seriously. I lost the hearing in my right ear and so I know from personal experience that it's not something to take lightly. I also had a classmate who had chronic ear infections and ended up losing significant hearing in both ears. He also developed a speech impediment as a result. These may be extreme cases rather than the norm but it's best to always take ear issues seriously.

Answer 5

The question you should be asking yourself is "Why"...what is
the root cause of these infections? Often, we have "weak spots" that get targeted, but there is still a reason for this...please see a Naturopath & delve a little deeper.

Unfortunately, western medicals are not taught to treat the whole body, so they target only the part in question, which may only be the result of an underlying problem...a naturopath sees the body as a whole organism & is more educated in seeing this "big picture"...their medicines are definately more people-friendly, too.

1 yr.olds are quite resilient, and if strong otherwise, your fears are not hard-founded, though, depending on the root cause, no one can say off-hand what can come of not curing this ASAP.
By any chance, are you spraying your childs room, bed, toys, with Lysol-type or bleach-added products...big No-No, Mom!!!

Answer 6

well the short term effects are that he can get a really high fever and have a seizure from it and obviously the misery he has to go through when he has an ear infection, they hurt! as for the long term effects he can have hearing loss if he gets a lot of scar tissue in his ears from infections. it can also cause speech problems because they cannot hear as well as they should with fluid constantly in their ears. you may want to look into getting ear tubes for him. I had to do that with my daughter and it was obvious that she could hear much better after the procedure. i was very afraid to have it done at first because they have to put the child to sleep, but it was much easier and better than i thought. the procedure takes about 15 minutes and there is no pain afterwards. my daughter was back to her normal self and playing like nothing happened about 20 minutes after the procedure. I would recommend it for children who have frequent ear infections.

Answer 7

If the doctor is concerned over the number of ear infections your son is developing, he SHOULD talk to you about putting tubes in your son's ears.

Babies who have repeated ear infections generally have an underdeveloped ear canal which allows fluid to pool inside the ear. This stagnant fluid then grows bacteria and becomes an infection. Ear tubes hold the ear canal straight and prevent the fluid pools and therefore, the ear infections! If your child does end up with ear tubes, they are just temporary. They will be removed once your son's ear canal has hardened. A LOT of children have ear tubes, it is nothing serious.

Answer 8

I would take your child to an Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist. Pediatricians can tell you that your child has an ear infection and, most often, they can even tell you what caused the infection, but as far as being able to do anything more than give antibiotics they would have to refer you to an ENT anyway. Chronic ear infections can go away and not cause permenant damage, but in the case of any ear infection I would check with my Ped before deciding not to do anything about it. It is very possible that an ear infection can cause permenant damage.

Answer 9

Persistant ear infections can lead to some of the issues you mentioned. Your only defense right now, is to keep an eye on him so that you can get him to the doctor at the first signs. You might see him tugging or rubbing at his ear. This is a tell-tale sign. You may want to invest in a crib wedge so that your baby can sleep on a slight incline. It helps prevent fluid build up in the inner ear. I would especially suggest this if you lay him down with a bottle.

Answer 10

If hes continuously having them ,then you should see a doctor.My son had ear infection after another.Started when he was 6months,and he kept it.I had to constantly take him to the doctor.Then they said he needs tubes ,so he got the tubes put in.It took all of 5 minutes ,he had to be put to sleep.but he did fine.Dont let it get to the point where hes in terrible pain.My husband ,when he was 4 had an ear infection and didnt tell anyone ,his eardrum ruptured. My son still has an occasional ear infection but it goes away because it can drain the crap out now.Go to the doctor

Answer 11

YES!! My son has had horrible ear infections since he was 3 months old...his worst one was in January when his ear drum ruptured and it took 2 months to get the infection under control!! Yes it can cause scarring of the ear drum and cause hearing loss and in serious cases even deafness in the ear...many infections also lead to delays in speech development due to the hearing loss!!!

My pediatrician only ever wanted to put my son on oral antibiotics and the ear infection bacteria must have become resistant to it as the oral antibiotics stopped working! We had to take him to the hospital to get shots of antibiotics just to control it...after this I took it upon myself to get him in to an ear nose and throat specialist..he now has tubes and is doing great!!! He said with the seriousness of his infections he would likely have developed hearing loss from the infections....we were lucky to get him in when we did...(he's 2 and a half now) so I advise you to seek a specialist if your little one is as bad as mine was (an ear infection every month)