Just found out 2.2 DS has glue ear

[Lovethesea]

DS had an audiology appointment last week, requested by me as his speech isn't clear. Came back with definite glue ear affecting his hearing on both sides and therefore his speech.

He saw SALT in March (I asked for a check) and they said mild phonological delay. Probably grow out of it. Saw a GP in May who said no glue ear after looking in both ears.

So, at least we know the problem now. We now have the 3 month watch and wait, he has never had an ear infection but is quite drooly on occasions (I thought teething), has an on off runny nose and is unclear in pronounciation.

I'm going to call audiology on Tuesday to get some details, I was a bit in shock on Friday and didn't ask what level of impairment he has. I can tell nursery he's a bit deaf. I can make sure I get his attention when I talk and reduce background noise as much as possible.

What else? I'm thinking of trying the dairy free option while we wait in case it reduces mucous.

Cranial osteopathy? Would be pricey but might help some kids I guess?

I just want to reduce his frustration. He is trying so hard to talk to us.

Surely he should be offered grommets? They changed DS1's life!

I think they might offer at some point but they always wait 3 months first to see if it clears up naturally. I think he's had it for about a year if the runny nose/muffled speech is a clue so don't think it'll be any different by then.

So frustrating though, I had been asking and only me pushing got anyone to check. Can't believe the doctors looked and said fine. I think only the proper audiology test can actually 'see' glue ear given its behind the eardrum!

Feel guilty I didn't push more earlier and he's unable to speak clearly when he is trying so hard.

Could he be tongue tied?

DS1 has tongue tie which has caused a high palate (pics on my profile). He had hearing problems and congestion and noise in his ears for months and I think it is because the high palate is encroaching on the space that the eustacian tubes need to drain properly.

Drooling is common with tongue tied children, as is unclear speech (although many can speak perfectly well)

Other things that are linked to tongue tie are allergies and intolerances, gut problems, sleep problems and mouth breathing amongst other things. Does he have any of those?

It's good news that he's not getting infections. Glue ear shouldn't damage his hearing long term, but I really would push for grommets next time you see the audiologist. My son finally grew out of it at around 4-5 but it was a long road (4 sets of grommets as they kept falling out) BUT it does get better as they grow.

Did he have an actual hearing test? My son got his grommets within two weeks of his hearing test as they couldn't see anything at first inspection.

He did have a hearing test, he reacted (turned to the sound to see the toy dog wriggling in the dark box) for everything except the softest sounds, which I heard and saw he had no reaction to at all.

They tested his inner ear hearing with the headband and said that the one side they had tested was completely normal.

So they did the glue ear pressure test inside the ear on each side and got the flat line for both.

They did suggest possible tongue tie when he was born, then it was checked when I had awful breastfeeding pain (deep tissue thrush as with DD) and the conclusion was no tongue tie. I asked the SALT and she said she couldn't see one, but I will push for it to be checked when I next see someone just in case -and I'll try and get a torch and look inside DS's mouth if he lets me! Those photos help, thank you.

He has no sleep problems, no gut problems, no allergies I am aware of, does seem to mouth breath a bit but I thought that was the runny nose being blocked.

Worth trying a couple of weeks on soy milk and butter? Goats cheese?

Trouble with tongue tie is that unless it is a glaringly obvious one, they are often missed by hcps. Even by the ones that supposedly know about tongue tie.

The frenulum can be buried in the tissues of the mouth and there be nothing visible and it takes somebody very skilled to spot it.

DS1 has been declared "not tongue tied" when in fact he had two - an anterior tie and a posterior one. We had the anterior one revised, but the surgeon doing it wasn't skilled in tongue tie and didn't revise the posterior one (only learned this later)

more info here

What you say about your breastfeeding experience also fits with tongue tie (it runs in families so your dd could be too), I would explore the option further if I were you

Regarding the ears, the swallowing action also helps to drain the eustacian tubes and if the tongue is restricted, the correct swallowing action will not be achieved. How are his tonsils? Are the big?

Children don't need grommets at the first sign of glue ear.
Many will grow out of it.
If your child had a significant hearing loss the audiologist would have sat down with you to explain it in more detail.
Just keep him away from anyone that smokes

Thanks for the link maw, I'll definitely be taking tongue tie further and be a pain until someone really skilled rules it out. He is drooly, speech unclear, awful pain breastfeeding from the list of signs.

Not sure about the tonsils, I will have to google normal and then play the dentist with the torch game with him!

Littlemiss I hope he doesn't need any operations at all, my concern is that his speech is already affected, all the words he is daily learning are coming out unclear despite his best efforts. If we wait and wait for it to clear (and I think it's been around for a year at least) won't he be seriously behind in language and therefore having a hard catch up and potential frustration related behaviour issues too?

No one smokes around him and the only smoker in the extended family sees him once a year and smokes outside (though I still hate it).

I'm glad the bank hol is over so I can start the phonecalls to chase SALT etc tomorrow. Want to feel like I'm helping him.

Rubbed vicks on him tonight (I know, I know, but if he's blocked up nasally as well I thought it might be nice for his sleep) and bought lots of soya milk, yoghurt and butter to try without dairy for him for a fortnight and see if he kicks this runny nose and possibly has an intolerance that might be making him extra mucousy.

I've booked a cranial osteopath for Friday, she sounded very competent and said it would work for some children and not others with glue ear depending on their anatomy and head. She'll see if she thinks he is suitable and if not no charge.

Also spoke to the lovely National Deaf Childrens Society who wrote the leaflet I was given by audiology. Very friendly and supportive woman who listened and made it quite clear that they see DS as deaf even though its temporary and 'only' glue ear.

I'd just rather overreact and presume he can't hear clearly than underreact and leave him frustrated and impeded in his communication IYSWIM?

As someone who had glue ear for 8 years from 4 to 12 and then had a DD with glue ear that caused a mastoid abscess leading to a 25 percent bilateral permanent hearing loss. Making sure your DC is looking at you when you speak can make a dramatic difference to both understanding and speech development. DD had a 50percemt hearing loss between the age of 7months and 18months, however, as we all ensured she looked at us when we spoke and clearly enunciated words so she was able to copy mouth shapes her speech developed normally if anything a little ahead. She copes well now and it has been that as she has her coping stratgegies is better without hearing aids.
I should say it is the extremely rate mastoid abscess that caused the hearing loss not the glue ear.

These are the NICE guidelines about management of glue ear they are useful to explain the process and how long you should have to wait for stuff. Our experience with audiology wasn't very good - ds1 had very impaired hearing but we had to go through the process of waiting far too long - we've taken the other 2 boys privately, but hopefully that experience is only our local clinic and not widely in the UK.

Did you get any of the information sheets from the NCDS about education and glue ear? they are particular useful to pass on to nursery with lots of advice ie sitting centre front for story time, facing you when talking etc. It relieved a lot of ds's frustration. I think going OTT is fine in making sure he can hear you, we used baby signing and always revert back to assuming that the boys are hard of hearing if they play up a bit.
Its really useful to understand what level of impairment he has, mostly so you can keep track of improvement or decline as he has further tests.
ds3 (now 3yrs) is under a SALT for unclear speech, he had grommets at Christmas (2.5yrs) and his speech has massively massively improved - I say that to reassure you that if you catch it early enough then they will catch up with peers the main thing is to get the ball rolling before school - ds1 had grommets at the end of reception, he couldn't read at the end of his first year because he couldn't do phonics, he's catching up quickly.

We've not tried cranial but I know families that have and think its brilliant so worth a try.
We did go completely dairy free on advice of ENT consultant - ds2 has always been a drooly snotty baby from birth, he has enlarged tonsils and andeoids (healthy just big) the drool stopped as soon as we went dairy free, he also stopped snoring. We avoided soya products due to naturally occuring female hormones so we have coconut milk and found a good pea protein yoghurt in Holland and Barret.

Hope that helps - and good luck x

Definitely worth trying dairy free - goats milk and cheese worked fine for us and luckily DS liked both. We saw an improvement with dairy free + cranial osteopathy within 4 weeks. Actually, within that time we managed to clear his glue ear completely both sides which was hard to believe! It did recur from time to time later on as the dairy crept back in and then we'd go back to completely dairy free again to clear it. He is now 6 and seems to have grown out of it. Clearly for some grommits are the answer, but worth trying to avoid a general by going the dairy free/osteo route first and seeing if it helps. It certainly shouldn't do any harm, except to your bank balance perhaps for the osteo! Good luck and hope it sorts itself out soon.

My DS is 4 and has had glue ear for quite some time. He now has hearing aids which have made a massive difference. Our consultant is very anti grommets as the Glue will go.

One thing which has made a massive difference and has started to break up the glue is this - www.gluear.co.uk/parents/how-does-otovent-work.ashx
You need to try and get DC to use it 3 times a day ideally but the results in an NHS study have been very good.

Remember that the glue can be very thick at age 2 but it starts to get more fluid like as the child grows and the head gets bigger so you are at the worst stage.
I looked into grommits and agree with my consultant that at DS's age they are best avoided. The hearing aids are great and we are hopeful that he wont need them in 12 months as the balloon is breaking up the glue already.
Ask lots of questions and if his hearing remains low, ask about hearing aids. Good luck.

Thanks, brilliant to hear people's stories and what has worked.

I've moved him onto dairy free though not removed all traces of dairy (ie soya yoghurt, butter and milk but still having bits of cake/biscuit).

We had our first cranial osteopath session friday. He was asleep when we arrived and when he woke he was so calm and allowed her to hold his head and spine and pelvis while he relaxed on the couch. Amazing. She said she is used to walking around the room after 2 year olds so I am not expecting that calm next time!

She did think around his ears the plates were stiffer than average so suggested a couple of sessions to see.

I read the balloons were great but at 2.2 DS can't blow his nose yet let alone a balloon up so need to leave that one to later I think.

I did get the NDCS booklets and they sent me info for nursery for him so I'll take that in with the checklist of do's and don'ts for communicating.

Anyone know any good basic signing dvd's I could use to help DS have options if he can't hear me at times?

we did sing and sign classes and they do dvd's too

i would push for grommets as soon as the watchful waiting part is finished. it's worth hours and hours of speech therapy! i've had them in myself and my little one has and the improvement in speech was instant (child not me!). i don't think they will do them before the age of three but i would advise to get them done as soon as poss after that. good luck - your little one will catch up so don't worry!

Thanks, that's my gut feeling, that it's been around for ages and I don't want him stuck in limbo at a key learning stage for language.

I'm hoping the cranial osteopathy will work wonders, but otherwise I will be pushing for action rather than waiting another 3 months.