5 yr old. Middle ear fluid. Tubes??

Hoping to get some much needed advice from those Moms that have 4 - 6 yr olds that battled with inner ear fluid??

My DD only had two ear infections this winter but then ended up with fluid in her ear that won't go away.

Her hearing is affected somewhat but no delay in speech or learning.

So we don't know what to do? Get the adenoids out and tubes at the ENT recommendation. Or wait till spring/summer and see if it clears up?

Any experiences and feedback would be so wonderful.

Thanks!

Re: 5 yr old. Middle ear fluid. Tubes??

I have a similar situation - DS is 5 1/2 and failed his hearing test last year. He has had a lot of ear infections growing up, and loses his hearing when he is sick.
Went to an amazing ENT, discovered that his ear drums are kind of sucked in and his tubes do not drain properly. So his hearing is slightly delayed. He has no issues b/c of this though.
So we have been going back every few months to check his hearing, trying to get past the need for tubes. He was put on a steroid nose spray to help with the fluid and it has been working well.
HTH!

5 yr old. Middle ear fluid. Tubes??

DD just had her tubes and adenoids removed. She will be 6 in May.
She hasn't really had ear infections (only 2 in her life) but she's been in speech therapy since she was 3 and no where near a point where she can stop. Her speech therapist this year recommended we see an ENT to see if there was a hearing issue and she had an 80% blockage from the fluid. He said that we can either start to treat with medication and see what happens or we can do the surgery and get immediate relief. We decided that we already more than half way through the school year and didn't want to loose any more time. We scheduled the surgery right away - why would we wait to give her her precious hearing back?
The difference has been amazing! Not only in school - her math scores went from 75% to 90% (because she couldn't hear her teacher say the directions clearly). She likes to talk more because she knows that she can hear what people are saying back to her. I've also seen an amazing difference in her activities - dance, soccer, with friends. She can participate because she hears what is going on, instead of waiting on the sidelines to see what everyone else does and then follow along. We don't regret going straight to surgery.
HTH. Feel free to message me with any questions. Good luck!

Re: 5 yr old. Middle ear fluid. Tubes??

Have you had a second opinion? We saw someone out here who wanted to take out her adenoids, take out her tonsils and put tubes in her ears ( she was 5 going on 6 -June birthday and we had it done in April).

I went for a second opinion with Dr Robert Ward at NYU ( has a Woodbury location too). He want to take her adenoids out, shave her tonsils and maybe put one tube in depending on what he saw when he went in and she was out. He is in best doctors and has an excellent reputation.
He ended up not putting the tube in and it was the right decision for her.

She had daily headaches, recurring illness, fluid in her ear that was not going away and was slightly effecting her hearing. By removing the adenoids all the fluid trapped behind it and in her ears was able to drain and no longer a problem.

Re: 5 yr old. Middle ear fluid. Tubes??

My son had a bad winter last year. He only had 2 ear infections, but the fluids never drained. Same problem the winter before. He had some hearing loss. We took him to ENT and the fluid in his ear was almost glue like. He had speech issues as well. Tubes were put in a few months before he turned 5, and he is so much better now.

Re: 5 yr old. Middle ear fluid. Tubes??

My DS who just turned two at the beginning of march had tubes put in and adenoids out in January. Best decision ever made! He hears everything now. His speech is a 1000x better. He has not had any ear infections since the surgery. Before surgery we were in the peds office every other week. I felt like I saw my ped more than I saw my husband! Even ped commented at DS 2 year old appointment that he hadn't seen us in two months. If the ENT recommended it i would totally do both. Taking the adenoids out will help with the ears and the draining with the tubes.

5 yr old. Middle ear fluid. Tubes??

We had a similar situation last year. We waiting to see if it would clear up, and it never did. We ended up getting her ear tubes put in and it went very smoothly.