Ear Tubes??

Jack has had two minor ear infections and one major in the past 19 months. Only the last one was treated with antibotics which BTW he gets yeast infections from.. poor kid.. I feel his pain.. he got it from me..

But anyways, we went to the ENT and audiologist last week since Jack is fast on everything but speech. He only has a few words and tends to clam up around strangers.

He has a 40% hearing loss in his left ear due to fluid with no loss or fluid in his right

They recommended tubes but said I could wait a few months and do another hearing test. They said that you only need one ear to be 100% to hear and not have a speech problem and that he has that.

I'm terrified of having him be delayed since I said no right now to tubes... but at the same time he loves swimming above and underwater (we are in Florida and he is in the pool or gulf atleast 10 months out of the year) and he hasen't had a problem over his swimming months so I'd hate that make him hate his ears and hate the water due to getting tubes that aren't 100% needed.

I know nothing about tubes, and Dh's opinion of them are that "the drainage is nasty" ....

So please give me your two cents!

Message edited 1/2/2007 4:55:48 PM.

Re: Ear Tubes??

I don't know much about them, but one of my colleagues son has them and he is a real water baby, they swim all the time. He is dead proud of them and goes around telling people that he has "grommits" in his ears!!

Re: Ear Tubes??

My son had tubes put in when he was almost 15 months. Prior to that he had about 10 ear infections, mostly double. He was on medication constantly and the side-effects from all the antibiotics were awful.

We just went for a 6 month check up in November and they were still in.

The tubes have helped him so much. I was very hesitant about the procedure, but it was very quick and he was home running around by lunch time.

He is allowed to swim and be in the water without ear plugs...our dr said it would only be a problem if he was deep sea diving

There two types of tubes..one looks like a piece of rice and the other more like a tube. We only had drainage once and it was less drainage than when his eardrum ruptured from an ear infection.

Please FM me if you have any specific questions. I did tons of research before making the decision and I also have a cousin who was just diag. with hearing loss (not due to ear infections) if you want to know what he is going thru.

Hope this helps

Re: Ear Tubes??

We went to the doctor today and Sydney has her 5th ear infection. I asked the doctor about the tubes since my husband needed them when we was a baby and the dr. said that needing them could be genetic. My 4 year old nephew needed them when he was a year old too. He also explained that it doesnt really matter how many ear infections she has or gets it depends on how they clear. If they dont clear after a long time then there is a fluid buildup so tubes could be needed. If the fluid isnt drained that can lead to speech and hearing problems. I would get them done sooner rather than later to avoid any problems in the future.

Re: Ear Tubes??

We are going through the same thing with Sara. although she doesnt have an ear infection this week she has alot of fluid in both ears. She does some hearing loss but the ENT says it is due to the fluid and the nerve is ok. The ENT will not automatically put tubes in her ears. He wastns to wait 6 weeks and then decide. I go back Feb 3 to check again. I personally want her to have tubes so we can get rid of the fluid.

Re: Ear Tubes??

DD is getting tubes tomorrow morning. She is 13 months. She has had 9 infections in the last year - this last infection ruptured her ear drum.
She seems to be on track with speech, but her hearing loss is around that 40 range too - below normal, and while not seriously bad - it is cause for concern because this is the critical point for speech and development.

Like you - I waited to see how things would progress. With this last infection it is clear that she will continually get infections and fluid buildup.

It's a hard decison to make. I;m sure everything will work out for you.

Re: Ear Tubes??

I am with you and I would wait. With only 3 infections I would try to hold off. I have friends who have children younger than Jack and have had many more ear infections with no delays.

If you are concerned about his speech if there is a speech pathologist available to you have him evaluated. See if there is an impairments as opposed to being a shy boy. My daughter is definitely not as chatty around strangers as she is around my husband, my parents or myself though she does have a big vocabulary, if she is not comfy she will only say a word or two.

Re: Ear Tubes??

3 ear infections doesn't sound like a lot, but the real concern as far as speech development goes is whether or not there is continually fluid in the ears. there could be fluid in there without necessarily having an ear infection. was he just getting over an ear infection when he went to the ENT? if he was, perhaps it may be fluid from the infection that is still clearing out, but if not i would tend to think that he might be prone to having fluid in his ears. if i were you i would probably want to have him rechecked in a few weeks to see if the fluid is a habitual thing or if it was just there from a recent infection.