Tubes in the Ears and Removal of Adenoids of a Toddler

Hi R.,

This topic is very near and dear to me. My now 2-yr old daughter had ear infections monthly ever since she was 14 months old to 19 months old, failed her hearing test, and the ENT doctor wanted to install ear tubes on both ears. She got immune to amoxicillin, and had to take a stronger antibiotic. My husband and I searched for a non-invassive alternative, and a mom suggested Dr. Mary Ann Block's Osteopathic Manipulation Technique. It worked!

The technique involves giving a 5-minute massage to the child three times a day. The massage is targeted around the child's lymphatic nodes to flush the fluid out of her head by pushing the fluid towards the heart. The fluid will then get absorbed by the body, and eventually excreted out of the body.

Here's Dr. Block's site and book:
http://www.blockcenter.com/ADD_ADHD/Ear_Respiritory_Infec...
http://www.amazon.com/More-Amoxicillin-Preventing-Respira...

My daughter still has runny nose from some cold and allergies here and there up until now, but she never has any ear infections anymore. The fluid in her ear cleared out and she passed her hearing test only after a month of treatment. Her doctors were very surprised with this result.

Feel free to pm me if you have further questions.

- J.

2 moms found this helpful

I lot of problems with ear infections is an allergy to corn - almost everything that is processed has some form of corn in it. (it's a cheap form of sugar).

Although, I had to go ahead and my child did have adenoids and tonsils out - you might try the simpliest item or changing diet first to see if that helps. Although, he was a boy at the time, having them out allowed him to shoot food out his nose. (i.e. rice, spaghetti noodles - that's a guy thing)

2 moms found this helpful

Hi R.,

My son had about 8-10 ear infection before he was 18mo. I had the tubes put in and we were infection free for about a year. Unfortunately they came back, not as often but it is not a cure. I had heard that going to a chiropractor works but I never tried it until recently. My son is now 6 years old and this winter he started complaining about his ears. I finally decided to take him to the chiropractor and I am glad that I did. We have mad it all winter without an ear infection. I am not against conventional medicine at all, but sometimes I think we need to step out of the box. My son now asks to go and get adjusted and we haven't had antibiotics or made those monthly visits to the Doctor in a long time.
Thanks for listening and good luck with whatever you decide to do.

J.,
Mother of 16yo girl & 6yo boy

2 moms found this helpful

Hi R.!
I just saw your post and wanted to ask you, have you gotten your son's nervous system checked? The nervous system is the system that controls all other systems of the body. If it's not working properly, for whatever reason, recurring symptoms can arise. Before considering tubes and surgery I'd encourage you to get his nervous system checked by an upper cervical chiropractor. These types of chiropractors specialize in detecting and correcting nervous system dysfunction. It's completely non-invasive with no side effects, aside from allowing the body to heal itself! I am an upper cervical chiropractor, and I've seen great success in helping kids recover from recurrent ear infections. I'd be happy to set up a free consultation for you, or help you find someone closer to you that would be able to check his nervous system.

Good luck to you and let me know how I can help!
Best,
L.

L. Clum, DC
Oakland Specific Chiropractic
4179 Piedmont Ave #210
Oakland, CA 94611
###-###-####
www.oaklandspecificchiropractic.com

2 moms found this helpful

We had the same done for my son this winter (age: almost 4 at the time). While he only had one treated ear infection, he did have fluid/glue in his ear (apparently it just did not cause discomfort)-and conductive hearing loss. He has speech delays, and we were hoping this would help. The process itself, and recovery were very simple, and not traumatic for him (a little at the time, but he does not remember it at all). However, we have not noticed any difference in his hearing/breathing/speech since the procedure, so are a little disappointed. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss it further.

2 moms found this helpful

R. my son also had reocurring sinus and ear infections from birth to 18 months old. I must of had him to the doctors over 30 times. They ended up putting tubes in his ears and removed his adenoids at 18 months old. Well he continued to have ear infections and alot of fluid drainage which was good because that was what the tubes were supposed to do. But it wasn't until afterwards that I found out that my son had food allergies which was a big cause of his ear infections. My son was allergic to soy products and had been a soy formula baby. Even after he had gotten off formula he was still being fed soy because it is in everything. Since he has had soy completely taken away from his diet he has not had an ear infection since. Not saying that this is the situation with your son but you might talk to your pediatrician about a childhood food allergy profile test. Food allergies can cause alot of illnesses. Just some advice. L.

2 moms found this helpful

My youngest son had lots of problems with ear infections, fluid in his ears, etc. We did 2 sets of tubes with him (and had his adenoids out - his first operation was at about age 4) but no real relief except that where he had previously ruptured his eardrums a couple of times due to the build-up of fluid, the tubes allowed the fluid to drain. Between the ruptured eardrums and tubes he now has partial hearing loss in both ears, but it is mild and he has compensated well. What the doctors could never figure out - I had to do it on my own - was that the ear problems were all caused by food alergies. Once I identified what he was even slightly allergic to (or reacted to) and eliminated those foods, the ear infections and runny nose stopped. Talk to all your family members including aunts and uncles, figure out what people know or think they are allergic to and remove those foods from his diet. In our case, my son was allergic to a number of things but the biggest offenders were milk, oatmeal, peanut butter, orange juice and other high acid foods, chocolate, and several food colors (red 40, blue 1 and yellow 5). We had no idea that his favorite Cheerios and other foods were causing such problems! Not one doctor suggested food allergies might have been part of the problem. Best wishes to you and yours.

2 moms found this helpful

As has been stated up front, these are extremely routine procedures for a pediatric ENT. The ear clinic I work for (California Ear Institute) does literally hundreds of these surgeries every year, and in children way younger than 21 months as well. Chronic fluid in the middle ear can create a 40 dB hearing loss, which can really affect speech and language development, not to mention that all the systematic antibiotics every time he is sick is not good for the rest of him, and hopefully the surgery will clear both of those up. Ask for a pediatric anesthesiologist to keep the risk from the surgery as low as possible. Good luck.

2 moms found this helpful

Hi R.,
I would suggest seeing a naturpathic doctor for more advice on allergies. Also, CranioSacral therapy would help to open his ear canals. For information about CranioSacral Therapy and to locate a therapist in your area check out www.upledger.com. I'm not sure about where to find a qualified naturopath in California. The regulation is different here. Perhaps another mom can answer that question.
After reading the other responses I want to add that I had my tonsils removed as a child. The ear tube surgery was not done then. I continued to have ear infections, sore throats, and various other allergy problems through my childhood and into adulthood. It was not until I learned to change my diet and started receiving CranioSacral Therapy that my problems went away. Now the only time I have problems is when I cheat on the diet and then it is only minor. As a 62 year old woman my health is better than it has ever been in my entire life. Also, the theory behind the tubes as I understand it is that a young child's Eustachian tubes are positioned differently than an adult's. As the child grows and matures, so does their ear canal so it can drain more efficiently. By the time a child is 10 their ear canals should be formed enough that the tubes aren't necessary. It may even be younger than 10.

Hope this gives you a better perspective.

D. Bohr, B.S., NCTMB
Mom and grandma
retired elementary and early childhood teacher
CranioSacral Therapist/Maternity Massage

1 mom found this helpful

My son who is 6 years old now had tubes put in when he was 2 1/2. He started getting ear infections from the age of 1 and would get very high fevers. In the 2 years since his tubes were in he maybe had one ear infection. I feel that if it wasn't for the tubes he would have had many many more. As soon as he out grew his tubes and they came out- he started having ear infections again. So, we put tubes back in again and removed his adnoids as well. He has not had any ear infections since we replaced them. Dr. Kita out of San Jose is by far the best! He was recommended by my pediatrician and my ped used him for his kids so I felt very comfortable with him. My son adores him and isn't scared or frightened by him at all. He is very gentle and kind.

Good luck!

K. S.

1 mom found this helpful

The procedure of putting in the tubes and removing the adenoids is very common nowadays and from what I've seen help the child immensely. My brother had chronic ear infections but back then they just sent my mom home with ampicillin (which was fine I guess), but before we knew it he'd come down with another one. My mom probably would have taken the opportunity if it was around back then to have the procedure done, ear infections are just no fun at all...

Having said that, do ALL the researching you can possibly find on the subject so that you get no surprises and know what to ask for if there are procedural options... Let us all know how everything goes!

1 mom found this helpful

When my daughter was five and my son was 15 months, our ENT removed my daughters adenoids, and placed tubes in both of their ears and we never had another ear infection for either of my kids. It was wonderful!

1 mom found this helpful

R.,
I'm not sure about the adenoids. But with my son, he had recurring ear infections and it had finally come to the point that they wanted to put the tubes in. I really didn't want to, I don't really know why, but I didn't. My husband never beleived in chiropractors but he played softball with one and he said that he could make it better so he thought "why not". I happened to be pregnant at the time so we ended up going to the chiro. about 3 times a week to get adjusted. His ear infections went away and we never got the tubes. He is now 12 1/2 years old and hasn't had an ear infection since about 3 years old and I totally beleive it was because of seeing the chiropractor (oh and it was the easiest delivery I had also).

Good Luck,

K.

1 mom found this helpful

This can be a great benefit to a child with these types of recurring problems. A work colleague finally had this done on her 4 year old after struggling with constant sickness and ear infections since she was an infant. Being on antibiotics for the infections is not good for your child or his teeth.

Since he is so young, I would probably check into allergies and see if that is the cause prior to doing the procedure. Babies have allergies too and many times this is overlooked, but easier to correct with OTC medication. I would also get a second opinion from anothe ENT since it seems so drastic for such a little guy to go through.

Good Luck!

1 mom found this helpful

My daughter also had continual ear infections. The doctors wanted to put tubes in but instead, I sought alternative treatment. What worked for me was homeopathy. It was gentle,and the pain went away immediately. I was so impressed that I became a homeopath.My daughter is now 10. She is one of the healthiest kids in her class. You can find a homeopath through the national center for homeopathy. The web address is www.nationalcenterforhomeopathy.org It's best to get a certified homeopath, since they have the training, and have to pass a compency test.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi R., my youngest son needed tubes in his ears for the same reason as yours. He had a lot of fluid in his ears that was hindering his speech development. He would hear everything muffled. The tubes made a tremendous difference in his hearing and his speech development. Before the procedure he would make no sense when speaking, he spoke all jibber jabber, I would try to have him repeat simple sounds that I would give him and he would respond so off the wall. The day of his surgery it was amazing, he could hear our neighborhood ice cream truck even before he drove on our street, the phone ringing stopped him dead on his tracks. He would also druell a lot and snore loud. After the tubes and removal of anoids, it was all better. The procedure made a huge positive difference in my son's life, I would advice to do it.

It took me a second pediatrician to send us to the Children's Hospital of Oakland for the assesment and procedure, but I tell you if I had not pushed and changed doctors my son would have had dier consequences with speech delays. He had some speech therapy shortly after the procedure, but has done great since.

Good luck to you and your son.

1 mom found this helpful

Good morning! My son, who turns 7 this Thursday (yeah!), got his first ear infection when he was one. He went through all of the same things you mentioned, but I noticed problems with him. He never ate well on a regular basis, I felt he was behind in speech, and he obviously wasn't growing like he should. I pushed the ENT to take out his adenoids while putting tubes in his ears right before his 3rd birthday. Turns out, his adenoids were almost completing blocking his airway!

Since then, we only had 3 more ear infections in the year that followed the procedure. He ate better, slept better, his speech improved, and he stopped getting sick as much as before!

I had a VERY conservative ENT who waited so long to do the procedure that my pediatrician was about to refer me out of their medical group to have it done. Even then, he wouldn't guarantee he would take the adenoids out until he had him sedated on an operating table and could see if it was truly necessary. The entire time, I knew without a doubt this needed to be done.

Trust your instincts, then your doctor. If your instincts tell you to get a second opinion, do so (it will reassure you if you are having reservations). I would have it done again, it made that big a difference in my son!

I see that you live in Quincy - I'm *envious* - it is so beautiful up there and it is where I was born. =)

Take care!
Taunia

1 mom found this helpful

Hi R.,
My son, now 22 had chronic ear infections from about 2 to 4 years old. He was on one antibiotic after another and gaining resistance to many of them. I was talking to a friend about it and she asked me if I ever gave him probiotics after antibiotics. I had no knowledge of this but quickly learned that antibiotics kill good along with bad bacteria, leaving your body more vulnerable to infections. I took her advice and after a couple of weeks of probiotics his ears stopped getting infected. He has never had an ear infection since! There are probiotics for children as well as toddlers and babies. Most health food stores carry them, you need to get the refrigerated kind as these are live good bacteria. Probiotics restore the good bacteria in our system. I have used them myself to fight infections and haven't had to use antibiotics for many years.
Hope this helps,
C.

1 mom found this helpful

HI R.!

I used to work with ENT Dr's for 8 years. I got to know all patients by name (and even knew their birthdate by heart) because they were in so often.

This procedure is VERY routine for any ENT doctor. It's very common for toddlers to have this procedure. In your son's case, this has been going on for so long, I'm pretty surprised it's taken this long for them to decide to have the procedure. Maybe they thought as he grew, the Adnoids would respond better, and the problem would "outgrow" itself. I'm a little "rusty", but I believe that's probably why they waited :o)

It's always scary when our children have to go through anything like this, especially involving anesthesia. I assure you, though, this is a very safe and normal procedure.

If your son still has a bottle/nursing at night, make sure his head is elevated enough so that his "neck/adnoid" area is above his chest. This way fluid should go all the way down, and NOT get trapped in the Eustachian tube. This should help for now.

I always "propped" an extra pillow for nursing/bottles until they were done, then I would remove the pillows.

Working with ENT's got me paranoid that my kids would have the same re-occuring problems, so I was over-zealous on things like that :o) BUT, I am happy to say that only one of my boys had a double ear infection and only 1 time. Otherwise they were both very healthy in their ears.

R., don't be worried. It could be the best thing for your son, and the never ending pain he may have now. If he DOES get tubes, then my biggest concern is summer is approaching fast. Is he a swimmer? If he is, then those "over-the-counter earplugs won't help him enough to keep the water out. Resulting in more infections. You should have "custom swim plugs' made for his little ears. It's very easy, but it can cost around $70 or so. I remember taking the kids ear impressions a week or so BEFORE their surgery, so after their surgery, they had their plugs ready. Because your son's age grows so much, the plugs may only last one summer, then they will not fit his ear.

Please let me know if I can help with any other info :o)

N.

1 mom found this helpful

My daughter had ear tubes put in last February. She was 20 months old then and had persistent fluid in her ears and constant infections. The infections were bad (we would be off work for a week with her and she would constantly cry because of the pain, etc until it was cleared up). I was frightened of the surgery but when the doctor told us it was really affecting her hearing we finally did it. We had it done at Children's Hospital in Oakland by Robert Wesman. He did a great job. We just had a viral illness and through out the illness we went to the pediatrician because we were worried about her ears. They were clear every time we had them checked. It feels so good that she didn’t have any ear pain. We certainly do not regret the surgery. It was fast and by the time we were home my daughter was ready to play.

1 mom found this helpful

The best thing you can do is to get it done now. It will cause some discomfort for your little one, but better now than later. Doctors sat on their laurels and gave outdated advice when we inquired after treatments when our little one had the same problem. She is doing great now, but the delay from bad advice and inappropriate treatment resulted in speech delay and motor-skill delay that she is still working through and in therapy for at age 5.

1 mom found this helpful

Do it, do it, do it, do it! As others have said, it can change your child's life! We did it at 2 years old and what an amazing difference it made. Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful

My son is 22 months and had the tubes put in his ears when he was 13 months. He had had ear infections for 7 months straight. I was so hesiant to have the procedure done, and I didn't really know how safe it was and I didn't have 100% faith in the Dr. I had heard from other people (chriopractor) not to have it done and they really scared me. But we went ahead and had it done and it was the best thing we ever did! The ear infections stopped immediatly and if he gets a little sick now and then it doesn't turn into an ear infection. The surgery only took a few minutes. The worse part was when they bring him back and he's coming out of the anestesia, he flailed and screamed for about 20 min. and then just stopped and went to sleep for about 4 hours and when he woke up it was like nothing had happened. He was happy! After they have the tubes in, they are supposed to wear ear molds if they are in the water or taking a bath, but mine refuses to wear them so we are just careful. Hope this helps, I wish I had had somewhere to ask ?'s when I was going thru this. Good luck to you!

1 mom found this helpful

I would say its not a bad thing. I had mine removed when I was a teen. The important thing is to keep water out of his ears. I didnt' even ask for the operation. I did have hearing problems so they had to put tubes in my ears. It happens to alot of children.

1 mom found this helpful

I am 33 years old...So, a long time ago I was having ear infection after ear infection along with sore throats and horrible sinus infections. The dr. suggested to have my tonsils, adenoids, and tubes put in my ears (I was 4 yrs old). Before the surgery I had a 21% hearing loss. Needless to say, I regained that hearing after the surgery and I had fewer ear aches. I would definitely suggest having the surgery done for your child. I also used to snore horribly and after my adenoids were taken out, I no longer snored. I had the surgery done at Scripps Hospital in LaJolla, CA. I'm sure modern medicine has came a long way since then and if it helped that much back then, I'm sure it can do even better now. Best of luck to you!!!

1 mom found this helpful

My son had tubes put in about the same age. I was really nervous but it was the best thing I could have done! He still has had a few ear infections, but much less severe and the drops you put in the ears make a huge difference. Not to mention the procedure itself took less than 5 minutes, and he was playing normally by the time we got home, as if nothing had happened! I highly recommend it.

I used Dr. Kita in San Jose by Good Samaritan Hospital and he is AWESOME!!

1 mom found this helpful

Get the tubes.

I don't know about removing the adenoids, that seems extreme, however the tubes were a great blessing for my daughter. She got ear infections every two weeks for six months. And they weren't letting up and it was affecting her ability to function in preschool and her hearing.

She was in the surgery room for all of five minutes. It was getting in and waiting for her to come to that took a while.

She has not had an ear infection ever since. Even when she got a real bad sinus and throat infection, her ears were perfectly fine. I got the same thing, and I got an ear infection along with it.

It was a fabulous blessing.

My brother who also had chronic ear infections when he was little did NOT get tubes in his ears, and he *STILL* has issues with language and is partially deaf because of it. I'm not sure what was going on in my mother's head. She thought he'd "grow out of it". However, that was many years ago, so maybe they have improved this type surgery since then.

I just know what a wonderful blessing it has been for my daughter. She is almost five and has had tubes in her ears for almost a year now. Her language has improved and after there was no pain she was able to be happy at preschool and really enjoy her time there.

1 mom found this helpful

Please, please, have a second opinion with another doctor. Take it from a mother who had tubes placed in my sons ears 3 different times. We are now dealing with permanent holes in his ear drums. He just underwent surgery to try and fix the holes. While I am not completely against having tubes put in only when there is no other way to go, but I would suggest having your child go for a second opinion.
Things to think about......Does your child suffer allergies? If so try seeing an allergist first to see if controlling the allergies will help control the ear infections.
Just make sure you cover all options before surgery.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi R.....my son is 36 y.o. now and at 22 months he had adnoids removed, tubes put in his ears AND tonsils removed has not had a cold ever since or ear infection or anything......my grandson, my daughters son, at 23 months old had been in hospital ER REPEATEDLY from Oct 2005 to Jan 2006 I finally said enough is enough....I REQUESTED an ENT and he said he was as close to beibg deaf as one could get still having hearing...ordered tubes in his ears and he has been fine ever since and can hear a pin drop....unless he has male selective hearing periodically.... on the other hand my daughter who will be 22 years old never had ear infections as a child but has had them off and on and sore throats and brochitus all thru her teens and young adult life....she even had her tonsils out at 19 yo and has still been sick yearly with colds and sore throats.....go figure...but I would do what the doc says....it saved my son and grandson from a sickly childhood........Good Luck, L.

1 mom found this helpful

my 16 year old has tubes in his ears many times.. it really helped to keep the infections down to a minimum. Its been a good 5 or 6 years now since he has needed them. His ears seem to drain on there own now finally.. As for adenoids, I really don't know anything about them.. Wish I could be of more help

1 mom found this helpful

I have 2 girls ages 7 and 3 and both of them have had to get tubes in their ears. My 7 yr. old had tubes in her ears when she was 2 1/2 and then at age 4 had her tonsils & adnoids removed. Since having the tubes in her ears she has never had one ear infection and is now 7! The only issue we have had is the holes closing after the tubes came out. Now, my 3 yr. old had tubes put in her ears last fall and before that had constant ear infections and was always on antibiotics it seemed. Now, she has not had one ear infection. It is an easy procedure & they are feeling fine by the end of the day! I was worried as a parent of having my poor girls put under, but not having the ear infections now was so worth it. I highly recommend having it done as soon as you are able to! Good Luck

1 mom found this helpful

I have three boys all of which have tubes in their ears. My oldest, now 6, had tubes placed in twice and his adenoids removed (on the 2nd tube insertion). My two older boys are now in speech therapy because the fluid in their ears caused them to have difficulty hearing and thereby affected their speech. My youngest son, now 17 mos-12 months when he had his surgery, can understand us and responds well, unlike his brothers who had their first tube insertion at 3 and 4 years of age. I hope this helps!

1 mom found this helpful

HI- I'm not too sure about the tubes but I can say from experience, having my adenoids out was a blessing. My parents took my tonsils and adenoids out when I was two because I was having ear infections constantly. I am soooo grateful because although I do still get an occassional sinus infection if I get way sick, I have never had strep throat (no tonsils) and I haven't had trouble with my ears except when I tried to become scuba certified. I have trouble equalizxing my ears as I go deeper under water. Who knows, that may be from all the infections I had in the first place. Again, don't know about the tubes but I recommend the removal of adenoids. Also, I remember wakingup in a weird cage-like crib at the hospital ...and having a lot of ice cream...that's it! :-) Hope that helps.
M.

1 mom found this helpful

The SAME thing happened to my daughter 30 years ago and we were fortunate to get a new doctor fresh out of school -- he told me to play a game with her by holding my nose & blowing until my face turned red -- She mocked me and we did this game with each other 3 times a day and guess what? VOILA!! In a few days her ears cleared up and she never had to have the tubes put in!! I have shared this with many over the years and it works every time. Being almost 2 your child will love the game! Hope you try it. D.

1 mom found this helpful