19 month old ongoing ear infections

[lozzastan]

Hi everyone ❤️ I’m looking for some positive experiences from parents of late talkers, particularly where hearing issues and glue ear may have been contributing factors.

My little boy is 19 months old and I’m really hoping to hear from anyone who has been through something similar.

He had recurrent ear infections between May and September, and since around 13–14 months I’ve noticed a significant change in his development. He used to babble much more but has stopped saying “mamamamama”. He isn’t waving or pointing, doesn’t consistently respond to his name, has limited eye contact at times and isn’t consistently following simple instructions. He does communicate by taking my hand to things he wants, reaching for choices and interacting through play, but I’m concerned about the loss of skills he previously had.

He seems to respond to sounds from the TV, phone and Alexa, but his response to voices and his name is much less consistent.

We recently had private audiology, but unfortunately they couldn’t complete the hearing test because he wouldn’t cooperate. Tympanometry showed Type C pressure in both ears, with evidence of previous glue ear. His eardrums were also described as dull, with some scarring. I understand this can indicate negative middle-ear pressure and potentially muffled or fluctuating hearing.

We saw an ENT consultant today, who has prescribed azithromycin — initially once daily and then twice weekly for four weeks. The aim is to see whether this helps and potentially avoid grommets. He’s also being referred for a more detailed NHS hearing test, with an ENT review in three months.

I’m also pursuing developmental support because I don’t want to assume everything is down to his ears, particularly given the regression I’ve noticed.

I’d be so grateful to hear from anyone who has experienced something similar:

❤️ Did treating glue ear or improving middle-ear pressure make a noticeable difference to speech, babbling, response to name or understanding?

❤️ Has anyone’s child been prescribed azithromycin on a similar schedule, and did it help?

❤️ Did anyone manage to improve their child’s hearing and avoid grommets?

❤️ If your child had Type C tympanograms, what happened next?

I know every child is different, but I’d particularly love to hear some positive stories from parents who have been through this. I’m really hoping we can improve his hearing and see him make progress with his communication and development. ❤️

Different situations. No ear infections or speach problem but DD1 hearing issues started to become worse from the age of 5. She had grommets at 7 years old. A bit annoying for swimming, she had to wear putty and bands but they solved the problem and had a positive impact on her life.

Thanks for your reply, did you go straight to grommets or try the 6 week course of antibiotics first?

Straight to grommets as she had never had an ear infection and we had watched and waited for a number of years and it was getting worse rather than better.

The operation is really short. You can watch it on YouTube. It takes literally a minute per ear. I was worried about the GA but she had to have a unrelated emergency GA just before we made the decision anyway so I was nolonger concerned about that.

Yes my concern is the GA too. Keeping everything crossed the antibiotics can allow us to avoid it but obviously will see how things go and when we go back for the review. Thank you for your reply x

Ds had grommets at 3 and it was life changing for him. He was on constant antibiotics before, had hearing loss and always was ill. Once he had them the infections stopped and hearing improved very quickly.

Thank you for your reply, was you offered the long term low dose antibiotics first or straight to grommets? I’m unsure why the consultant has done it this way around for my son? I did pay to go privately because I have lost all faith with the NHS and how they’ve been with all of this. Plus the wait times are outrageous!

We had recurrent infections so recurrent antibiotics but when it became clear grommets were needed he had long term antibiotics until he had them done.

You need to push back hard with HV and ENT referrals. They should be able to complete a hearing test for a child.

my DS had 26 ear infections in 17 months from when he was 10 months old. It was a nightmare. He was also born right at the start of the first lock down so getting any kind of help and support was a joke. In the end it took me standing in childrens an and e and refusing to move until I spoke with a consultant to finally get him on the referral list. They put grommets in two months later. In one ear. I asked for both they only did one. A month later another infection in the other ear sure enough enough operation for grommets in BOTH ears and adenoids removed. This seemed to help the infections.

re speak and language. Again Covid had a huge impact on his speech development. Not only could he not hear properly but anyone other than me who he came into contact with had their face covered and so he couldn’t see words and sounds and facial expressions. Especially in early languages development.

after pushing back hard I eventually got him to see a HV when he was 3 and I said I thought his speech was delayed.

3 years of speech and language therapy (which again I had to fight tooth and nail for) as intensive support from us at home and with his nursery and now school he is making very good progress and you would hardly know.

But it’s been a battle.

I was also offered long term low dose antibiotics and that was a nightmare he was so run down and cause thrush all over his bum and in his mouth so I binned that off pretty quickly.

I was also concerned about the amount of antibiotics he was have (17 rounds of oral) and what that was doing to his gut and worried about ‘super bug’ immunity