Recurrent ear infections/grommets

[Bunny2607]

Hi everyone
my almost 11 month old has been on antibiotics every 10-14 days since September for an ear infection that won’t shift. We go through the same cycle where she gets irritable, waking every hour, then one day she wakes with pus and gunk coming out her ear (always the same ear), so we get antibiotics for 5 days she gets better then a few days after she finishes the course it starts again. GP thinks she needs grommets to clear a blockage somewhere so
we have been referred to ENT but the earliest appts are march. Does anyone have any experience of going private? Has anyone been in my position? If so what did you do? It’s starting to have a big impact as when she is poorly we get zero sleep, and when she is on antibiotics she has to have been on them 24hrs before nursery will take her which means i end up taking time off work depending how the days fall. I’m worried about how much medication she is having with calpol/ibuprofen and the antibiotics themselves. It can’t be good long term. I just can’t carry on like this and I don’t want my baby in pain. We can’t really afford private we only have £1k in savings but we’ll find the money if we have to. Thank you xx

I would ring up every week ask to put on the cancellation list and ask if they have an available appointments due to cancellation.

We went private for grommits for DC3. Our private hospital however had a minimum age limit of 3 - they wouldn't operate under that age (DC was a couple of months under 3 so we just waited). It might be worth checking your local private hospital's policy.

However, having said that, it might be worth going private to see a ENT consultant. Ours (with private insurance, don't know if rate is different) is £200 a visit. I think they can do preventative low dose antibiotics to stop repeated infections. If you make sure that as well as seeing private patients, they are also a consultant at the NHS hospital you've been referred to, there is the potential they can then use your private appointment to get you into the right bit of NHS queue. There's no guarantees, but a consultant we saw for DC2's allergies offered and I've heard directly from people it's happened to with other consultants.

That sounds tough, we had a similar situation. We were referred for grommets in April (still haven't even had the appointment through) but were prewarned it would take months and DD was struggling with moderate hearing loss caused by glue ear and significant speech delay, so we went straight to private. She also suffered ear infections at a young age which impacted her hearing going forward. I chose Portland women and children's hospital. I can't recommend it enough, we got the consultation within days of referral and the procedure was booked for the following week. I think it was around £3.5k for everything including the procedure and anaesthetist fees, but was the best decision for us.

I'm in my 40's and still recall having a single grommet aged 4. I agree with ringing and asking about cancellations. Mar is only 3mths away- so not the end of the world in terms of waiting times. If left too long, constant ear infections can cause speech delays. If the ear drum is constantly bursting to release the pus- it can lead to scarring and long term hearing issues.

Your little one wont remember, but I vividly recall going to the ENT surgeons office a month or so after the op and having the grommet removed from my ear with a long, pointy, cold plyer device. I hadn't been told what would happen- and assumed the operation was over. It wasn't painful- just unexpected. Prior to the op, I had almost monthly ear infections and the pain and thumping in my ear was dreadful. Afterwards, I don't recall any infections at all!!!

One thing of note though. I used to scuba dive often and burst my ear drum on one trip (the ear which had the grommet). I saw an ENT and also a hyperbaric specialist Dr afterwards. They both agreed that the eardrum was likely weaker due to the grommet and possibly past infections. I also have very slight hearing loss in that ear. Not enough to notice or need aids, and only picked up when I had a hearing test at the ENT's. I've dived since with no ill effects, so might have been a one off, but recurrent infections can indeed cause issues.

Happy to answer any questions you have op and hope you get the op done soon x

Not sure that Grommets are the answer you are hoping for…one of mine has them put in 10 weeks ago…currently on our third set of antibiotics for an ear infection since then…it feels never ending and we are going back to Ent.
interestingly we were pretty quick through the NHS and I was expecting a longer wait. We even had a private operation lined up but the NHS one was only a couple of weeks later so cancelled the private one. I had one specific private surgeon and wouldn’t have gone private with anyone else.

I had sinusitis on holiday in France and went to the pharmacist. They gave me acetyl cystéine and told me you could give a baby half doses. DD was 2 and had loads of ear infections. Can remember her looking shocked when the floor came up and hit her bottom due to her balance being affected. Started giving it to her each time she had a cold and she managed to avoid antibiotics.
Saw the ent specialist who did my sinus ventilation operation and he said 'no' to grommets as it's impossible to get small children to keep their heads out of the water when swimming. Also that as they grow the Eustacian tube straightens out and so the mucus can drain out.

My DS has ear infection after ear infection up to his first birthday. Eventually fell apart at the doctor and asked what on earth it could possibly be. She said get an allergy test. It turned out that he was allergic to milk. He stopped all dairy for about 2 years and thankfully grew out of it. It was a nightmare at the time. Good luck.

Have they tried antibiotic drops at all? My child has repeat ear infections and oral meds don’t shift it at all. They’ve had grommets though so I’m assuming it’s a middle ear infection and the drops work their way through? If it’s an outer infection drops may help?
I feel for you, ear infections are awful. Lie her poorly ear side down on a hot water bottle that helps x

Thank you everyone for your replies. I’m really getting fed up now, she’s been up every hour til 3 tonight and then since 3 generally been unsettled and fidgety and just awake so we’ve had no sleep again. She’s rubbing her ear so it’s coming back as this is how it starts. She finished the last dose of antibiotics on Thursday and its only sunday morning now 😓😓
interestingly she is allergic to cows milk and on prescription formula so i wonder if there is a link with this although she doesn’t have any cows milk in her diet as of yet. We were hospitalised for a week when she was 3 weeks old and the day after we came home we were at the docs for the first time about her ear, but since then its calmed down til september and that was back in February.
iv read about the low dose 6 week course of antibiotics, is that something only the private doctor will prescribe do you think? I think after tonight i am going to pay for an initial consultation just to get a 2nd opinion. We’re only ever with the Gp five mins and just get waved off with a prescription which obviously i’m grateful for but its not solving the actual problem 😭😭

I am having the same with my child. He is having the third episode since last 6 months but this time it’s not clearing up. I too have been looking at private options as don’t want to wait too long on the nhs.
placemarking

DD had fluid build up in her ears due to allergies. The fluid would then get infected, although no longer recommended we used decongestants to keep the Eustachian tubes wide and draining down her throat. She had environmental allergies outgrew the situation after a good year.

My eldest had grommets. We went private as fortunately she was covered under my work insurance. We would have paid if we didn’t have insurance though, even if just for the initial consultation. As she was under 3 at the time the op was in an NHS hospital (if you’re south coast PM me and I can recommend).

The difference has been amazing for us! Although, you may find as she grows the infections reduce on their own as the eustatian tube straightens as children grow allowing the ear to drain more freely. 11m is still very young.

It is also only recommended to have one, maybe two sets of grommets (according to an audiologist we see for hearing tests) as each set of grommets carry a risk of scarring and weakening of the ear drum. For us it was worth the risk for one set, we’re hoping that after this set drop out we won’t have a reoccurrence of multiple infections.

While you’re waiting for an appointment. Look at Ear Bandits, they’re a combination of earplugs and a neoprene headband. It helps keep water out their ears when swimming/playing in the bath and can reduce infections caused by water getting in the ear. We use them now for swimming lessons. We just use the earplugs for the bath.

DS2 was age 18 months when he had his op. It was carried out privately but at the Birmingham Childrens hospital. He had ear infection after ear infection, a febrile convulsion with tonsilitis and his hearing was reduced to 40%. Do you have private health insurance and where are you in the country?

Thank you everyond

@fallfallfall how did you know the build up was allergies? I’m just wondering about whether its worth me trying a decongestant due to the milk allergy.

i’m taking my baby back to the doctors this afternoon, we’ve had another night of no sleep and she’s rubbing/pulling he ears so i know we are in the early stages of infection again. I’m going to ask about the preventative antibiotics and if they can make the referral urgent so we will be seen quicker.

we’re in West Yorkshire and no health cover. We would be able to find the money somehow if need be. Part of me is reluctant to pay though with the amount me and my husband have paid into the system over the years you think why should we have to. But thats a whole other thread discussion 😂

That’s how the Dr explained it. Speak to your Dr. The decongestants trick is very old school.

My son has this but hasn't been referred for anything they just said it would clear up but it keeps coming back. Really bad .. lots of pus pouring out. It started after chicken pox when he was 7 months old he's now 14 months
I'm going to go back to go after reading this.
Hope you get sorted

Hi, I could have wrote the first part
DD had grommets put in and tonsils out in April this year after a total ear blockage/ear infection and tonsillitis recurring every month from ages 1-2. Because she'd been seen by Gp and out of hours and was on her 10th round of antibiotics her paediatrician (for Allergies) made a ENT referral then my GP sent a support letter to get a urgent appointment. That was end of last year like December. Appointment got cancelled in January got seen end of Feb, put on the waiting list for grommets in and tonsils out (she actually had another infection when we saw ENT). She was bottom of the list due to covid restrictions but spoke to my GP who sent another urgent referrals letter and she got bumped to the list. Her tonsils got taken out in April and some kids that were in for the same thing had been on the list since pre covid.

GPs get some stick but mine went above and beyond and I now have a very happy settled, 3 year old.

Same for us. We went privately (we have insurance) and, without wishing to be over dramatic, it was life changing. Ear infections stopped, speech came and he stopped being so unhappy.

We're London too so not much good for you in terms of recommending a consultant.

I should add that I ended up changing (private) consultant as the first one wanted to wait and, after a year, I felt it was time for action.

My DD6 had recurrent ear infections. We went private, they prescribed drops directly into the ear which cleared it up beautifully and then monitored. They did recommend grommets but we’ve stuck it out and the infections are definitely getting less frequent as she’s got older and can fight it off herself.

really recommend daily Actimel yoghurt drinks to rebalance their tummy, the antibiotics can really mess it up, and also multivitamins

You have my sympathy. My DD had grommets put in at 19 months. This sounds dramatic but it completely changed her life (and ours). She's now 7 and hasn't had one since. We went privately after many months of GP saying it was normal early childhood. 11 ear infections later, (many of which resulted in perforated ear drums), the ENT consultant look one look in her offending ear said she needed grommets. They were put in the following week. So glad we didn't wait any longer.

With DS we avoided baths and swimming altogether for a good while and that helped. Might not be a solution for you but might help.

Alot of people saying they went private and seem to have got sorted. I saw the GP agaib yesterday who said my baby has alot of wax build up in her “good” ear, and the “bad” ear was abit inflamed and red etc. she’s swabbed it again to see if they can grow anything, she said the more information they have the better. She’s given me a prescription for erythromycin with it being christmas and obviously the GP closing as i suspect by the back end of the week the discharge/pus will be back. And she’s going to write and try get her seen sooner.
we’ve had another night last night of seeing most hours of the night, i can understand why you’re all saying it was life changing as we’re absolutely shattered and our baby is so grumpy. We defo can’t carry on like this! I think i’ll ring after the xmas break and if she hasn’t been bumped up the list we’ll go private and find the money somehow, at least for the initial appt. The GP said yesterday the ENT specialists have access to other antibiotics/can give longer courses etc so it might be worth paying for an initial consultation just to get some different medication.

Your poor DD OP. My 9 year old really struggles with his ears. Currently on the waiting list to have his middle ear cleaned out and ear drum replaced.

Hi everyone
i’ve booked to go private so we have first appt on 10th January. Can anyone who has been there before tell me what happens at the first appointment please? Just not sure what to expect! thank you