Recurring ear infections in a baby/toddler

[bramley]

This is really bugging me. Our youngest is 20 months old, and she's suffered from ear infections on and off pretty much since birth. The poor thing has been on daily antibiotics for months and months - certainly more than half her life so far - although isn't on any currently.

Usual story is she'll become agitated, clingy and generally very grumpy and cries a lot (inconsolable), then 'pop' and some gunk appears in her ear then she calms down a bit.

Each time we go to docs or out of hours we come home with another course of antibiotics, and I hate this. My poor little girl has had no end of health issues and I'm at my wits end with it. Incidentally her sister (3yr old) never had ear infections and rarely gets more than a sniffle.

We have seen the ENT unit at hospital but tbh I can't even remember what they said, my wife took her in, but the fact I can't remember what they said is a pretty clear sign they didn't do much/weren't too concerned about the situation!

I guess I'm just worried there's something bad going on that no-one seems to be dealing with, apart from "here's some more antibiotics".

Would appreciate suggestions from medical people and experiences from other parents.

Thanks

[sawman]

My little lad had no end of ear infections when he was little, apparently its something to do with the shape of the ear canal, as they grow it sorts itself out.

my lad was found to be deaf in one side just after he was 1 but by age 2 he had stopped getting infected and his hearing has returned to normal. We were advised that if it didnt settle he would need to get grommets fitted.

He has some scarring in his ear now apparently - always gets mentioned if he has an examination.

I guess you just need to hang in and get the meds as she needs them

[anonymous-user]

Grommets.

Unfortunately the NHS won't do it until you suffer something like 6 infections in 12 months. The NHS also doesn't like doing the operation for those under three. There are also waits for a consultant and then 6 months or so for an operation.

If you can go private you could have the whole thing done within a week.

[ShadownINja]

From a slightly different perspective, is it possible that his infection comes from a low immunity? Is there anything you can give him to boost his immune system? (Ask the doc!)

[drfrank]

Hold on with the grommets !!!

Only suitable for otitis media (glue ear) and even then their efficacy is equivocal. Whilst they can be suitable in some cases, in others they can lead to chronic tympanic perforations, tympanosclerosis and other probs.

In most cases kids grow out of the problem and as long as their hearing isn't a problem I would hang on.

DrFrank

[Hedgeman]

Similar with my eldest who's now 6. When he was around 1-2 years old he had at least 8 ear infections in a single year. As they grow up, the shape of their ear-canal changes. From about 4-5 onwards they became a thing of the past. Hang in there!

Gary.

[Pickled Piper]

Had exactly the same scenario with elder daughter when she was a toddler. I was at the GP surgery every two weeks without fail for re-occurring ear infection. I used to come back with a prescription for Amoxicilin (yellow sweet tasting syrup). Eventually, GP prescribed a different antibiotic. I'm no expert but she referred to it as a second level antibiotic. It cleared the problem in days and there was no re-occurrence.

It's possible it was just a coincidence and she just grew out of it. Any Doctors care to comment?

pp

[P1eface]

We were advised to avoid lying our son down when he drank his milk when he had recurring ear infections. This seemed to work as he's been fine since.

At 20 months I guess yours probably isn't doing much lying down anyway now.

[telecat]

Had this when I was young. I'm told I used to bang my head against a wall because of the pain. They eventually removed my tonsils which at that time was not considered a "good" idea". That was when I was four-ish. Now 47 and my hearing isn't perfect but it isn't as bad as it might be and I am allergic to Penicillin.

Edited by telecat on Friday 23 October 14:09

[bramley]

Thanks for all the comments

Sounds like we need to hang on in there, which is reassuring to know.

Much appreciated.