Would you push for tubes?

[Deleted]

Does she have fluid in her ears? Or is that clearing between infections?

[VillainV]

We are pushing for C to get tubes. He's had several EIs (4?) in the last 3 months. He's behind on speech, but probably not due to the EIs based on timing (meaning, he was delayed well before the EIs started, though it might be contributing to the issue). The fluid doesn't drain in between EIs. We've had it.

[Deleted]

Consult with an ENT and see what they say.

[lilac05]

Most likely, yes.

[july]

We didn't push for tubes. My daughter had more ear infections. It was pretty constant during the winter, but it never crossed the threshold for my pedi. We thought about it a couple of times, but then. They stopped for the season. She eventually outgrew them. She also seemed to be speaking and responding to noises in an appropriate manner. Her cousin had tubes around the same time and it seemed like such a pain. They kept having to be reinserted, had to go for check ups, keep water out of ears.

When I was a child I had my hearing checked before getting tubes. I had very significant temporary hearing loss that affected my speech development. I ended up going through a lot of speech therapy. Doing a hearing test may help to determine if your daughter needs tubes.

How old? How frequent? What antibiotics were used?

[curbsideprophet]

I don't think I would push for tubes after only two ear infections. I guess I would need to know more about why the second one took seven weeks to clear up.

[litasail]

Were the three antibiotics different (e.g. amoxicillan, cefdinir and augmentin), or all the same?

If the former, that's a pretty typical progression that can take awhile. Some kids/kids' ears only respond to a certain antibiotic. So that would mean that the amount of time it took to clear up was because it took awhile to find the right med, not because she has issues with the fluid not clearing despite meds, if that makes sense.

If it was the same med the whole time, I'd probably ask for an ENT consult.

[barefootcontessa]

ENT consult.

[kdubs923]

I'd get the ENT referral. I was hesitant when the pedi recommended it, but she convinced me by reminding me that just because we were seeing the ENT, didn't mean automatic tubes. Just that we'd book an appt (which can take months for new patients), establish a relationship and get the ENT familiar with dS' medical history if we needed something in the future.

Ultimately, one more antibiotic resistant EI and meeting with the ENT was enough to get me on board with tubes. No regrets. I appreciated getting the opinion of someone who was more familiar with ears than the regular pedi.

[Ashley&Scott]

Sept 3, 2015 20:39:30 GMT -5 @cookiemonster03 said:

7 weeks??


Tubes were life changing for us. See an ENT.

This. I would see an ENT pronto.

[natablue]

We just had a consult with an ENT yesterday. They said their criteria for assessing whether tubes may be beneficial is three ear infections in a six month span. DS had had three in the past three months, five total so far this year.

He's experiencing now speech delay or hearing issues that I can tell.

He just finished a round of augmentin that seemed to kick this last one. Prior rounds of amoxicillin and cefdinir didn't seem to be as affective - the EI came back within weeks both times.

They used a special tool that could measure the pressure in his ears and determined they were free of fluid. Ten days ago, his pedi said the infection was gone but there was still fluid in his ears. That's also been the case previously, and the fluid not draining is contributing to the likelihood he will get another EI.

So the ENT said the ball is in our court. They will schedule the surgery now for tubes if we want it. Or we can take a wait and see approach and decide then, in the event he gets another EI in the next couple months.

[JayhawkGirl]

Tubes were a godsend for us. We're on the second set for our kindergartner. Between the infections, antibiotics, sleep, and speech delays, we needed them. The second set was brought on by fluid instead of infections, but that fluid left him with 40dB hearing losses in both ears. We are in speech therapy now to get back what he was missing in the year it took us to figure out he needed them even though he "only" had fluid, not infections.