Home › Forums › General Baby Care › Ear Infections › Pros and Cons of Tubes
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April 16, 2007 at 10:10 am #30642
Anonymous
InactiveHey everyone! Sarah is scheduled to see an ENT in a few weeks and I assume that tubes will be discussed at the visit. I am not against them, but I don’t really know much about them. I told my DH to expect that she might have them and he was very against it. Neither one of us really have any information on the subject…he’s just scared, and I’ve only heard good things.
So, I’d like you to share your experiences about the procedure, tubes in general…the pros, cons etc…Someone told me you have to be careful in the bath tub and swimming???
Hopefully if I can educate myself a little more it will help DH feel better about the whole thing.
April 16, 2007 at 10:27 am #30645InactiveHi Amy~
I do not know a lot about tubes (I did have them as a toddler though bc of constant ear infections). But from what I have heard from my SIL and brother (their 16 month old gets ear infections every 2 weeks and has only been off antibiotics for 3 days the last 4 months!!), they say that putting them in now wouldn’t be very beneficial since cold/flu season is the peak of ear infections. And if put in now, they would fall out in 9 months which would be the start of cold/flu season. They have talked to their doctor on several occasions about this and he doesn’t want to put them in until October if necessary. I hope this helps…so sorry that I don’t know more about it!
April 16, 2007 at 10:36 am #30647InactiveWe got tubes for both boys for the standing fluid. Procedure is like 5 minutes long (a breeze) and virtually painless. They did have to go under anesthesia, but it was very quick.
I think that different ENT’s feel differently about bathing/swimming with tubes. Our ENT (one of the best in the state) feels that is the point of the tube, to drain the ear, so we take no other precautions after the fact and we have had NO issues to date. Dylan got his in October of 2004 and they just recently fell out about 2 months ago, and so for 2.5 years, they were completely fine. We may have to get them again, but if his ear canals have developed enough to drain the ears on their own, then he should be fine now.
Neither of the boys could hear well with the fluid, and we waited way too long for Dylan so his speech was excessively delayed. Carter has receptive language (NO expressive at all, but from other issues) but he can hear and understand us because we got the tubes at 5 months old for him. He was more standing fluid than ear infections, but Dylan was both.
Not sure if this helps, but it was a life saver for us for both boys!
April 16, 2007 at 10:39 am #30648InactiveSeth had the ear tubes put in a few days shy of his first birthday and it was one of the best things we could have ever have done for him.
Prior to that, he had multiple infections and always had fluid in his ears and was miserable. His infections were becoming hard to treat as he is allergic to penicillin and other antibiotics were becoming ineffective. They were becoming such a problem that he was prescribed a low dose of antibiotics to take daily to prevent the fluid from becoming reinfected and had to have the series of Roceferin (sp?) shots to get them to clear up when the ears did get infected. So, we really thought it was in his best interest to get the tubes.
Knock on wood, it has been 16 months now and he has not had one infection since. We actually just went back to the ENT Friday for a recheck and she said everything looked good.
The actual procedure was a breeze. He had the surgery a couple of days before Christmas so we were a bit concerned but he was back to himself by that afternoon. Actually, he was better than normal, because all the fluid was finally drained out of his ears. We also noticed that he started babbling more almost immediately. I think the fluid was effecting his hearing although thankfully, tests revealed no permenant damage.
The worst part of the whole ordeal was when he was coming out of the anesthesia. I found out later it is common for them to cry and be disoriented but I was not prepared for it ahead of time so it was hard to watch.
I would do it again in a heartbeat! Hope this helps.
Mom2Seth2007-4-16 10:41:44
April 16, 2007 at 10:50 am #30650InactiveI just read the 2 other post and I was so wrong! So sorry, I was just passing on info that I had heard from others but didn’t know for sure myself since we have never dealt with tubes with Addy. Please ignore my post!
April 16, 2007 at 11:23 am #30652Inactivemolly got tubes at 8 months old. my twins got tubes at 11 months old.
April 16, 2007 at 11:49 am #30656InactiveBryce just barely got tubes put in on Friday. He actually had an echocardiogram done at the same time, so he was sedated longer than they normally would for tubes, but our ENT said it’s usually only a 7 minute procedure. Bryce was pretty much back to normal as soon as the anesthesia wore off. He seems like his ears feel better now that all that fluid is gone. I’ve have had to give him Motrin a time or two since the surgery, and we put antibacterial drops in his ears twice a day for five days. Our ENT told us just to avoid getting soapy water in his ears.
Surgery is scary for parents, no matter how simple the procedure, but you also don’t want to risk hearing loss caused by too many ear infections. So I think in some cases it’s best to go ahead with tubes.
April 16, 2007 at 1:21 pm #30661InactiveTwo of our 3 chidren had/have PE tubes. Carson was going in for his scope/biopsies and had 2 ear infections prior. Our Peds GI Spec said that fluid is a real problem for reflux and if we are going to put him under, may as well do the PE tubes. Went to an ENT and she agreed. I was very surprised as I have heard they don’t just put tubes in – you have to have several infections/fluid.
We have had no problems with either of the boys. Carson is like a dolphin in our tub and I was squeemish thinking that icky bath water was going in………….but we have had no problems. Twice Carson has had rusty ick coming from his ears and I used the drops they gave us after the surgery and it cleared them up right away. No problems whatsoever!
This is IMPO but with our kids, once they got tubes, if they had a bad cold, then the ears would drain but they would get sinus infections. I think we traded one problem for another. HOWEVER, I do not know if we DIDN’t have the tubes, maybe they would have gotten a sinus infection anyway. I just don’t know but I have always felt that we sorta traded the ear infections for the sinus problems. ??
April 16, 2007 at 2:11 pm #30672InactiveThe tubes have been amazing for Hailey! She was getting so many ear infections and her speech was delayed because she wasn’t hearing well. The tubes really improved her hearing, and the procedure was so fast. Hailey also had an ear tag removed at the same time, so hers was a bit longer, but even so, she was still out in ten minutes!
April 16, 2007 at 2:13 pm #30673InactiveOh ya… about the water issue, our ENT told us that unless she’s dunking or going underwater we don’t have to cover her ears. He said even then, if she would refuse to wear the plugs, he’d still say not to exclude her from going underwater. Most research seems to suggest that you don’t have to worry about it, but some docs are old school and like to take extra caution, probably just because they always have.
April 16, 2007 at 3:58 pm #30682InactiveOur ENT told us it was safe to go 1 foot underwater so we have really never worried about water even in the pool. She did tell us to be careful in the bath though and to rinse his hair with clean water not the bathwater but sometimes I forget and we have never had a problem.
April 16, 2007 at 8:07 pm #30711InactiveSo much great information! Thank you!! I have a dumb question though…obviously tubes are put in to help with drainage…where does the drainage go? I guess it would have to come out of the ears? Is that gross? Does it happen often? Sarah has always had excess ear wax -is that what has prevented proper drainage?
Thankfully her speech does not seem to have been affected so far. She says several words already, but of course we don’t want any future speech issues to occur. A lot to think about…and hopefully the ENT doctor will be very informative and helpful. I’ve heard great things about him. Too bad he’s an hour away!
April 16, 2007 at 11:26 pm #30729InactiveCarson has only had ick come out of his ears twice. It is hard to describe but sort of looks like rust coming out of his ears. He also has ear wax that comes out but I have seen both now and know when it is BAD and when it is just his ear wax. Although, the ear wax does look sort of bad when it comes out. BUT TRUST ME, when there is an infection and the rust starts running out – and (UGH) it actually will run from his little ear down onto his cheek – you will know!
They will give you drops to use for the first ??3-5 days after the tubes are placed but then keep them and if there is any trouble you can use the drops. In the beginning I didn’t know when it was ear was or an infection and used the drops a couple times when I didn’t need to but no harm done.
April 17, 2007 at 12:10 am #30743InactiveSpeaking of tubes we just saw ENT today for both girls. Alexis was just a 1 year follow up from her bilateral tube placement. She didn’t have a large number of ear infections but once she was off antibotics for about 2 days, she would get another ear infection. She had multiple problems with strep throat so when we went to ENT we decided to have her tonsils, adenoids, and tubes placed all in the same day since she was going under anesethesia anyways. She was only 22 months old so the tonsil and adenoids were really rough. But once the tubes were in her speech improved right away, she does have speech delays due to her reflux and fluid in her ears, everything sounded muffled to her. She has only had 1 ear infection since the surgery. She does have custom ear plugs for bath time and swimming, since she always likes to put her entire head under water. She actually is very good about her ear plugs, if I forget she always reminds me. She does hate getting water in her ears.
Miss Taylor has only had 4 ear infections so far but each ear infection has been horrible. She has not responded to any antiboitics and each time had to get shots of Rocephin. 2 weeks ago she was admitted for Rotavirus and persistent ear infection, at that time she was placed on Suprax after 7 days still had a horrible ear infection given a shot of Rocephin and switch to Omincef but still the ears looked the same so she ended up with 3 doses of IV Rocephin. Now 2 weeks later, speaking of currently another round of double ear infections and strep causing her to spike very high temperatures that won’t break regardless of how much tylenol/advil I give her. She is just irriatable and tugging at her ears. So today we saw the Peds MD, she got her typical Rocephin injection and the ENT squeezed her in since he was following up with Alexis anyways. He said 4 ear infections is on the low side but since everytime she has need very aggressive treatment and she is so miserable with them he would put tubes in. Every time she get just a little cold it goes into her ears, so hopefully with the tubes it would just drain. So we are actually scheduled for surgery next Monday April 23rd they said she should be feeling much better for her Birthday party April 28th. We wanted her to have the surgery prior to her party so she could possible enjoy it just incase she got another ear infection prior to it! Sorry so long…! It has just been a horrible few days and this topic is the main one in our household!
April 17, 2007 at 12:16 am #30744InactiveSue_ I hope they can get *Miss Taylor* in right away. She really has a tough time with those ears. Maybe someone will cancel and you could slip in.
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