Lots of Ear Infections

I would do the ear tubes. My son didn't and he still has funny speech (he's 16 now) because those were the years he was supposed to be learning sounds correctly and he couldn't hear them correctly so.... GET THE EAR TUBES!

My son was in the same position. I took him to a pediatric chiropractor. They made a mild adjustment on two different appointments and he hasn't had an ear infection since. My husband was sceptical but is now a believer. Also feed him upright and keep him upright for 20 min after bottle.

First of all, I will caution you that there are some ENT's who are big proponents of tubes and some who tend to be a little more cautious and make sure that they are necessary before resorting to surgery. I specifically asked my pedi for a cautious referal. My concern, probably like yours, is putting my child through a surgery(general anesethia) if it isn't absolutely necessary. I found that my sons ear infections were DIRECTLY related to his allergies - the ear infections were merely a symptom of a much larger problem. Once we got his allergies under control, we have no ear infections, no runny nose, no colds, no congestion! My son feels a WORLD better and so do I! I know that tubes are considered a very minor procedure, but it wouldn't have fixed the problem for us. I can give you the name of our ENT if you would like and we LOVE Dr. Tanna - he is our allergist. He has honestly changed our lives. Good luck with your son - I will keep him in my prayers!

Hi C.,
We took our 24 month old son to ENT for Children in Coppell and saw Dr Bauer. Their contact info is here: http://entforchildren.net/ and I think they have a medical city office as well if that is closer.
Our son had fluid in his ears that we could not get rid of. We even did that series of shots-I think it was Rocephin and they didn't work and they were painful and done over 3 days! That was the last resort before tubes. I spent from Oct-Feb trying to get rid of the fluid and it never left. At the ENT office, he had hearing tests and his hearing was not good-they said it was like he was hearing underwater which explained why he was behind in speech. We got the tubes put in at 6:30 am and he was gone from us for less than 8 minutes! He was sleepy and cranky for about an hour after while the anesthesia wore off but after an hour he was ready to go. By the time we got home he was fine. If I hadn't been there, I would have had no idea he'd had surgery. It did take him about a month to stop fiddling with his ears but his little life got so much better immediately. He was happier, slept much better, started talking more. You don't have to worry about the ear tubes during baths or swimming unless he is more than 3-4 feet below water. There are ear drops to give for a couple of days but nothing big. We had no problems at all! Feel free to email me if you have questions. I was completely against unnecessary surgeries and was so worried about the anesthesia but now I think it was the best thing we could have done and a lot of my comfort level came from DR Bauer and his office staff. Good luck!

visit your nearest GOOD health food store (I love the Cupboard in Denton, very informative) and talk to the natural supplimental specialist or make an appointment with a homepathic doctor or even a chiropractor (they too help ear infections).-All natural ideas for some help!

Also, a little late now, but breastfeeding has shown many benefits in the ear infection department-something to consider if you plan on future babies!

Best of luck!
T.

My daughter had the same issue and I was hesitant about ear tubes. It was the best thing that I ever did for my daughter! She was the same age as your son and was not walking and barely talking. About 2 weeks after tubes she was walking all over the place, and she now talks like crazy! She has had the tubes for 5 months now and has not had one ear infection since. I HIGHLY recommend it!! It is nothing compared to the pain of an ear infection.

My daughter was up and running the very same day like nothing happened.

My son had the same problem. He was actually the same age when I him for his ent appt and he did have hearing loss which was due to the excessive ear infections and has caused speech delay and has been going to speech therapy which he has a significant amount of progress.

I did have tubes put in his ears and that is the best thing I could of done. He was in/out of surgery within 15 min and he has only had 1 ear infection since then. He is now 28 months. I think it was well worth it. One ear infection in 16 months is pretty darn good in my opinion.

Hi C.,

Does your son drink milk? Some sources, though I can't remember where I had read this, state that milk is the number one cause of ear infections in infants. I know milk is promoted so that children get calcium, but dark green vegetables have a higher concentration of calcium than milk. At the very least, have him drink only organic milk.

I had suffered from multiple ear infections as a child, had tubes put in my ears as a child, and still had problems with my ears as an adult--much because of the scar tissue that had built up in my ears because of so many infections. I wanted to avoid this as much as possible with my daughter.

I had breastfeed my daughter for two years, which also helps with immunity, but for some moms this just isn't practical. Still, she has only had two ear infections her whole life--she's five now--and those came when she had the flu or a cold. I do believe that it can be attributed to the fact that she had not had store-bought milk.

Green veggies. :-)

Good luck.

C., try a chiropractor. My 2 yr old son had 3-4 ear infections in a row last year and once I took him to the chiropractor, he hasn't had one since. If you need a good one I can recommend mine, she's a woman and very good with children.

Also consider if it's a milk allergy. I took my son off of dairy products (put him on enriched rice milk) and introduced acidophilus (to help build good bacteria in the intestines). Antibiotics get rid of all the good bacteria that actually help you fight off illness and infections. Rounds of them can end up in a bad spiral effect on the body's natural way of fighting off infections.

And, of course if all that doesn't help, THEN schedule the tubes. I commend your willingness to try alternative medicines before more invasive ones. Wishing you all the best...

Read "No More Amoxycillin" by Dr. Block. It is controversial with some, but there is a lot that makes sense, including the food allergies.

In my son's case, the tubes were necessary (he didn't have infections, but couldn't hear because of the massive fluid he was holding in...) and he did fine with them. I went several places, but found Dr. Roy Lowry in FW to be the most honest and realistic doctor. He is very clear and straightforward and I don't like doctors that are too cuddly - I just want the truth.

Read the book first, and then decide. That doctor (Dr. Block) has a place in H-E-B, I think and I have heard good things about her. Some people are just not responsive to a doctor that prescribes things other than antibiotics and surgery, so take the bad reviews with a grain of salt...

Good luck - I've been there and it's not fun, but you just have to have faith that you will know what is right for your child.