My 13 month old daughter has had three ear infections in two months. At our last visit, the pediatrician said she could have a milk allergy (she was breastfed and then put on lacto-free formula her entire infancy) and switched her to soy milk thinking that could help with her ear infections if it was an allergy. She's about done with this round of antibiotics, is crazy kinds of fussy and is now tugging at her ears again!
She's not in a large daycare - only 4 other children attend it and only one is close to her age. No one has been sick. No one in our home smokes and she's never exposed to smoke. My other girls didn't have this problem so I'm kind of new to this. At what point to I request a referral to an ENT? How many ear infections are too many? Should I be worried about hearing loss? Repeated anti-biotic use is starting to worry me, too. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for your amazing support.
~J.
So we saw the pediatrician and he referred us on to an ENT (Dr. Patricia Bell ... anyone heard of her?!). He told me to brace myself because they'll likely recommend tubes. We were prescribed a THIRD round of antibiotics while we wait for our appointment next week. I'm baffled as to why this infection isn't clearing up. Ugh. I just want her to stop hurting. I think I'll try to make an appt with our chiro just to see what he thinks ... I'm not sure my daughter would be willing to sit still for treatment though! ;) Thanks for all the awesome advice. This site is amazing. Best wishes to you all! Smiles. J.
Dr Randall Clary (St John's Mercy) just put tubes in my 16 month girl's ears 2 weeks ago due to an ear infection that took 4 rounds of various antibiotics to get rid of and 4 months of fluid in both ears. I was skeptical, but the results were instant--the next day she was happier, more pleasant, she slept better, and started repeating words immediately. Don't put it off!
If the pediatrician isn't able to help, I strongly recommend a pediatric Ear, Nose & Throat specialist. We needed that for our daughter, and it made all the difference in the world. The one who did our daughter isn't here anymore. I have heard good things about a doc named David Rudman. I'm sure there are others, and maybe some of the other moms can recommend you.
Good luck.
Obviously the medications they probably placed her on are not working, i would strongly suggest getting her to the ENT due to the fact that the infection may not be completely disappearing and then will hav ethe opportunity to infect again, both my kids have had the same problem and both have had to have tubes placed in there ear, dont worry you cant see the tubes, and it has helped them get the medications to the root of the problem. I would suggest seeing and ENMT just from my personal experience.
My personal suggestion is ask the peditrician about referring to an ENT. My 3 year old daughter had maybe one ear infection when she was a baby, no problem, then along came my second child a lil boy. He got tubes at 9 months old because he had numerous ear infections and couldn't keep from coming back. And still he get them. He is now 2 years old and going through speech therapy. My 1 year old son was saying more then he was. I think its due to his ear infections. they did an evaluation on him when he was 22 months and his receptive language was at a 9 month level and his expressive language was at a 6 month level. at that time i had a 10 month old child too. I'd hate to hear of another child having the same problem so I highly suggest questioning the tubes.
Hi J.,
I just had the same problem with my son. I fianlly insisted to his ped. that we see a specialist. There are 3 criteria that they consider for tubes and my son had them all. I believe they are 6 infections in a year, 3 months of fluid in the ear, and hearing loss. With all the fluid sitting in my son's ear he couldn't hear sounds very well. Dr. Randy Clary did his surgery and now my son hears better, sleeps better, and eats better. His overall mood is much better too! Dr. Clary's phone number is ###-###-####. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions. K.
btw, loved art geko. so cute! well, we live in joplin and go to pediatric associates of sw mo, but that's a bit of a drive for you, judging by your profile. my daughter is thisthisclose to getting tubes, she's 16 months, and i'm a peds nurse myself. she has three rounds of diffrent antibiotics and theres one left, then the referral. i don't know to say it's a milk allergy but i would be suspicious of some type of allergy. any indoor pets? is she on claritin or singulair? good luck! and be peristent...don't let the dr's BS you.
before I chose to be a SAHM, I was a chiropractic assistant. We treated many infants and children for ear infections with success. A chiro can realign the head and neck so that the eustation tube can properly drain the fluid. My two daughters now 3 1/2 and 2 have been going since they were 6 months old. We just had our first ear infection a month ago when my 3 year old got a cold shortly after a fall that was hard enough to bend her glasses. The first thing our chiro said was "her head is crooked." After she mentioned it - I could see it too when looking straight at her head/neck. I am confident that now she is realigned and the fluid has been able to drain.
I think chiro is a natural choice to try to avoid tubes in the ears and if that doesn't seem to clear it up then an ENT would be in order. However, you need to do what you are comfortable with and what your motherly "gut" instinct tells you. I hope your daughter starts to feel better soon.
What medicine do they keep giving her? My son had dozens of ear infections ammoxicillan did nothing for him. I had to insist they give Zithromax instead. He was schedualed to have tubes put in, however we did not do it and he eventually outgrew the problem. From what I read, sometimes it takes longer for the eustation tubes to angle down, this is why some children are more likely to get ear infections. I would also make sure she is not being laid down with a bottle, while you might not be doing it, double check that she is not doing it at her daycare.
J.,
Last Friday, at our M.O.P.S. meeting, a Chiropractor said that the usual cause of recurrent ear infections in infants was due to a mis-alignment of the axial vertibra that holds the head up. It can cause the eustacian(?) tubes to be pointed at the wrong angle and therefore they are not able to drain like they should. If you know a good chiropractor in town, I would call or get recommendations from others and see about having your child treated. It is because of the way a child's head is turned when they are pulled out of the birth canal at delivery that causes some children to face this.
By the way, I personally never trusted Chiropractic until this past year when my daughter and I were greatly helped by one after we both took a tremendous fall. As with doctors, they are not all equal. I don't know where you live, but in Springfield, Dr. Martin Falukos is who we go to and he helps many children. (not the same one as spoke at our meeting, so there are two that I know have the same oppinions)
Hi J.,
I agree with the other posters get your daughter to an ENT. We went through this with our son, now 17. Our son had chronic ear infections and the only time he seemed "clear" was when he was on meds and the first 5-7 days after we finished them. Our doctor at the time, for what ever reason did not, would not give us a referral. I didn't need an official one for insurance, but didn't know who to call. I finally just found one in the phone book and said I don't have a referral but my mommy intuition said he needed to be seen. That female ENT, and also a mom, was floored because the antibiotics were kinda clearing the infection but not completely. The first doc never did a tempanogram which told us there was still fluid behind the ear drum even though the ear drum didn't look infected. Plus our son's "fluid" was so thick it wasn't draining.
Needless to say we switched docs, two times before we found a fabuous pediatrician who suggested environmental allergies.
All is well now, my son is about 5' 11" about 250 pounds, build like a linebacker and has NO problems with hearing speech or anything.
In good health,
Lori K
My son has seen Dr. Forsen at St. Johns. He's a pretty good doctor...but as with all Surgons, his bedside manner can be kind of dry. He has two interns who are wonderful.
If you're really conserned, go ahead and call an ENT that you feel comfortable with and schedule a consult. Together you and the Dr. can figure out if surgery is right for your child.
i have used both chiro. and ent. chiro helped right now,but we saw him b/c of colic. worked wonders for my 3 wk old. myolder son had recurrent ear infections took him to an ent, got tubes that was ahuge step for us.i would definatly take her to an ent, also consider why your pcp hasn't referred you to one in the first place! if you like the name and no. for olathe ks area chiropractor or ent,let me know. lastly make sure she is sitting very upright when drinking and for a few minutes afterward. maybe a little benadryl,if it works, then at least you know if it is an allergy. hope this helps God bless.
My 8 month old daughter has had ear infections since nov 07, has been on all the medicines, including 2 shots of rosephrin(sp). every time we go back for rechecks she was sick again. Then next time she had a fever for 4 days the highest 104 nothing below 101. also had green stuff coming out of her eyes, went to see an ENT he said she has a really bad sinus infection. she got tubes and sinus cleaning(lavash) cant spell the right word. Said the tubes may omly last 2-3 months lot of blood in there.
Hi J.,
I can certainly relate to your daughter's ear infections. It's been many years now, but my now 21 year old son (2nd child) started ear infections when he was six months old.
His first ear infection caused a rupture in his middle ear. With frequent infections, his pediatrician placed him on anti-biotics, but he soon became immuned to them.
Desperate for help...and an end to all the infections, my son developed Psedemonus (sp?), a very serious ear infection. Our options from his ENT was ear drops...which had a small percentage rate of causing permanent hearing loss, or hospitalization.
I was willing to take any chance for any hearing loss, so my husband and I elected to put him in the hospital to undergo anti-biotic treatement throught an IV. After a few days in the hospital, we were informed only one of the three anti-biotics were fighting the infection. We were very limited because our son was alergic to Ceclor...or anything in the Ceclor family.
Fortunate, we were blessed, and in a weeks' stay, our son's infection did clear up. We also were advised to place tubes in his ears, which we did three times. Our ENT simply told us, he will "grow out of it".
About two years later, we took our son for his last ENT visit. He obtained a clean bill of health concerning his ears, and we were even told he could go swimming without ear plugs!
My advice to you would be...take your daughter to an ENT, if you haven't already. They are much more experience in this area, and can advise you on what is best for your daughter.
Blessings!
Judy
