2 Year old...tubes???

Were the ear tubes recommended due to constant fluid in the ear? And was a hearing test done? 3 out of 4 of my kids needed tubes, due to chronic ear infections and fluid in the ear that prevented sound waves from entering as they should, but they always had hearing tests done first. There was a person (audiologist) right in the ENT's office who did them. I would also consider contacting your school district to see if they offer early intervention services/ testing... if they do, it may be free. There may also be a local Child & Family Connections office located near you, and they offer evaluations for very young children to see if they are progressing normally. Better to have him looked at early, because there are great services out there that can help him catch up if he is actually delayed in any area.

Is there fluid build up or constant ear infections which are the cause to the delay in speech? The build up or infections could lead to the jaw hurting making the child not want to eat. If so, then tubes are the greatest. My son wasn't behind but his speech wasn't clear and I was amazed at how much more he picked up after we got tubes. He had constant fluid back there, and MONTHS of antibiotics which have lead to slight hearing loss long term. :(
You can start a childrens multivitimin at any age along with a pedisure drink wouldn't hurt at all to make sure he is getting nutrition. Make sure what you feed him when he is eating isn't empty calories.
My son is thin and tall. I know we weren't 30 lbs at 2 years. He's barely 50lbs at 7 almost 8 years. The doctor said as long as they are growing taller they don't so much worry about the weight. It is when they aren't growing at all that they get concerned.

I have a two year and an 11 year old. When my 2 year old was 8 moths we had to put tubes in his ears for recurring ear infections. They worked fairly well. When my 11 year old was 2.5 years old they put tubes in, he never talked very well and had to have speech therapy for 6 years. They told me the reason why he was not talking very well was because of all the ear infections he had when he was younger. It was like everything he was hearing was muffled (like hearing under water) because of the fluid in the ears. He had 2 sets of tubes and in the last 8.5 years he has had maybe 3 ear infections (if that). The tubes worked for us.
My 2 year old still does not a whole lot, but I blame it on the use of his binky that he had until he was 19 months old. As far as his weight, he is just on the slender side. My 2 year old weighed in at 24.5 pounds at his two year old check up. If your dr was concerned about his weight, he/she would let you know.
I think the tubes would help if he has been getting alot of ear infections.

If you are concerned about the tubes, you should see an ear, nose and throat doc. My kids at age 3 had a set of tubes put in, for different reasons, and they were wonderful. They had them taken out at 6 (only supposed to be in for 3 years and theirs didn't come out on their own.) We had them put back in when they turned 8 and they now have healthy, happy ears. It was a very frustrating struggle, but knowing they can hear is worth the struggle.

MY other daughter also had a set put in and they are working with her as well.

If nothing else, have his hearing checked or get a consultation from another doc that specialized in tubes....

i don't know much about the tubes. my oldest had them put in almost 2 yrs ago for ear infections. he didn't get his first one till he was 3 though. but as far as your sons weight i don't know if i would be super concerned. my 2yr old only weights in at 27 pounds. it can also depend on what your structure is and his dads structure. both myself and dh are some what small of build. my 2 yr old also does not say much. he is normally a garbage disposal but lately he does not want to eat solids real good. and he is not a big fan of the pedisure drinks. and if you have ever tasted a little drop of them you probably wouldn't either. :-)

Both of my kids had to battle ear infections. My daughter had many back to back and our pediatrician eventually referred us to the ENT. He took one look at her and said she needed her tonsils and adenoids removed. Granted, she had naturally enlarged tonsils, but never had even the slightest sore throat before. I was nervous as heck and he looked me in my face and told me that he was 99% sure this procedure would stop her ear infections. So, we decided to put our trust into him and let him do the procedure right after her 3rd bday. She is about to turn 7 and never had another ear infection. She also started to sleep better immediately and could smell better, too (we didn't even know she couldn't smell good). Then, my son came along. Again, right from birth, the ear infection battle started. After many back to back, our pediatrician said it was time for him to go see our ENT. He took one look at him and said, "tubes and adenoids removed". By now, we had total faith in him, so he had the procedure at 9mths old. Worked great, but then the tubes fell out after only 6 months instead of the full year. Infections came right back, so he wound up having a set of "long term tubes" placed right before he turned 2yrs old. They worked fantastic! Ear infections went away, he started talking better immediately. He also had the naturally enlarged tonsils. When he turned 4, it was time to have the tubes removed and our ENT also recommended removing the tonsils at the same time. He said he'd never seen tonsils that large at the age of 4. We opted to have the procedure and that was this past July. Our 4yr old weighed 29 pounds on the day of surgery in July. Now, in October....3 months later......he weighs 35 pounds already! That speaks volumes to me. Oh! And he's now a silent sleeper too. So, my very long winded point is this...........go to a reputable ENT. They do this everyday and they know what they are talking about. Good luck mama!

I don't know about the not eating part, but if your child needed tubes to drain fluid from his ears so that he could hear well enough to speek, then you needed to get the tubes. At this point, if he still needs tubes, get them. If you don't know, go to the doctor and ask if he would still benefit from tubes, and either way, get a referal to an audiologist to check his hearing, and a speech therapist for his speech delay, and ask for a referal to find a medical explanation for his feeding issues and get to the bottom of it with standard medical care.

Try this. Put your fingers in your husbands ears, and tell him some nonsense words and ask him to repeat them. That is how your son hears if he has fluid in his ears.

You are not overreacting, far from it. Never wait with development, and get more, rather than less intervention as early as you can. Getting tubes was probably necessary for his typical development, but there is nothing you can do to get that year back now, so do not delay and get him everything he needs to try and move forward quickly. Vow not to lose another second in his development becasue time is precious, and it will be the only thing you have that is free when your child has a delay.

The good news is that he is still young. If his only delay was caused by his hearing, he should make good progress in therapy once he can hear well. Know this though, expressive langague delays cause a cascade of other developmental and educational issues if they are not remediated early, and other areas of his cognative processing can, and will be effected once he gets to school if you do not tackle this problem fully.

Call your doctor this morning.

M.

He needs to see an ENT so they can evaluate how much fluid has been stored behind his ear drums and for how long. It CAN effect hearing and speech. They will likely give him a hearing test too (our ENT has an audiology dept -- ask your pediatrician for a referral to an ENT that handles peds and has an audiology dept to test hearing on kids). If the fluid is still there and has thickened -- it is unfortunate BUT the only way to get it out is tubes or have it siphoned with a needle through the ear drum from everything I read when my now 3 year old had tubes put in at 10 mos (she had antibiotic resistant ear infection in the inner ear so 5 antibiotics, Rocephin shots, and 45 days of 103 fever later we got the tubes). Good luck with everything.... and 25 lbs is a bit on the small side for a 2 year old boy but I don't think it is off the charts small. The tubes were a great thing for us- we got our happy, eating, chatting little baby back (the same afternoon they were installed). They remove the fluid when they do the surgery as FYI.

Have you had a hearing test done? Or was the choice made after several ear infections? Beginning with your doctor you need to decide what needs to be done to help your child if you are not going to do the tubes. My son was delayed in speech and he had some ear infections. I was concerned about his speech delay and he had a hearing test and it was fine. SO the next step was going to speech therapy and getting a multi-facited evalutation from our school district. We had this done at 3 years of age. It was determined he qualified for help through the school district. We also supplemented with private therapy. It's hard to know if for sure the infections caused the speech therapy. My daughter also liked to talk for him, So he did not get to talk a lot too. Your husband needs to understand that hearing issues either caused by infections or hearing loss does impact language. You need to know if there is alternate treatment if your husband won't allow the tubes. Make sure your husband is at the doctor's appointments too since he is trusting his mother over a doctor's recommendation. He needs to understand the consequences of his decisions. And if he is unsure get a second opinion. This can delay your child's development.

I would go see an ENT For kids for the ears. Pediatrician for weight, the weight doesn't sound bad, and supplements is a big step. And maybe a speech therapist for that. Go with your husband. And if you feel that strongly about it, its you and your hubbys decsion, not MIL. Unless she's a pediatrician or ENT, then what does she know, and you shouldn't blame her for you and your hubbys decision- either way.

I would check with the doctor again to see if he still needs tubes. My daugther has tubes because for 6 months we was getting ear infections about every 2 to 6 weeks. Its been a 1 1/2 and she hasn't had another ear infection. My cousin was told to have tubes put in her daughters ears and she wouldn't do it. Her daughter is 11 now and has a 25% hearing loss in one ear and i forgot the percentage in the other ear but it could have been prevented if she had tubes.

The surgery only took about 25 mins if that long. You need to do what you think is right for your baby. Good luck with your decision.

My daughter got tubes when she was 3 years old and 6 months later she finally passed a hearing test. However, my son was barely getting out a word when he was turning 2 years of age. After contacting the Health Department we took him for a hearing test at 2 years and 1 month to determine the correct speech therapy needed. My son had no hearing problems but there were diagnosised problems with speech development. Please try to contact the health department in your county and see what they have to offer . Help Me Grow was the program that assisted my son over this past year and he now speaks 3-4 word sentences that can be understood most of the time. I would suggest not waiting any longer for the hearing test or contacting the Health Department. Toddlers age out of this Help Me Grow program at age 3. Good Luck

I have a 19 month old I was concerned about speech @ her 1 yr. visit the Dr. followed up on it @ 14 month visit she still hadn't said MAMA only dada at the time I was referred to TARC services they cam out to do an evaluation for speech fine motor skills other disabilites she passed everythig but speech she is now 6 months delayed but has a vocabulary of 17 words gaing weekly,says 2-3 words together Thank You,were are you,I see you,duck duck goose,she said juice for the first time yesterday during lunch you have no idea how many times I have said this to her...Then Oct.5th came her hearing test @ our local school district audiologist she said she had fluid in her ears did the testing she failed the sound waves aren't entering & returning she simply isn;t hearing as we are speaking to her but she understands what we say what we ask her to do for her to speak she has to hear words correctly & sound them out for herself she has 50% hearing loss in both ears your probably asking why how did that happen she only has 1 dicumented ear infection in which she needed antibiotics thats it I have stressed this issue to them it doesn't matter the fluid is being built up over time & is now trapped in the middle the only way to remove it is surgery in which the Dr will attempt to get what he can out before placing the tubes..The explanantion they gave me was she has a high pain tolerance level which I do agree she is normal healthy born full term but with childrens ears it is all anatomly the eustachian tubes are at a slant their not born to be normal as they grow they get into place vertical which ear infections happen less with them slated the fliud gets trapped..We have seen an ENT twice already over the last 2 weeks all her hearing tests have come back slightly passing but not the tempangrahm (srry for the spelling it is more than likely incorrect)they don't want to do the ABR sleep study on her becasue more than likely she will fail so at this point it all points that there is fluid not nerve damage which it is still possible it could be but after the tubes in the ears theyll retest her hearing...In the meantime we have another appt. in Novemeber but I can get her tubes in sooner however I ran into a bump in the road no insurance still waitng hubby switched to a new job so seeing if the stat will pick up where we left off I know that they prefer the DR who will being doing the tubes said it is typcal they wait 3 months then retest but I can do it anytime & the 6 months behind on speech she will catch up quickly...
You now have a lot of information now I would get on the phone with your pediatrican & get a referral she more than likely will want to see him before she does this you'll probably start with a service FREE of charge that will evaluate him or you can make the call yourself to ENT ask for an appt. with an audiologist first you'll need a hearing test before anythig else can be and will help when you see the ENT Dr.
***Your not overreacting my inlaws think I do so does my hubby & it really gets on my nerves...****Your doing what you feel is best for your child...As I do & all the mommies out there...Good Luck