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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

DS has constant ear infections and isn't talking at 2...

22 replies

cherpybird · 15/12/2005 08:21

In the last year DS1 has had 9 sets of antibiotics to treat 9 ear infections, and last week had tonsilitus (sorry - can't spell that!)

He is going to be 2 on boxing day and doesn't say any understandable words - except for Mum. I'm confident that he understands everything that i say, but does anyone know if his constant ear infections could affect his speech development?

I have asked the doctor but he just said that i need to keep treating them with antibiotics, and that was it! am thinking of getting a second opinion, but just wanted to know if anyone has had a similar problem.

Thanks!

OP posts:

Anoah · 15/12/2005 10:43

Last I heard (am I'm no expert) is that oral antibiotics aren't going to do much. I have been through this with my DD age 3 and her speech is delayed yet they say her hearing is perfect. Yet for most of her life her ear has wept yellow/green discharge.

Some doctors will prescibe an anti-inflammatry and antibiotic ear drops but GP's are usually reluctant to do this because it can be risky. MY GP just wanted to prescribe oral amoxycillan over and over again which is basically useless (IMHO). She probably just has amoxycillan resistant bugs in there now.

I hope your GP has referred your son to an ENT (ear nose and throat) consultant. They will try all sorts of things. My dd couldn't tolerate grommets but so they had to be removed as she was sensitive to the material in them but her ENT doc has had her on theatre 2 times where he has done an examination under anaestetic (spelling?) and cleaned out her ear canal. After each time he has done that her ears were great for about 6 months. Sometimes the ENT docs remove the adenoids/ tonsils of kids this young and that will improve things.

Push for an ENT referreal urgently if you don't already have one. Hope your DS feels better.

puddle · 15/12/2005 11:00

Yes, his speech could well be affected if he can't hear properly. Have you been referred to ENT?

My dd had a few ear infections when she was younger and went to see the consultant - they would have looked at grommets if things hadn't improved on their own (children ofteb do grow out of ear infections as their ears grow). The consultant also had info on the best antibiotics to use on this kind of problem - GPs are not specialists and I would suggest that 9 courses in a year is too much/ ineffective.

I was reluctant to give dd anti-bs and we did cranial osteopathy - it seemed to help and our consultant said that their is evidence it can be effective in ear infections.

hope this helps

MARINAtivityPlay · 15/12/2005 11:04

Definitely push for a referral asap cherpybird. Dd has had this problem since the age of 9 months and although it does not seem to have affected her speech or hearing, she has been monitored very carefully by the health visitors and Community Audiology to make sure she is ok.
We thought she had outgrown it all this year, but seemingly not.
What did work for her earlier this year was a daily low dose of trimethoprim, an antibacterial rather than an antibiotic. But they don't like to prescribe that for too long.
Puddle, after your story I might very well investigate cranial osteopathy. I am so unkeen on grommets being fitted tbh

puddle · 15/12/2005 11:07

Marina - the consultant told us he'd seen amazing results. The woman we saw for the CO definitely found something to correct in my dd - we had about four weekly sessions that's all. the infections stopped. She's now 3 and signed off by the hospital.

snowfalls · 15/12/2005 11:10

When my ds had an ear infection, the gp told me that drinking from a bottle while lying down was one of the big causes of ear infections.

MARINAtivityPlay · 15/12/2005 11:13

Maybe snowfalls but it doesn't apply to dd, who has only ever been b/f then straight to beakers (her choice ) with nary a bottle in sight
Puddle, no-one has mentioned CO to me at the hospital, it's on my list for the new year. Dd suffered a respiratory collapse (temporary thank God) after delivery and was in SCBU for two days - and I do wonder in my darker moments if the problems with her ears are in some way connected to the mega-antibs she was given as a precaution

puddle · 15/12/2005 11:26

Marina - how scary. Could be that but really impossible to say. I blamed dd's on my inability to b/f longer than 4 months....guilt guilt guilt........ but b/f supposed to be a major preventative factor too.

Original poster

cherpybird · 15/12/2005 12:45

thanx everyone, DS isn't bottle feed anymore so thats out of the equaztion.

Have just been to docs again and been completely fobbed off! Am getting really annoyed now and am going back next wk to push for a consultant. Feel helpless as every comment i say is met with "he'll grow out of it and we'll just have to keep treating it with anti-bs"

OP posts:

niccick · 18/12/2005 01:15

cherpybird, I would go to another doctor and get a second and then third opinion. And ask for a referal to a specialist. Have you tried taking ds1 off cows milk and putting him on soy.

CelluliteQueen · 03/01/2006 19:08

Hi cherpybird, this is close to home for me too. DS, 2.6 has also had ear infection after ear infection and is still not speaking. We were referred to ENT and had an appointment before Christmas (unlike your GP, ours said that it wouldn't be a good idea to keep thrusting antibiotics down him every time he had an ear infection). We thought that he could hear ok but apparently not when they did a hearing test and they said that gromits would make a huge difference. He also has a huge build-up of fluid in his ears and had yet another ear infection the day after our ENT appointment which resulted in a febrile convulsion..... At least we know what the problem is now and that it will be dealt with soon. I would press your GP for an ENT appointment - good luck!

madmarchhare · 03/01/2006 19:12

Is your HV any good? Can they refer for you? I know they vary, but mine would be on this like a tonne of bricks.

crazydazy · 03/01/2006 19:15

I had the same problem DS didn't talk until he was 3 and he's now 3 and a half and is only just starting to speak properly. They removed his tonsils and adenoids and also checked to see if he needed grommets, which he didn't. His speech is getting better but was so strange as DD could speak properly, in setences at 2 so we just kept comparing.

northerner · 03/01/2006 19:20

Hi Cherpybird. You must push for a refferral to an ENT specialist. 9 infections in 1 year is an awful lot.

My ds is now 3.8 and he was troubled with constant ear infections from being a baby. We were reffered to a specialist when he was 14 months after 7 infections - burst drums and constant weepy ears. The consultant decided on 6 months of watchful waiting, as some kids grow out of it and then a 6 week course of antibiotics. All to no avail. He had grommets fitted at age 2, but was still getting infections.

After reading an article linking cows milk to ear infections due to the high levels of mucus I changed him to goats milk in September and this is the first ever infection free winter We are back at the specialist this month for haering test, but I am not concerned it has caused any damage.

His ENT specialist is amazing, and he has told me that GP's insist on treating recurring ear infections with oral antibiotics but they don't actually do any good. It needs to be antibiotic ear drops or spray, which havev always worked a treat with my ds, but the GP only describes these if they have a letter from the specialist requesting this.

You have a right to demand a referral.

poppiesinaline · 03/01/2006 19:41

haven't read all thread but this sounds like glue ear to me. My DD was exactly the same and had grommets at 18 months. Ear infections stopped, so did all the 'snot' and within 3 days of having the operation her speech went from only a few words to sentences. I would insist on a referral to ENT team. She is nearly 6 now by the way and her ears and hearing are fine and she only needed one lot of grommets.

getbakainyourjimjams · 03/01/2006 19:47

Is he pointing out things of interest/communicating non verbally?

If so push for ENT appointments. Have you thought of using sign with him in the meantime. I use it with ds3 (who I hope is normally developing) as he is high risk for a speech and langauge disorder. It helps with temporary deafness as well obviously, and encourages language development.

7777777 · 03/01/2006 20:45

hi chirpybird, my no 11 ds suffered recurring tonsilitus and ear infections up until the ages of about 4, he had his tonsils/adenoids removed at 2.9 and even tho his eardrum burst on one ocasion they said grommets would be no good because they fall out. he did speak very late and had to have speech therapy at 4yrs. by school age he was chatting away same as his peers. it is a worry tho, good luck.

7777777 · 03/01/2006 20:46

i worded that wrong was meant to put my now 11yr old ds

harktheheraldAIMSMUMsings · 03/01/2006 20:54

I would also second pushing for an ent referal.

My DD had similar problems for around 2 yrs constant ear infections and her eardrum burst around 18 times. She had grommets fitted but they fell out after a month and made no difference at all.

My DD's speach/hearing wasn't effected but i believe this has a lot to do with the fact that she was a little older than most (around 2yrs) when her problems started. But once you are refered to ENT this will be monitered for you on a regular basis anyway.

What seemed to help DD most was being on a long term low dose of antibiotics (coamoxyclav) and also a steriod nasal spray. but I hate to say that i actually just thimk she grew out of it (although at the time i hated being told that!!)

Sorry to hear you are still having problems with DDs ears Marina

ruty · 04/01/2006 11:23

i have heard excellent things about cranial osteopathy and also chiropractic in this area. Make sure you get one who specializes in children. Really worth a try.

eemie · 04/01/2006 11:46

Agree, ask to see ENT asap, mention that you are concerned about speech.

My dd was the same, started to say recognisable words then stopped, hearing was impaired and had recurrent (very frequent) infections due to glue ear.

Had grommets at 15 months, speech took great leap forward and infections far fewer until she grew out of them.

This is such a critical time for language development, our speech therapist friend urged us to waste no time and when we saw how quickly her speech improved we were thankful for that advice.

homemama · 04/01/2006 18:55

This may not be of interest to you but we paid for the Prevenar vaccine which prevents pnuemoccocal (sp?) menengitis. The consultant said it was the safest vaccine he had come across recently and that an added benefit was an average reduction in ear infections by about 80%.
DS is 14mths and so far hasn't had ant ear infections.
Agree you should push to see ENT.

homemama · 04/01/2006 19:02

Meant to explain; he said that the same bacteria causes both.

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