Ears - grommets

[bluesky]

Has anyone's older child had these done, my son, aged 9 has had constant ear problems since Christmas. Does it affect swimming? Thanks

My dd3 aged 4 had grommets fitted in April, she is still able to go swimming allthough having drummed it into her that she shouldn't get her ears wet whilst hairwashing band bathing she is now reluctant to get her ears wet whilst swimming. We were told by our consultant that swimmoing in treated water is fine. but not untreated water. HTH

I had them when I was 8 - no, they didn't affect swimming IIRC. Did wonders for my hearing though!

He shouldn't dive under the water but you can get ear bands to keep the ears dry. DD1 has had them for years and goes swimming with her school every week. They help hearing so much that the ear plug rule for cleaning hair etc is easier to live with.

You can get ear plugs and ear bandits online at www.thebabycatalogue.com
This is the cheapest place I could find and really quick delivery too.

I brought my ear bandits from the local swiming pool shop for about £3 or £4. I had some foam ear plugs but they kept poping out. I must admit I use boots for ear plugs now, they do have a habit of going down the plug hole

thanks everyone.

How do they put in the grommets, are the children particularly uncomfortable afterwards? Is it right that the grommets eventually disappear and everything heals itself?

The general anesthetic is scarey and the children seem to sleep it and the effects of the operation off. My DD has had these twice and she seems not to notice the pain of them. the adenoids coming out only slowed her down a bit.

They do fall out and dd tends to have the tubes stuck in her ears for months in the wrong place. No problem with that. After the second operation she did lose one of the gromets after a short time. That did come out with quite a lot of blood but no pain. Gp was hopeless but consultant took out a large lump of wax and confirmed the gromet had gone. He thought one ear would be good enough and he was right.

Good luck to you and your son.

well we have a nasal spray to try and clear all the blockage around the back of ears/nose/tubes etc, and if that doesnt work, we will be referred, so fingers crossed.

Hope the nasal spray works, although if he is referred for grommets it really is nothing to worry about, the children bounce back from it far quicker than we do.

thanks for reassurance, had more tears this morning, it's really hard going at the mo.

Have they said whether they think he will grow out of it? We were told that by 8 years old most children will grow out of it. To be honest although DD3 hearing isn't perfect with the grommets she is loads better but when these come out she may need hearing aids if she developes glue again as she has a moderate loss due to the glue.

problem is it isn't glue ear nor does he have any deafness. The tubes from the ear drum are blocked, a result I believe from the antiobiotics he was given during a very bad ear infection in January, it meant that all the 'yuk' didn't drain away properly, and it is trapped, hence the continuous pain, popping ears and there's nothing we can do to get rid of it.

I mentioned grommets as I wanted some advice just incase the Dr mentioned it as a solution, but so far they're uncertain hence the nasal spray because the decongestant didnt work.