Update and ear trouble

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone!

I wanted to write to see what the experts had to say about ear infections. We never had this issue with my first, Lucas, who is now five. My dd, 17 mos old now, has had double ear infections since basically late November. She did two courses of ten day antibiotics, which did nothing, then in Jan ended up having injections (three days in a row) of Rocephin (sp?) an antibiotic used carefully for really nasty infections that don’t go away. This seemed to help tremendously. Then three weeks later we were back with a double ear infection. What this meant was that there’s been fluid in her ears since late Nov and although we had three weeks where it wasn’t infected, that’s just not good and the docs say the fluid was there the whole time regardless. The docs have scheduled for ear tubes & the ped gi wants to piggy-back on that and do an endoscopy. I’m glad for the information and the tubes– but want to know about others’ experiences. Could her reflux or sleep improve with the tubes? She’s on augmentum (sp?) now and the sleep improved after going on the antibiotic– which I’m guessing we’ll use until her surgery– which is scheduled for 3.19. Anyways, am I crazy to think that things might improve with the tubes? Maybe the ears have been more of a problem all along and I never thought about it since ds never had that issue. Her first known ear infection was this past late Nov– she was 14 months old.

Thanks for listening. We’ve had a long road of not getting enough sleep….AGAIN. Although not as bad as the first time around, I’m tired! and hoping for some good outcomes. Thanks in advance.

Oh, I should say she’s still on Zegerid (3Xday), we ended up co-sleeping so I could survive and I still think reflux is still part of the story. She still wakes with pretty urgent sounding crying, even if I’m right there next to her. A three hour stretch is GREAT, a four hour stretch of sleep is AMAZING and *not* typical. she’s 17 mos, 21 lbs.

[Anonymous]

Anne, I can’t even remember how many ear infections Hailey had in a six month period. I think it was upwards of 6 or 7. All I can say is do it!!! It was so great for us. We had it done at around 19 months, I think. We didn’t realize how much it was impacting her speech until she said her first phrase to me the day I picked her up. She woke up from a nap, and I said “I’m coming”, and she hollered back “I comeeee”, like she’d never heard it before! Her speech took off after that. Also, she started taking her bottles much more willingly after that. As for sleep, well it wasn’t the asnwer for us, I hate to say. But it really was a turning point for the gradual climb upwards to better times. We also piggybacked the surgery- we did ear tubes and an ear tag removal at the same time. We couldn’t do the scope, because they only did it at the children’s hospital, and her ears were done urgently. Sorry to hear that you’re not getting any sleep again this time around. So great to hear from you! Hope that this helps a lot. HUGS.

[Anonymous]

I can’t speak from personal experience but I know many moms who have said the ear tubes saved them. I think her sleep will greatly improve and like Lori said speech may as well. Good Luck.. the procedure is quick and easy from what I have been told.

[hellbennt]

HI ANNE!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Owen never slept through the night for 9 months and the day we got the tubes, he slept through the night– the sleep was not perfect after that, but much improved. Your story of antibiotics and the Rocefin was EXACTLY like ours. The meds just never completely cleared him.
The first set was in July and fell out unfortunately in Dec and it was the same story within weeks. So he got a second set in Feb and those lasted until he was 3. One is actually still sitting in the canal the doctor said at his 3 yr check up. The second go round they also took out his adenoids which also made his breathing/congestion stuff from reflux better.
I will second what Lori said about the language, I thought Owen didn’t talk much b/c he had an older sibling to do all of that for him, but he just couldn’t hear. We got tubes and his language took off from there!
Good luck, I tell everyone to go for it when I’m asked about tubes, there were only improvements for us!
We’ve only had 1 ear infection since he got tubes at 16 months and he’s 3 1/2.

[Anonymous]

Hi ladies,

thanks so much for your thoughts and sharing your stories. It helps so much to know what your experiences were. So many moms tell me their children have/had ear tubes but many of them do not also have reflux and our kind of sleeping issues in the mix, as well. I am hoping so much that this will improve things. The ped gi wants to do an endoscopy too, and I’m calling today to see if he’s doing a ph probe as well. Anyways, I really appreciate your thoughts. This forum has done so much for us, even though i’ve used it sparingly with Norah and I’ve been largely absent with trying to handle two and not sleeping well this time around, either. Just knowing that this is there in the world to ask a question or to get support is amazing. Thanks.

–anne

[Anonymous]

Hi Anne,

Coming in super late here, but I agree so much with all the previous posters!

Landen was always a horrible sleeper with reflux and contant EI’s (and if he did not have an EI, he had constant fluid). His first set of ear tubes was put in right around 11 mos old and lasted until just recently and he is 3! It was an AWESOME tube placement…we have an amazing ENT!

I KNEW immediately when his tubes fell out b/c the FIRST cold he got (complete with returned reflux symptoms and night waking) he got a NASTY double EI with green coming from one ear and OJ colored fluid leaking from another. TMI and GROSS I know, but it was nasty! It would not clear up with ABX, steriods, abx ear drops (ciprodex) etc etc. Round 2 of antibiotics partially cleared them but as it stands today, they are STILL infected!!

We are going in monday (the 15th) for our 2nd set of tubes and an adenoidectomy. He has always been a loud snorer and gasper at night (scares the crap out of me) and I feel the removal of the adenoids will help, and so does the ENT. I am really stoked about the replacement of the PE tubes as well! They’ve been a LIFESAVER!

Yes, it will help Norah immensely, I think!!

[Anonymous]

my almost 11 month old has had about 5 ear infections in the past 6 months and we are going to the ENT next week to discuss tubes. We are very fortunate that he handles them as well as he does and it is really hard to tell when he has one… when it gets really bad he will stop eating and get really fussy at bedtime and naptime (laying down hurts their ears).

What I am worried about is that the fluid in his ears is affecting his hearing and will cause developmental delays, so I am really pushing to get those tubes to help the little guy out.

[Anonymous]

HI ANNE!!! what did you end up doing? my twins got tubes at 11 months old and molly got tubes at 8 months old. never sorry i di any of them—i only wish that ian had gotten tubes when he was little. elliot was at the point we wwere considering tubes—and the ear infections stopped.

sylvia, with all her other troubles, only ever got one ear infection.

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I just wanted to update everyone. Thanks so much for your encouragement, it means a lot. Norah had ear tubes and an endoscopy done on 3/19. the tubes were successful and will hopefully be the end of antibiotics for a while for her. The ped gi said the endoscopy found her entrance to the stomach “very loose.” He explained that this was different from other children her age and the reason for her reflux, and the reason why at 18 months we are still struggling with reflux. He said he did not see a hiatal hernia (which her brother, 5 yrs old has) and that this should resolve as she continues to grow. I was so relieved to know there is a reason for the reflux and to know that my hunches that she’s in pain when she cries in the night are not just all in my head!! She was also allergy tested (they drew blood and did the blood test) for all the common environmental & food allergens and it all came back negative. Although the ped gi said if I’m avoiding all the problem foods and so is she, he’s not sure the blood test would have shown allergic? I’m still so confused on the allergy thing. Lucas even gets a skin reaction to gluten and wheat and his blood test was negative as was his celiac test. Apparently, we have a bad combination of genetics for the lower esophagis region (HA!) AND both our children have very sensitive stomachs &/or multiple protein intolerances much worse than the average. Ugh. Anyways, that’s the latest. Any thoughts on allergy testing or anyone else had a “loose” stomach entry/LES area diagnosis from endoscopy? I hope all of you are well and sleeping better than us! Thanks again.

[Author]

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