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BR: We got the dreaded ENT referral today.
Took N in for a follow up for his ear infections after two rounds of antibiotics. He's still been playing with his ears so I figured they were still infected. Turns out they're not (YAY!) but she wants us to go ahead and meet with an ENT to "get in their system" before the Winter months and likely more ear infections. I'm glad she's being proactive, but blah.
Does anyone else feel like pedi's go to tubes too often these days???
My personal gut feeling (non-doctoral opinion!) is that the antibiotic they always prescribe (omnicef) just doesn't work for him. This is only his 3rd bout with EI's but we always end up back for a 2nd round of antibiotics... who knows.
Anyway, just venting I guess. I know there are lots of other momma's here in similar boats.
Re: BR: We got the dreaded ENT referral today.
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Yeah that's worse!! At that point I would just want her better... tubes or whatever! Poor thing
Our crazy, wonderful life
Can you ask for a different antibiotic?
Or if there is anything you can do to reduce infections in the future?
I'm with you, I don't know how I feel about tubes. But I also don't like to pump my kid full of antibiotics all the time, so it seems like a lose-lose.
We are still in the "wait and see" pattern. We discovered another ear infection at Nora's 15-month well baby last week, and because she was still STTN fine, we discussed with the doctor and decided not to treat it. Now, Nora has seemed extra cranky and clingy this week and we've debated bringing her in again, but she's still STTN and doesn't have a fever so we don't know what to do. It is tough to know how much it's bothering her when she can't tell us. She tugs at/rubs it, but she sometimes does that WITHOUT an ear infection, so who knows.
Anyway, just commiserating with you. I have had a few people recommend taking Nora to a chiropractor to help keep her ears clear, but I have yet to seriously look into it. I am thinking that we would maybe try that before tubes, though. We'll see.
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Also, I think Omnicef is supposed to be "the strongest" antibiotic. We've been given mostly amoxicillin, but when her last one (before this one) didn't go away, we moved onto Omnicef.
ETA: And, for what it's worth, some ear infections are viral, so wouldn't be helped with an antibiotic. I'm not saying that's definitely the case for Nolan, but it's a possibility as to why the antibiotic does not always seem to work with him. And maybe same for Evie? Bottom line, it sucks.
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My sister did this with her son, despite being very skeptical, and it worked. He is now 14 years old so this was a while ago but he had these recurrent infections, burst ear drums, tubes twice that failed or didn't work or whatever.
Went to the chiro and.......never had another infection. She was a total convert after that.
So, there really is supposedly a connection and you'll probably want to research yourself but if you're worried about tubes, Tiff, this could be an option.
I think Omnicef or Augmentin is the strongest. Don't know. We have been on both of those as well as regular amoxicillian and now zithro
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This is how we treated Sawyer's last EI, too. Our doctor always prescribes amoxicillin first, and that has worked the first round every time but the last one, where we moved on to omnicef. Sawyer has had 4 EI's in the past 6 months, but there has never been any talk from our doctor about tubes yet. I think it just depends on your doctor, but I don't think I'd want to go through with the tubes unless he was truly being plagued with constant, persistant EIs (Like poor Evie; I hope hers clears up soon.).
ETA: Wow! I didn't realize how many LOs here struggle with ear infections. Poor kiddos! I also wanted to add that if my child was not responding to medications & certainly if there was any indication of hearing loss, I wouldn't think twice about deciding on tubes.
BFP 11/25/2009 ~ Blighted Ovum Discovered 12/10/2009 ~ Natural M/C 12/24/2009
BFP 3/29/2010 ~ EDD 11/25/2010
Sawyer Marshall ~ November 16, 2010
So sorry to hear that you're having to deal with this too
We were in the same boat with Mads.... she'd had 4 ear infections (still debatable whether or not it was 4 different ones, or the same one) in less than 3 months. It seemed like every time we finished a round of antibiotics, we were back at the pedi in less than a week because she was miserable & in pain. I was really iffy on the tubes too, but hated the thought of her being on antibiotics constantly (like Morrigan, we'd gone through amoxicillan, augmentin & omnicef, yet nothing seemed to be working), and she clearly was miserable. The hearing test done by the ENT showed that she already has mild hearing loss due to the fluid in her ears (should only be temporary we're hoping), and honestly that was kind of the final "straw" we needed to decide to go with the tubes.
She's only had them in for 2 weeks, but already she seems like a happier kid- knock on wood, she's been healthy with no ear infections & her appetite has dramatically increased since having them put in. (Her ears & sinuses were so blocked, I'm not sure if she just didn't feel well enough to eat great, or maybe food didn't taste as good or what?) I guess this is way more info than you were looking for, but I wanted to say good luck & that I'll be thinking of you- it's not an easy decision I know, and you guys have to do what's right for you!
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Our next step is to go back to augmentin/amoxicillian should he get another infection. His first was around 5 months and he developed a rash after taking it... we weren't sure if it was allergic or not after a trip to the ER so we've stayed away from it since then. We're going to definitely try that when the next infection pops up because I think that he may just not respond to the omnicef for some reason.
I had read a little about the chiropractor thing before... I'm a believe in chiropractors so I would definitely consider giving it a try!
Hearing loss is definitely a concern of mine, but he doesn't seem to have any speech issues yet. He says well over 30 words at 15 months and "appears to hear" but in the future I would certainly be concerned about that... and like MrsL said, should we hear that his hearing is even mildly affected (is that the right form? lol) then we wouldn't think twice about it.
And Heather, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it's just SO.HARD.TO.KNOW. what to do!
Our crazy, wonderful life
I agree with Amy. I was pushing for them faster than the pedi was.
Landon was constantly sick from August until last week. He wasn't ever really pitiful or whiney. He never even showed symptoms of his ear infections. But it's SUPER important that they can hear all levels of tones at this age. When the ENT did a hearing test and said he couldn't hear low tones, that was it for me. My nephew had constant ear infections, and now he has a speech problem (4th grade) and is picked on constantly.
We tried amox, augmentin, omnicef, and rocefin shots. Nothing worked. He was back on augmentin the week before his tubes. ENT said it wasn't ever going to make him better, but it would keep his ear drums from rupturing until the tubes were in.
Not to mention, I was dropping $100 every other week on dr visits and meds.
He's had the tubes in for a week today, and I can already tell he hears things better. He's been more vocal too.
When they are that little, their internal anatomy just isn't working sometimes. The angle of their eustachian tubes isn't right, and the fluid can't drain out of their heads. If fluid sits, bacteria breeds. The cycle will never end.
I hated for him to have surgery, but I'd rather that than feel bad later when he has problems knowing I didn't do all I could.
Life of mrsjanks
Hearing loss is a concern of mine, too. Nora DOESN'T say 30 words--in fact, she doesn't even say 10--so it's a little scary to me. But, our pedi maintains that as long as she has 20 words by 18 months, there is nothing to worry about. And my nephew was a super late talker (really didn't say much until after 2 years old) and he's totally "normal" now, so it's just one of those things--is she just "going at her own speed" like she's done with lots of other things (eating table food, walking, etc.) or is there an underlying problem?
This parenting thing is hard.
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This is my big concern. Until this past EI he had never had a ruptured ear drum, but it did twice (once before each round of meds) this time and although they said it "wasn't anything to worry about", you can't help it.
I guess I'll just call the ENT and see what they have to say- certainly can't hurt!
Our crazy, wonderful life
Yes, both the pedi and the ENT said that rupturing ear drums is part of the healing process. They said we could not use an antibiotic, since it wouldn't get rid of the infection anyway, but the chances of rupture would be less with him on it. I asked what would happen if it were to rupture, and the ENT said it may hurt him, it may not. He also said there's a slight chance it could affect his hearing. Nice.
I'm not trying to push you one way or the other, just give you some peace of mind since Landon had them in. I was worried about it all, but really it was very quick and simple. They just used gas anesthesia, and I was feeding him a bottle 10 minutes after they took him back. And I can tell he is better already.
I was also in a rush because we've met our deductible for the year. Next year may be perfect for you since you will be having the new LOs, you will meet yours. And it's only 2 weeks away.
Good luck with your decision. Keep us updated.
Life of mrsjanks
Our crazy, wonderful life
I'd definitely give the ENT a call, just to meet with them & see what they have to say. Ours is wonderful & wasn't remotely pushy.... he even told us that he welcomed us to go ahead & get a second opinion if we wanted/would make us more comfortable. And the hearing test was definitely great to have done. To be honest, we'd never even remotely thought that Mads had any hearing loss- she responds to everything well, and is talking up a storm (sentences even at this point). Apparently her loss is only at particularly low or high pitches, so it wasn't something that we'd notice regularly, but was interesting to find out. Even if you don't decide to go with tubes, it might be worth checking all of that out to see what the ENT has to say.
And to second Crystal... I don't to push the tubes either, but it wasn't nearly as bad of an ordeal as I'd expected. Definitely nerve-wracking, but SO fast (we were only in the waiting room for 15 minutes, tops). We were home within an hour, she immediately took a 2 hour nap when we got home, and then woke up and was absolutely and completely her normal happy & energetic self afterwards.... Everyone had told us that that would be the case, but we were still (pleasantly) shocked to find out it was true. It was like nothing had even happened that morning, it was kind of amazing. Again, not telling you this info to push in any way shape or form, but just to help ease your mind a little bit should you end up deciding to go the tubes route down the road.
And I completely agree with Heather- this parenting stuff/not knowing is so hard!