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!!
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
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.
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!!!
