Glue ear

[sleeppleasenow]

My DS (3 years old) has recurring ear infections. This has resulted in some deafness and delayed speech. I'm looking for some advice on trying to keep the ear infections at bay (as everytime he has one it damages his ears more). I'm also worried about the use of antibiotics, are they harmful? The specialist mentioned antibiotic ear drops - has anybody used them as my own doctor doesn't seem to know! If anyone has been or is going through this then any advice is welcome.
Thank you x

my DD (now 3) had the same problem. she had ear infections non-stop. even antibiotics would not sort them. in the end, DD had surgery for grommets. since having grommets, ear infections stopped completely and hearing is fine again. speech is still very much delayed but it appears that DD's speech delay has some another underlying cause.

for how long has your DS been suffering from ear infections/glue ear?

Thank you cheapflower. This has been going on for about 18 months but DS has only been treated for two ear infections and a perforated ear drum. He shows very little sign of illness - no temp or distress.We were trying to find a cause for his speech delay and I referred him for a hearing test in Feb after a particularly bad infection, where he was very upset and ill. They found that he must have had numerous infections as his ear was quite damaged. We now know that if his behaviour changes or he starts to mumble again then something is up. His speech has improved lots since Jan as we've changed how we teach him to speak and he now has begun to tell us when he's poorly. I'm also about to change my doctor as I think they've dismissed me when I've taken him for a check and not picked up on his ear infections. It's just so frustrating as I want to make it better for him.

My ds (3) is having grommets for the 2nd time tomorrow. He had the first lot at about 20 months and they came out last summer/autumn.
What he had was constant ear infections (about every 7-10 days) from 3 months until he had the grommets in. Then he only had 1-2 in all the time his grommets were in, and this winter he's had 5-6 perforated ear drums and more infections.
It does effect his behaviour/pronunciation and I can tell when it's bad because I have to be in front of him for him to understand me (it's been suggested he does some lip reading).
I only saw ENT yesterday when they decided he needed grommets again so I think he must have leapt a waiting list. Ask for referal to ENT and say it effects behaviour/speech.

Thanks DeWe. I'll try and get a referral sorted ASAP.