Hi All

My DD is suffering from her 4 th ear infection since last 4 months. The antibiotics do work for her, but every time she gets cold, she gets new ear infection.

In my last visit I asked pediatrician is there anything else we could do to avoid infection and she suggested me if DD gets more than 8 infections in a year , she would refer her to ENT specialist to put tubes in her ears. The tube will be inserted in ear by small surgery and they come out by themselves after 6-8 months. The tubes help draining the fluid for ear and avoid bacterial infection.

I am kind of frustrated, worried to see her in pain and the amount of antibiotics she has taken in last 4 months. Does anyone know any details about this treatment – does it really work? Are there any known side effects of it? Please let me know.

Thanks,
Suchie.
suchie replied. Thanks Smile for the information.

Yesterday I heard the same from one more mom, whose son used to come to the same daycare. Of course pediatrician has not yet suggested tubes for DD, but I don’t want to wait till she gets 8 infections in a year. My DD too suffers from high fever and loses appetite when she is on antibiotics and she has already lost so much of weight :-(

I feel if she gets one more infection in 1-2 months time I would ask her pedi about tubes option for her.

Suchie.
Smile replied. Hi Suchie, sad to hear about your DD. I know how frustrating it is to see our little ones go through this. Even Savir has been going through this. He has had like 2 ear infections. He gets cold quiet often. Each time he gets his cold we will be scared about the ear infection. Last time he had one and thats it his appetite was lost, sleep was disturbed.
I've heard about this tube procedure. It works well. My sil's son was sufferring with ear infection very frequently. The doctor said if this continues, it will lead to hearing problems and putting tubes in the ear is the best bet. They did and he was not suffering with infection anymore. Although the infections are relatively easy to treat, if a child has had multiple ear infections that do not get better easily or has evidence of hearing loss or speech delay, a doctor may suggest ear tube surgery . During this surgery, small tubes are placed in the eardrums to ventilate the area behind the eardrum and keep the pressure equalized to atmospheric pressure in the middle ear. Another good friend's son had his ear tubes done. If she gets frequent ear infection, get her ear tubes done, consulting an ENT. I am going to ask for Savir, if he is getting it frequently. Good luck.