Need More Infor About Ear Tubes!

we had a wonderful experience with tubes with both my older children would do it all over again - one tiny little tube by far outweighs antibiotics thats for certain.

K.,

My son got tubes at 11 months; he is now 22 months.
I spent 7 months with a child that had constant ear infections. I tried chiropractic but they had me coming in so much and at $20 a pop it got costly.

We had the surgery done, and of course we were nervous. He did great! We sat down for a whopping 5 minutes and he was done. The ENT said his were horrible; full of thick fluid. That made me realize we made the right decision.

He has one ear infection since the tubes- but we all got horribly sick after a plane ride. I expect them to fall out soon.

I saw Dr. Melissa O'Brien (Beaumont) on recommendation - I liked her a lot.

My son is 5yrs old and just had tubes put in his ears this past November. Everytime he would getany type of cold, flu, allergy - he would end up with ear infections. It got to the point that as soon as he would say his ear hurt, we would take him to the doctor because we knew it was ear infections. Tubes have been a godsend for us. This is the longest he has gone without ear infections! He is so much happier as are we. The procedure is super quick. Definitely talk to an ENT about it. My ENT actually had us try a nose spray first to see if it would help, not trying to do surgery first. Best of luck!

My son had tubes put in when he was 9 months. We went to the ENT and he said that this should stop the ear infections. So we set up a surgery date. We had to go in at 6 am in the morning, but we didnt have surgery until 7:45. It was a little scary. When the nurses took him from me i went to go get a cup of coffee from the cafe in the hospital. It wasn't but 15 min and we had just sat down with our coffee in the waiting room that the doctor came out and said that he was done and we can go see him. It was so fast. Dealing with your child as they come down off the medication stinks cause they are very fussy. He was fine with in 2 days. The doctor told us that there was a small percent that surgery doesn't work and he can still get ear infections, but that if he does the tubes will allow the infection to drain. Well thats what happened. My son still got ear infections ALL winter. His tubes just fell out last month (he is 20 months now). So we are still dealing with ENTs and ear problems. BUT the tubes did help drain the infection so he never had a build up pressure in his ears. My son fell into a small percentage of children. When you go to the ENT ask all the quentions that you can think of. I hope this Helps

My DD had her tubes put in at 15 months and we've never had anymore problems, surgery was quick and she went rite to daycare afterword.
MY friends child got them at the same age, and he still gets infections, same with his younger bro.
We had the same doc. I guess it depends on the child.
Treat his allergies, it will help prevent the infections.
You could try an antihistamine too.

K.,

I too, had gone thru much of what you must be. I can only imagine the late nights of crying you are experiencing! :(

I wish that I researched the natural therapies first, tho. I have heard WONDERFUL things on Cranial Sacral and Chiropractic. However, some chiro's will have you in so often your own head will spin (as they are only after the money, and they can damage the tendons if they do it too often.). Reflexology is another wonderful option as for my son, he would get the infection when he was coming off of a sinus cold. I worked his feet with a wonderful blend of oils (all more pure than health food stores have as I get them out of the country at a distillery.).

After I became certified, my son NEVER had an ear infection again - even with the tubes we had put in.

I wish you the best... I know the trouble you are going thru!

:)

My now 10 year old had tubes put in when he was 15 months old because he had chronic ear infections. It was wonderful for him and I don't think he's had a single ear infection since. Still today he gets a lot of gooey drainage, but that's a good thing. Talk to your ENT and see what they think and then if you're not sure you can always seek a second opinion.

Good luck!

hello K., my son had tubes put in in Jan. age 4, quick easy and was up playing when we got home. It was wonderful to hear my son say MOM I can hear things better now! yes they can still get infection (every kid does) BUT they will not be so painful anymore! My son has had 2 ear infections but they were not that bad and it didnt hurt him! Although he does need his tonsils out and that will improve his eras too i guess!
good luck i hope this helps, it was worth it for us!
B.

Hi K.

My son had the same problem with several ear infections and at 18 months we took him to an ENT and they determined that he needed tubes. My husband and I weren’t sure that we should have them put in; but based on the information the ENT gave us we decided to have it done. I’m glad that we made that decision to go ahead because since then we haven’t had any problems with his ears and he didn’t walk prior to 18 months and as soon as they were put in he started running. We have also went swimming several times since and we haven’t had any problems......my son is used to the ear plugs because we use them every time he takes a bath.

I hope this information is helpful.

S.

My third child has tubes in his ears. He has allergies and asthma so always had a lot of fluid in his ears, even when they weren't infected. This affected his speech eventually as well. We went to Dr. Belenky at Children's Hospital in Detroit (who is an excellent pediatric ENT) for the surgery. My son was really scared (he was newly 5 at the time) by the hospital and dressing gown, and all the doctors. We let him bring his gameboy and the VideoNow and just really tried to keep him as upbeat and busy as possible. They asked me to walk into the surgery room with him, and hold his hand as he went to sleep (they put him out with a mask, not a shot) so he would know it would be ok. However, I thought I was going to lose it and become hysterical or something. It was SO scary when they put him out - he *felt* dead to me. I was terrified, but I managed to hold it together. A year after the operation and he hasn't had another ear infection since, and with some speech therapy, his speech is almost back to normal too. (He can say the sounds properly now - just trying to break old habits)I am very happy with the results, just thought I'd warn you that the procedure itself might be a little scary so you had some time to work into the idea. :) Good luck!

Hi K.,
My daughter just got tubes put in at the end of February. And it has made such a big difference. The procedure was very fast and easy. It only took the doctor 15 minutes to put them in.

Since then, she has had 2 colds and no ear infections. Before this she would have had a double ear infection, then put on antibiotics and been miserable for days.

A few people suggested going to a chiropractor. But, I felt this route was more comfortable for us. She is petrified when my husband and I go and screams the entire time we are there. And he doesn’t even see her!

Another reason we choose the tubes over a chiropractor is my daughter is not even 2. So she can’t tell me her ears hurt. I am guessing when they are infected. I didn’t want to damage her hearing by missing an infection or by waiting too long to get it treated.

I highly recommend the procedure.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Good luck!

Ear tube surgery was such a good option for my son who is now 3 years old. He had chronic ear infections from 8 months until he got his tubes at 14 months. He is so much more healthy now! I would reccomend the surgery to anyone who's child has had chronic ear infections. I did not like having him constantly on antibiotics. My daughter who just turned a year is probably going to have the surgery as well.