To ask if anyone's had a toddler with loads of ear infections?

[HoorayForFishAndChips]

DS is 2.5, he's on his second nasty ear infection this winter, complete with stinky leaky ear and a high temp. He's really miserable. Seen GP, he's on amoxi and the max doses of paracetamol and ibuprofen. Last winter he had ear infections every few weeks between October and April. He's seen a lovely consultant but the appointments are quite far apart and most of them seemed to be in the summer when his ears weren't bad, so nothing could really be done. His hearing doesn't seem affected.

When do toddlers grow out of them? Has anyone had a DC with a treatment that's worked? I hate him being on ABs every few weeks!

My son had loads from when he was a tiny baby. He finally had grommets fitted and his adenoids removed when he was 2 years old. He is now 5.5 and has only had one infection since the op. Prior to the operation he was having infections every few weeks.

It must have been awful him getting them so tiny, glad the grommets worked. My DS' first one wasn't until he was about 15 months, then he had them more or less continually from then until around 21 months. He's had ear drops a few times as well, swabs of the leaking fluid came back showing various bugs.

We're going to see the consultant again in March so I'm going to find out what the options are, I don't want more of the same for next winter!

One of my daughters and her son both had ear infections all the time. They both grew out of them around age 5. There's not much you can do, they just have narrow tubes in their ears.

Ds had them every 10 days roughly from aged 10 weeks till 20 months when he had grommets in. When the grommets came out, he had 8 burst ear drums in 2 months. Hence next set of grommets then.
He had third set of grommets at 6yo and is currently 9yo and decisions are being made whether he needs another. He's only had 3 ear infections this winter so I'm hopeful he's just about grown out of them.

DDs had repeated infections and had grommets age 7. The younger DD seems to have grown out of them age 4, despite hers being more frequent.

Sorry that makes no sense - one DD had grommets age 7, my 4 yo has grown out of recurrent ear infections.

My son had loads from when he was a tiny baby. He finally had grommets fitted and his adenoids removed when he was 2 years old. He is now 5.5 and has only had one infection since the op. Prior to the operation he was having infections every few weeks

My DS was the same..... but he is now an adult and all is well.

Yes, DS had them repeatedly from being a tiny baby. He had his first set of grommets at 2 but they didn't work so he had a second set at 4, which seem to have done the trick. ENT were great and very helpful.

Yes my dd was constantly on antibiotics for ear infections - in toddlers the ear canal is at an angle which makes them more likely (or so the consultant told me). She's a teenager now and thankfully only gets them if she swims without ear plugs. This too shall pass!

DD had several, allergy related with swelling of the eustachean tube. When the tube is swollen the normal ear fluids don't flow properly and become infected.

Yep, but he grew out of it. I also read about the angle of the tubes being the issue and changing as they grow.

Yes, but in my sons case his hearing was significantly affected, as was his speech. Grommets at 4.5, discarded from speech therapy six months later.

Discharged not discarded!

Both my dds had repeatedly ear infections. Both with leaky discharge too.

Eldest was down for grommets but I turned down the op when it finally came through as he hadn't had an infection in nearly a year. Think she was about 5-6. Her younger sister is nearly 4 and has just got over her first one o this winter. She used to get them monthly so I'm hoping she is growing out of them too.

It's horrible. But I find once they pop and leak, then the pain seems to go and they get better without antibiotics. Unfortunately both girls only used to complain of a bad ear half a day/few hours before the discharged gunk!

I guess it's maybe a waiting game then. I think the consultant briefly mentioned a low dose antibiotic that he could be on for weeks at a time during winter to nip any bigger infections in the bud, but interesting to see lots of DC have had grommets, that option wasn't discussed much really.

I think the leaking ear fluid right now is bothering him, he constantly has his finger in there and it makes a squelching noise and smells really unpleasant

Took DD privately to see a Paediatrician when she was little due to this. He prescribed azithromycin (sp?) and said that studies done overseas had shown that a high proportion of the population were resistant to normal penicillin and that is why the usual 7 day courses only calmed down the infection but it would start up again. As he wrote to the surgery, the next couple of ones she got (and it only was a couple), I insisted on that again.

Do you take DS swimming as water left in the ear can also lead to infections? I started using putty and a headband on DD to keep the water out during her weekly classes.

She did grow out of them but I still insist on using an ear clearer daily (Swim Ear) when we are on holiday to cut down on the chances of other ones.

Same as quite a few people: My DD had lots of infections as a toddler and young child. Constantly on antibiotics and/or eardrops. She had grommets aged 5 and only a couple of infections since then, none in the past few years. She's 14 now.

I remember the first day after the grommets she heard me walking about in the other room and asked why I had my big boots on inside. I was actually barefoot but she'd never been able to hear footsteps before!

Great advice here;

www.danieltweedie.com/middle-ear-infections-in-children-acute-otitis-media/

We saw this consultant (Daniel Tweedie ENT consultant) with our then 2 yo due to repeated infections. Subsequent infections were treated with ciprofloxacin eye drops (off licence so likely to need a consultant review to get them approved) and a course of low dose prophylactic antibiotics think 3 days on 11 days off for 4 cycles. He hasn't had an infection for 6 months or so now-think we may have avoided grommets. It's awful for you and them so I really feel for you all.

My boy had loads of infections and winter glue ear. In the end I regularly put olive oil in his ears to loosen the wax up. I bought my own ear otoscope and just kept on top of making sure the wax never completely blocked his ear. I think it was getting so blocked that it sealed his ear. He stopped getting them and I only look every few months now

Bless her yaela, must have been amazing for her to hear lots of new sounds! Neither myself, DH or DS' nursery feel there's anything wrong with his hearing, the consultant was going to test his hearing in December but it was when he had an ear infection so she didn't do it. I called him today in a busy room and he looked round but I don't know if it's been muffled for him or not, his language etc is very good now but he didn't say his first words til 16/17 months so maybe last year they were more affected than we realised.

Caurnie no we haven't taken him swimming for a while, he had some lessons as a tiny baby but DH would love to take him again now - I think he'd resist any headbands or putty as he doesn't like wearing hats or anything that isn't just a top and trousers but if they do go I will definitely be insisting!

That's whatto, I've always wanted to know what they can actually see when they look down the ear and there's a pic! Reading that link now

Yep, DS1 seemed to constantly have goopy ears from about 6 months. Luckily it didn't make him feel poorly but I never relaxed just in case, I seemed to live at the doctors.

He had them so often he ended up being part of a study group and had pictures of the inside of his ears taken for about 6 months. What they concluded was that the tubes which are normally slightly diagonal to allow drainage were instead horizontal. As his head elongated at around 4ish, the infections just stopped. Thankfully he's had no permanent damage and is now a super healthy 14yr old.

DT1 had about 10 one year and got referred to the ENT but he decided to wait another winter until she was nearly 3 as he said lots of kids grow out of it by the age of 3 (ish) and she did. She then moved onto having 3 lots of tonsillitis! However since then apart from a random dose of scarlet fever she has been fine. She's had 15 lots of antibiotics before the age of 5. DT2 has had one lot of antibiotics for a chest infection last year (which i'm glad about as she is awful when sick! DT1 tends to just sleep a lot).

Hopefully he will grow out of them quickly. xx

My DS had infections at least 3 times per year up to the age of 3, they then reduced and stopped without grommets, however his hearing was impacted and he did need speech therapy unfortunately

This is going to sound slightly wacky OP but does he have a dummy? My DS2, who was my only dummy user, had dreadful ear infections, complete with ear bogies oozy ears all through his toddler years. I found out later, that dummy sucking can cause problems with ears due to the pressure of sucking (or something like that!!) it may be worth checking out if he is a dummy sucker.