, Ear Infections with the Ear Tubes

Updated on January 19, 2013
M.D. asks from Miami, FL
8 answers

Hi. I have a 3 year old son and he has been having ear infections for about 2 years. At first he was on antibiotics and last April he had the ear tubes put in. He still has ear infections regardless.

Has anyone gone through this? or know of any other solution?

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So What Happened?

I was looking it up earlier after I posted the question. Wow anenoids and tonsils. He had an allergy test and milk is one of the allegies. I have tried to change t soy, I have bought several types and he just does not want to drink it at all.
I was thinking about lactose free milk. What is the difference between them (soy and loactose free)?

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B.F.

answers from Dallas on

Yes, my son still had ear infections with the tubes he had put in at 5 mths old. They continued about every 3 mths untill he was about 2 ish. Then he had them out at 2 1/2 and had lots of sinus infections. He had pretty bad allergies. At least with the tubes he didn't have the pain.

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T.A.

answers from Seattle on

Try chiropractic! I've seen it work for at least ten kids I know, and only didn't work on one I know that tried it.

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L.L.

answers from Topeka on

mine never had ear infections but still had to ave tubes put in due to fluid in the ear.Has had them for 2 yrs now and one I can see the other can't see but as far as I know it is still in there.Now after a few months after only had 1 ear infection and thats it.I do think our Dr did a great job in placing the ear tubes since they haven't fallen out before the 1 year mark had made it passed but will allow only 3 yrs till he will sugically remove them.As far as having them reoccur I have been told that if they did tonsils/adenoids would need to come out.

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B.B.

answers from San Antonio on

My daughter sounds exactly like your son. She had one round of tubes at age 17 months, and then, since the infections only slowed, but still happened approx 1/month, her second round of tubes and her adenoids removed at age 2 years, 3 months. That was a year ago. She still gets the occasional infection (maybe 3 in the last year?), but not nearly as much as before. However now they clear up on their own, or with the use of Ciprodex ear drops that were perscribed by her ENT. We have tried other things, changes in diet, chiropractor, etc, but hers are mainly a result of small ear canals. Maddy's ENT has us contact her any time she has an infection, mainly to track them, but occasionally to see her. They really have gotten better since the second set were put in.
You may want to discuss larger tubes with his ENT, and adenoids.
Good Luck!

S.G.

answers from Grand Forks on

The only time my son got an ear infection after the ear tubes were put in was if he got water in his ears. He had to wear ear plugs with a headband for swimming, baths and even showers. When he did get ear infections after getting ear tubes the infections were easily treated with ear drops. We found that the putty type of ear plugs did not work well for us. They would fall out in the pool, especially if he jumped or dived into the water.We ended up getting custom ear plugs made for him by an audiologist and that solved the problem.

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M.B.

answers from Austin on

My son also still got ear infections when he had ear tubes in.... the doctor then put him on a nasal spray (like flonase.. I don't remember what it was... that was about 20 years ago!), and it helped tremendously!

My son is now 21, and over 6 feet tall.... after the tubes came out, (around age 3, maybe.. he got them when he was 15 months old), he has had maybe 5 or 6 ear infections since then... I knew he would grow out of the ear infections, but he had been on almost constant antibiotics and was still getting ear infections WHILE on antibiotics!

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D.C.

answers from Pittsburgh on

My son still had ear infections after tubes. He got them after bad colds. But, since we could treat them by simply putting drops in his ears, and because they didn't hurt since the goop came out of the tube instead of being trapped in there, I didn't worry about it much. Just treated with the drops and went on. My ENT said that was fine.

As for the milk - if your son is allergic to milk protein, then lactose free milk won't help at all. It still has the milk protein in it. At my house, my son (same one that got the ear infections) is intolerant to milk protein too. He drinks rice milk. It's pretty similar to skim milk, it doesn't have the strong taste that soy milk does. I know other people that use coconut milk. It is thicker (more like whole milk) but it is sweeter. You could try either of those.

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P.K.

answers from New York on

Tonsils and adenoids out. Tubes did nothing, actually fell out soon after being put in. As an adult my son will get at least one ear infection a year.

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