sick baby...
Find a Conversation
sick baby...
| Mon, 01-24-2005 - 12:12am |
i had to take my baby girl to the dr this week and turns out she is having problems with ear infections. this is her fourth one and the dr wants us to go see an ear nose and throat dr. the reason they want her to see this guy is because they think she may be a candidate for tubes in her ears. also the dr says that problems like that can be genetic. both me and my husband had problems with this when we were children. has anyone got any suggestions or have had a child with tubes? thanks a bunch...
miranda

Are you a M.O.M-Mom of Many? Find other M.O.M's
I've never been through this with my kids, although I remember when my brother did (he had his tonsils & adnoids removed at the same time). It was rough on him, I remember that.
Here are a couple of links that I found for you to check out:
http://www.parentsplace.com/health/earlychildhood/articles/0,,166617_110737,00.html
http://www.parentsoup.com/experts/ped/qas/0,,416631_417270,00.html
I hope she feels better soon!
My DS had trouble with chronic fluid in his middle ear, what they call "otitis media with effusion". He only had two full blown ear infections, one at five months and then again about a year later. They were extremely painful for him and the first one was scary for me. DH was traveling and DS came down with a very high fever. The motrin cured the fever, but shortly thereafter DS woke up screaming uncontrollably (and this was my placid baby -- I'd never seen him flip before, so I knew something was really wrong) at 11PM on a blizzard-ish January night. I took him to the ER. They said both his ears were red as fire trucks. But they were glad they could identify a cause because otherwise, they would have had to do a spinal tap (!).
After his second ear infection, when they followed up on him after the antibiotics, they noticed the fluid. And we had to keep going back so they could follow it. They said a lot of times the fluid goes away on it's own. Eventually it did, at about the three month mark. And that was good, because I think that may have been the point at which they would have recommended considering tubes. By coincidence, DS started talking up a storm right before the DR pronounced him better. He only had a few words and wasn't very interested in speaking until then ...about 22 months (although he always had good comprehension).
I think one of the reasons that they recommend tubes sometimes is so that the condition doesn't interfere with speech development. My cousin's DS had many ear infections like your daughter and he eventually had tubes put in, which resolved the issue. He later had them removed, but sometimes they fall out on their own and you don't have to have a procedure to remove them. Sometimes they fall out prematurely though, which I have also heard about. Another mom told me her DS had to keep having them re-inserted.
Because my cousin had such a relatively good time with tubes as a treatment, I wasn't overly concerned at the prospect that DS might need them. A friend of mine sent me this book and it was very helpful in understanding all the pros and cons of tubes ... and in suggesting alternative treatments and research. If the Dr.s had suggested that DS have the tubes, I would have been more informed and known what questions/issues to discuss with DS's pediatrician. Here it is (I'm sure there are many good resources for info on this very common child health issue ... this is just the one that I read):
Healing Childhood Ear Infections: Prevention, Home Care, and Alternative Treatment by Michael A. Schmidt
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/155643216X/qid=1106577755/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-2351285-1051962
(Edited to add that there is also a lot of info in this particular reference about allergies as a possible cause of chronic ear infections ... and how you might eliminate or pinpoint the triggers for such allergies. I wasn't looking forward to having to mess around with DS's diet if he did require more treatment ... but the theory seemed to make a lot of sense. I would have felt obliged to at least investigate a little to try to find a fix and avoid the surgery ... because while tubes work well for many kids, there do seem to be some drawbacks to it as a treatment.)
Also, sites like webmd.com have some good info:
http://my.webmd.com/hw/ear_disorders/aa60610.asp
Good luck and let us know how it turns out! I know it can be hard to sort through medical issues when your baby is involved! Best wishes!
Edited 1/24/2005 10:23 am ET ET by donachiara
My cousin had them put in as a young child and has been 100% ear infection free since.
Good luck and I am sure if it is done, things will be much better for your child.