Have any of your kids had ear tubes put in?

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ipoplaya_IHB

ipoplaya_IHB

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The ENT specialist is recommending them for my 17-month old due to frequent ear infections. Anyone have any experience with this?
 
As an adult a few years ago, I had ear tubes put in due to an ear infection from my daily lap swimming. It was a simple outpatient procedure and it alleviated the pain tremendously. The tubes fell out on their own accord about a year later, but I understand that they usually fall out of kids ears within a few months because they heal much faster than adults. It's a very common procedure among kids, I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I had a lil cousin (5 yr) who had it done a couple of months ago. He used to get frequent ear infections (2x a month on ave)

After they put them in he was fine and he no longer has ear infections.
 
ipo....

if your ENT reccomends it then your kid needs them. We do this all the time. Your kid may do fine without the tubes but you risk hearing loss and associated develomental delays due to impaired hearing. Very minor procedure, nothing to sweat over.
 
I agree that it's a pretty simple, safe, and common procedure. However, the New England Journal of Medicine, Jan 18, has a research article indicating there's no statistical difference in terms of hearing or speech development between kids who have the tubes placed, and those who don't. The indications are ear infections more frequent than 3 in 6 months. Also, most kids "outgrow" ear infections around 24 months as their anatomy changes. After 30 years in health care, I'm a minimalist when it comes to interventions!
 
Yes the indications are recurrent infections but you put the tubes in prevent the complications of infection which is hearing loss, not treat the infection. Haven't seen that NEJM article but my experience with tubes is that in 20 years of health care I haven't seen any kids harmed by having tubes put in either but I have seen kids or grown kids with hearing loss from not putting tubes in for recurrent infections.
 
Appreciate the feedback... The downfalls/drawbacks seem minimal with some good upside potential. My little dude has had five infections in six months. When he gets hammered by them, he doesn't eat or sleep well. Even without the infection present, he's had fluid in his ears for pretty much the entire cold/flu season. They never fully clear before he gets another build-up. We think that is delaying his speech development some.
 
ipo,

Go with the tubes. My wife suffered hearing loss as a child due to the same things your child has.

At least, that's what she tells me when she claims she didn't hear me say something.
 
I'm not adding anything new to this conversation but for what it's worth here's our experience with tubes. Our son had them put in when he was a toddler. He had a few ear infections the winter before he turned 2 years old. Prior to the tubes he was always pulling on his ears and acting whiny about them. We were constantly taking him to the doctor and even after the infections had been treated there still seemed to be fluid and goo in his ears. Once the tubes were put in he was fine. Perhaps he would have been fine anyway, I don't know. I only know he was uncomfortable prior to the tubes being put in and he was comfortable afterwards.

He was the only one of my three kids to get tubes. He's 9 now and his ears still require regular attention. It sounds gross but he's pulled gobs of wax out of his ears before. Neither of my other kids have that problem but his body seems to generate enormous amounts of wax. Looks just like that scene in Shrek when he pulls the candle out of his ear..hope none of you were eating while you read this.
 
Nude said:
ipo,

Go with the tubes. My wife suffered hearing loss as a child due to the same things your child has.

At least, that's what she tells me when she claims she didn't hear me say something.
Click to expand...

Nude, dude, did you say something, sorry I can't hear you..
 
My daughter had tubes put in at 17 months - she had had numerous ear infections plus problems with asthma during the months preceding the tubes. They were a lifesaver for us - her tubes didn't fall out for an extra long time - about two years I think - and during that time I think we only had one ear infection. However, we were lucky they stayed in for so long - a friend of mine had to have the tubes put in a second time because her son's fell out in six months - however, they also helped her son a lot which is why she had no problem having them put back in again. According to our ENT they have no way of knowing how long they will last.

My second daughter started getting ear infections and we went in to the ENT and he said ok - lets do tubes. I decided to wait one more time to see how long it would be until she got the next ear infection - that was last winter - she hasn't had an ear infection since and is not 2 1/2 years old. Crazy.

I also have one friend completely opposed to tubes because of the surgery issue - very against any surgery. Anyway, her infant daughter when through a whole year of constant ear infections and at one point she was on antibiotics for an entire month. Personally, I would rather the surgery than so many antibiotics - but - there are many different views!!!
 
movingaround said:
Personally, I would rather the surgery than so many antibiotics - but - there are many different views!!!
Click to expand...

NO, there are the vaild reccomendations from educated medical professionals and there are opinions from preprejudiced lay people. Sorry, you can't put the two into the same category. Might as well say, well I'm sure evolution is correct but my friend is antiscience and is stanuch supporter of intellegent design, that's why she home schools her kids and wouldn't let them go to Irvine schools. See, there are many different views.

ERGO... utter rubbish.
 
Gee, another standout graduate of the Irvine school district.

ipop, better send your kids to private schools.

I never said I was right and everyone else was wrong. I said that airing out the oponion of someone without any education has no validitiy and should not be done. You being too narcicistic as is our society in general. That's why it is in general a bad idea to take questions like this to a public discussion board if the first place.
 
testy now aren't we

i supose next you will want to call me outside to fight or some such sillyness

if you really had that much education it's seems pretty obvious that you really didn't learn much, did you.

copy your neighbors papers did you, cheat a little...
 
That's enough. This isn't slashdot. If you don't have anything useful to add to the OP then I ask you to take the squabbling to PM and spare the rest of us from having to watch the cockfight.
 
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