CONstant ear infections. 11 course AB over last year :(

[JennyfromtheBlok]

My poor 3yr old has had at least 10/11 courses of antibiotics since last January!

She has constant ear infections- her symptoms are leaky ear (which smells awful) and sometimes a temperature.

We always get it swabbed and she has had a variety of bacterial infections, so obviously different antibiotics.

We have a hospital appointment next week with a paediatric ENT chap.. so am really hoping for some answers/information and a plan!

Anyone else had this situation!

I did as a child as did my DD.
I found out last week at age 55 that for us both it was ultimately linked to having a tongue tie!
We grew out of it as the Eustachian tubes lengthened as is the norm but both suffered perforated ear drums, pain, hearing loss and over use of antibiotics with subsequent gut damage.
It's rubbish isn't it.

My son had so many ear infections when he was younger - turns out he was dairy intolerant which was causing it all! Reduced his dairy intake and he improved loads (although also needed grommets as had glue ear by that point) - worth a try perhaps :-)

Ds was like that from 10 weeks old until about 7yo except for when he had grommets. He had grommets aged 20 months, 3yo, 6.5yo

He has grown out of it pretty much now. He's 16yo.

The evidence suggests that antibiotics only reduce the infection from 5 days to 3 so start refusing abx for the damage they do and the risk of antibiotic resistance which is huge for a child.

How stressful! I hope the apt helps. Are you having swimming lessons? I know there are special things you can get to protect the ears of so. When my second was little they had a fair few ear infections, a burst ear drum and times of leakage. Not as many as you and more spread out but a couple of times when was leaking but Dr didn't think ear drum was burst we held off on the antibiotics and didn't need. Though did use when ear drum burst and when had a temperature with leaking ear. Though would of course follow Dr's advice if they say to take . Good luck!

@Tired6789 yes we have weekly swimming lessons. But she was still getting the infections throughout the summer holiday (when swimming lessons stopped for about 7/8 wks)

Thanks so much everyone.

@stayathomegardener I can’t believe it took 50 odd years!! Nice for you to know the reason why. Yes I am concerned at the amount of AB’s she has had.

@Sjk00 No idea about the dairy thing, I will look into this. Thanks!

@MargaretThursday i think Grommets are the things that may help. I feel like I’ve read so much my head is spinning

Perhaps ask the Dr about protection for ears when swimming. A friend of my son's had a lot of bad ear infections and then got protectors specially designed for his ears and made big difference.

This is really interesting! I had endless ear infections as a child and only realised when my children were diagnosed with allergies that I had been egg /milk intolerant/allergic my whole life (I avoided it as much as I could but my parent didn't realise about allergies so just thought I was fussy)

@Tired6789 i will definitely bring it up.

I am so thankful for this appointment next week. I feel so bad for her poor thing. She always tries to perk herself up. Also her ear/hair/neck smell so awful at times. I ideally would like this sorted before she starts school in Sept. Maybe wishful thinking!

@JennyfromtheBlok how is your DD, op? We're having a similar issue with my 3 year old son right now