Trouble Deciding Whether or Not to Get Tubes in My 1 Year Old Daughter's Ears

love tubes! Wish all children had them. It's so easy to see when they have an ear infection and you just put drops right in. No more fevers, no more screaming, no more pain, no more doctors appointments (yup - no longer need to go to the doctor for ear infections).

If the infections are damaging her hearing or have damaged her hearing, it will impact her speech development. If the dr is recommending tubes, which is probably the reason you were referred to the ENT anyway, I'd definitely do it rather than risking more infections and issues with speech development.

by the time my daughter was 1, we had climbed up the chain of anti-biotics so far I'm not sure there were many left that we hadn't use.
I think in the 1st 12 months of her life she had MORE days with an ear infection than without.

The REASON you needs tubes is BECAUSE her eustation tubes are not fully developed so they are more horizontal than angled. This means the fluid tends to "pull" instead of drain and will get infected.

If you have been recommended to get tubes it's because of a history of infections. The sooner you get tubes the sooner your daughter gets relief. I don't mean IMMEDIATE relief.... I mean long term relief. Like, she won't have any more infections that cause her pain. it's not that she feels better now, it's that she won't feel bad anymore.

Also - my daughter began talking literally almost MOMENTS after the tubes, whereas before she really wasn't. I think it's because she could actually hear (not only me, but herself) and so she could mimic my words.

As far as the being put to sleep so young.... you are right - that is scary. But literally, it's like 12 minutes or something. I didn't even have time to work up a good head of anxiety and she was back in my arms.

I say do it!!!!!

I can't imagine not helping a child to be out of pain and stop chronic ear infections. Truly.

That said. Your child has had several ear infections and they are recurring. This says that the fluids are not draining properly and it needs help to get out and not sit there and turn rancid.

If the doc says the child needs them then chances are they will help. Of course the tubes are not fully grown and of course they will continue to grow into what they need to be. Does that mean she should continue to have pus in her ears and what little bit of pus is draining down is running right into her stomach.

She will continue to have ear infections and have to be on antibiotics over and over and over which is seriously not good for a kid.

Get the tubes and help her to feel better.

She will be fine, this is way harder on the parents than it is on the child. When my grandson had them put in he went back with the doc laughing and playing. They put the mask on his to administer the gas. He went to sleep. A few minutes later the gas stopped and he was allowed to wake up.

He was a screaming banshee. The gas is the worst way to be anesthetized but it is the one with the absolute least side effects. So even though he woke up scared we knew he would be okay within minutes. By the time we got to the pharmacy to drop off his prescription he was coherent and had stopped crying. That was about 20 minutes. By the hour mark the anesthetic was out of his system and he was back to normal.

When he had dental work done they used IV anesthesia instead of gas and it was so much better on him. He woke up and was ready to go eat some food. No crying, no screaming, nothing different than when he wakes up in the morning.

Ear infections are incredibly painful.
If your daughter has an ear infection this doctor can tell with a quick look especially if they are inflamed... If you are not convinced, seek another opinion to ease your mind..

My husband refused to allow the procedure...our daughter continued to get the infections, finally when they tested her ears and she had lost 50% of her hearing in 1 of her ears, I told them to schedule it ASAP.

Our daughter did great and my husband was given a vallium and his mother sat with him at the hospital..

I was very concerned about putting tubes in my son's ears too. At 20 months he had had constant ear infections for 4 months. A day or 2 after he finished antibiotics he had another infection. I was worried about him having surgery at such a young age, but it was the best thing that I ever did for him. I didn't realize how miserable he was until he had the tubes and was not in pain anymore. It had also affected his walking. At 20 months he still could not really walk, and literally a few hours after the surgery he was able to walk. So the tubes have benefitted him amazingly, but you have to make a decision for your child that you are comfortable with. Why don't you get a second opinion?

Our youngest had tubes put in at about 14 months...... I wish we had gotten them earlier!

With my youngest, our GP never recommended going to an ENT, but after several months of basically chronic ear infections, we made the appointment ourselves. (He would finish the antibiotics, and the next day, start spiking a fever.....)

The thing that finally decided it for us, was that our GP put him on an antibiotic for 3 weeks, to finally get rid of the ear infections, and was then going to go with a half-strength antibiotic long-term to try to keep them away..... Anyway, while he was on the full-strength antibiotic, he ended up with a double ear infection! That kind of clinched the deal for us... as soon as we got back from Christmas with family, I called an ENT.....

A week later, he had tubes in his ears..... I didn't regret it at all!

The funny thing is, he still ended up with a couple of ear infections when he had the tubes in there.... but the ENT put him on a nasal spray (like flonase... not that one, but that kind of spray) and as long as we used that, it really helped.

BTW... he is all grown up now, at almost 21, and 6 feet tall.... he did outgrow the ear infections... after those tubes came out, I don't know if he ever had one again! I knew he would outgrow them, but I wanted him off the constant antibiotics.

I have a lot of experience with tubes. I've had them myself, my 8-year-old has had them twice, and my five-year-old has had them once. My five-year-old's right ear tube just fell out last week and she is already having fluid retention problems again.

To ease your concerns about the specialist, it doesn't take much of an exam to tell you that your child needs tubes. If there is a buildup of fluid in the ear, then they will say your child needs tubes. That takes seconds to 'diagnose'. There's not really much else that needs to be looked at.

That said, I would STRONGLY encourage you to wait, and not get tubes yet. Your child is way too young. Eustachian tubes are not fully developed for years. That is, they are not straight enough to effectively drain fluid on their own for quite some time. So, if you get tubes at only 1 year old, chances are, as soon as those tubes fall out, you will be looking at a second surgery to get a second set of tubes. If I had known that, I wouldn't have put my now 8-year-old through her first surgery at age 3, because she had to have them again at age 5. Now, my 5-year-old is facing the same thing.

MOST kids, if you wait, and there are no significant hearing problems, will grow out of the problem. Their Eustachian tubes will develop over time, and the fluid will drain on its own. My SIL opted to wait, and by the time my niece was six years old, she wasn't having any more problems.

If I were you, I would wait until your child is at least 5 to have the surgery, unless there is significant hearing loss.

The other option that I would STRONGLY encourage you to explore, is chiropractic care. I won't be signing my 5-year-old up for a second surgery until we have tried this option. SEVERAL people have told me that chiropractic adjustments absolutely eliminated the need for tubes. A $20 copay to see the chiropractor is a heck of a lot cheaper than paying for surgery!

Hope this helps!

did they do a hearing test? if i remember correctly, at my daughters 1st ENT appt (8 yrs ago) the ENT did use the same instrument to look into her ears but they also performed a hearing test. then another hearing test after the tubes to see if there was any improvement (there was). Oh also i wanted to add- my daughter had ear infections for ... i kid you not, probably 6 months straight before tubes were even recommended. Not 3-4 ear infections.

I strongly suggest finding a chiropractor who specializes in children before you make the decision for tubes. My son had 7 months of ear infections and fluid in his ears...antibiotics would clear up the infection temporarily but with the constant fluid the infection would return quickly. The ENT recommended tubes. I sought out a good chiro and after three visits the fluid was gone. We did a couple follow up visits spread out over the next few months, but he had no more ear infections after that. Studies have shown that chiropractic adjustments are the most successful cure for ear infections in children.

I agree with the others who said that examining the ears really only indicates that a child has a current ear infection. There's not much point closely examining an uninfected ear.

That said, my son had one ear infection after the other at that age. His ped. said, "If he gets another, he'll need tubes." Right after that (sort of coincidentally) I had a chance to consult with a naturopathic physician. She advised that I get my son off all dairy products. Presto, ear infections gone. My son's speech also took a huge leap forward.

I have a good friend who did do the tubes for her son. That little boy has been terrified of water ever since.

This is a tiny sample size -- not scientific at all. And from what I've generally heard, it's very rare for there to be any problems associated with tubes. But it makes me want to advocate natural remedies (like removing infection triggers from the diet) first.

Have you ruled out seasonal allergies as the cause? My youngest had backto back ear infections at that age. I realized that the always coincided with allergy seasons. I got his ped to give us some good antihistamines for his age and he's been fine ever since.

If you HAVE ruled out allergy, and the doc is saying she needs tubes...read on.

As for the lack of time looking, I really wouldn't be concerned. Specialists and surgeons aren't the most personable bunch. I'm a medic and deal with them every day. :-)

The pediatric ENT you saw is a specialist, right? So he looks at ears, noses and throats all day every day. ALL DAY EVERY DAY. Why would he need to look in your daughter's ears MORE than the general practice doc who referred you? He knows just what to look for.

I'd get the tubes. Don't put your child through another painful infection. Misery or not, it still hurts. And all that pressure on the eardrum can cause permanent hearing damage.

Chances are she will outgrow these ear infections.. but most likely she will be sick a lot this winter with ear infections.

So if you can tough it out this winter... spring will come and she will be healthy.. by next fall she will be bigger and wont get so sick so often..

tubes help most kids.. but time does too.. the surgery literally takes 5 minutes.. ents put tubes in adult ears in teh office wtih no sedation.. but babies move too much..

My son is 11 months and we are trying to make the same decision. He has had 4 ear infections in his right ear in the past 6 months. I told the doctor I wasn't ready to decide to have the surgery. My son was still on antibiotics when we went for the visit, but the ENT said both of his ears looked good. We scheduled another visit for 1 month later. My son often sounds congested so the doctor prescribe some medicine to help with that. We've also been using some drops called Willow\Garlic Ear oil. It's been 3 weeks since his appointment. If he doesn't have another infection b the time we go back, we're not going to get the tubes. If he does, we will.

My DD had 10 ear infections between 6 and 18 months of age. She was on one or another antibiotic at least once a month every month for that time... When she had her last one the doctor started talking tubes, but we were on our way to visit family in Europe for a month so we said we'd consider it when we get back.
Of course we had to take her to the pediatrician in Europe for yet another ear infection (didn't go away completely by the time her antibiotics were up) and the doctor was AGHAST at how my DD had been treated by our pedi.
He told me that they almost never prescribe antibiotics and he prescribed a mucolyticum and medicated nosedrops for our DD.
Her ear infection cleared up within days. We took some of the medicine home with us and talked to our pedi about it and you know what he said.... :"Yeah I have heard about that recommendation, but it's just common and expected here to prescribe antibiotics!". We talked to him about how the pedi in Europe told us to give our DD the meds at the first sign of her getting a cold and he agreed that this was OK to do, though he was skeptical that it would help.... well, DD is 5 now and hasn't had another ear infection since we came back from Europe when she was 18 months old...

I am not saying that your child does not need tubes, maybe she does - but I am saying that it is always good to get another opinion and ask if there are alternatives to surgery that you can try first. My DD was prescribed Ambroxol, Acetylcystein (both help thin the mucus) and Xylometazolin (decongestant) Nosedrops. If it had not been for our trip and getting another opinion she would have "needed" tubes for sure.
Good luck.

I had tubes put in my daughters at a year - she'd had 11 infections!!! It was so worth it, and the sedation is not a full one, by the time I got my coffee in the waiting room, went to the rest room and sat down - they were out to tell me they were done. HOWEVER, your daughter has only had 3-4 infections. I would be a bit concerned about the Dr's lack of thoroughness. At least call and talk with him/her to understand why he feels she needs tubes. I guess what I am saying is I never regretted getting tubes - keps us off many rounds of antibiotics... however, be sure you are comfortable w/ the Dr. :) Best of luck

My son saw Dr. Chi at Children's in Pittsburgh and he was great. No, they don't take a ton of time looking in the ears. The most important indicator to them is how many ear infections she's had in the past several months. Looking at an ear that may or not may be infected at that moment doesn't tell them anything.

I was very nervous about it but I am very glad we did it. Our son was on antibiotics every few weeks his first winter, then the antibiotics would upset his stomach, and between the two, he would be miserable for weeks at a time. We got the tubes in when he was 9 months old. They lasted 2 full winters. During that time, when he got a bad cold, he would sometimes have some goop come out of his ears. But it didn't build up and put pressure, so he wasn't uncomfortable. And we just put drops in his ears and it went away, no oral antibiotics. So much easier for everyone.

As for the procedure itself, they took him in. In about 10 minutes the doctor was back out to tell us it went fine and he was recovering. And about 10 more minutes after that, he woke up from the anesthesia and we could go get him. He was fussy that day, but by the next day he was back to his normal happy self.

Good luck with your decision!

If she needs tubes get them. She may be fine now, but she will be prone to recurring ear infections if you do not get them. It is such an easy, common procedure that there is nothing to worry about. An ENT will decide if tubes are warranted based on the frequency of infections, not something they see when they look in the ear. The other test the ENT could do is a Tympanogram, but it isn't necessary if he has already confirmed an infection. My son didn't get his tubes until he was three, and by then his speech was delayed due to the hearing impairment. As soon as he got the tubes and the fluid drained his speech improved. By the time he was four he no longer needed speech therapy. His tubes fell out by the time he was five, and he has been fine ever since. Sometimes they just need the tubes until their euastacian tubes are developed. I urge you not to wait until she is older, because even if it is only four infections a year it is too much. They are very painful, and it is likely speech will be affected.

A second opinion doesn't hurt. My friend's daughter had 3-4 ear infections over a winter when she was approx 18mos, then the same thing the next year. Their peed referred them to ENT for tubes, which the ENT agreed. They went to an independent ENT (one they found in the 'phone book' so to speak) and was given a regime to follow (neti pot to flush out when she was really bad, singulair during high allergy times) - she's over 4-1/2 and no ear infections since.

I have yet to know anyone in real life who's child has had success from tubes - one family has both children on their 2nd set of tubes because of lack of success. So, I don't think it hurts to get a second opinion. Good luck!

My oldest had them put in at 5 mths. They had to take them out at 2 1/2 yrs. He had so much pain with the infections and fld build up that even though he still had infections, I was happy with the tubes. They eliminated the screaming pain. He had many more infections than your daughter and was on maintenance antibiotics. I think you have time to make a decision with more info. They always say if you ask a surgeon if you need surgery he will say yes! Still, we had a more through exam with air blown in his ears and tested for decreased movement indicating fluid.

My oldest son had tubes at 1.5 years old and the ENT said he should have been in 6-12 months sooner. He had ear infection after ear infection. 9 of them in the previous 12 months. Our ped kept saying if he gets another I'll refer you to a specialist. I finally got tired of waiting and just made the appointment.
It was the best decision we made. It was a simple procedure and he was a totally different kid. He was sleeping better, happier when awake and his speech improved tremendously.

My daughter had numerous ear infections. I found out through much research and second and third opinions that antibiotics are not needed for ear infections. I stopped putting her on antibiotics and put her on Tylenol or ibuprofen instead and guess what the ear infections lasted about 2 nights sometimes three and then it was over, and yes she had a lot(8 in one season), but the doc who spent the most time looking in her ears and checking her(they cannot tell by looking in the ears if tubes are necessary they go by how many infections a child has and not even by if they have fluid in there as most do) said many, many children go through this and tubes are not necessary as kids outgrow the infections and basically it was up to us if we didn't want to deal with the infections tubes would help. But sure enough each year she had fewer infections. Her last infection was when she was 4 and at that point, it was fall and I knew we were going into another year and I debated and decided to stick it out one more season and sure enough that was her last ear infection. She is 7 and never had one after that. She had her worst year when she had just turned 1 and pretty bad at 2 as well, by 3 she had a lot less and only the one at 4. My son started them as an infant as well and I never put him on antibiotics and he stopped getting infections by age 2 and a half. My understanding is that their ear canals do not drain well and when the canals get large enough with age they drain well enough, you can also do things to help when they are younger like chiropractic care. I would honestly try that before putting my kids through surgery. Once they get tubes they build up some scar tissue and are more likely to need them again. Also the ears do not drain correctly and the canals do not get use and so also prolong it all causing a potential need for more tubes. I had tubes in as a kid, it helped until they fell out but I continued to get ear infections until I was much older. Maybe 10 or 11. I had the tubes in twice and then they just let me have to deal with the infections until my canals adjusted, which took a few years. I would have preferred my Mom not put tubes in had me go through it when i was younger and didn't remember as much. But back them they jumped at the opportunity to put tubes in. If your child is not able to function or live their life at all, then yes I think it can be helpful to have tubes and even be beneficial, but if it can be managed without tubes, I would always opt for that.