Glue Ear Toddler

[Adams0183]

Hi all, my toddler has had 7 Ear Infections, 2 lots of tonsillitis and sinusitus in the last 16 months. We are currently under ENT and awaiting a hearing test. My daughter is nearly 3 and is speech delayed. 4 weeks ago we were really getting somewhere with her language developing and had up to 40 words and then she developed 2 ear infections in a row and now its almost gone again. The ENT consultant said that everytime they get an ear infection they basically have to start with the language again. We have lots of referals to various places as I think professionals think she may have Autism but obviously dont say that. Ive been really anxious about all this for months. ENT said that they will put grommets in depending on hearing test results. Has anyone had any similar experiences that they could share with me please and any insight in to what the audiology hearing test will involve? Thank you

My youngest had recurring ear infections which resulted in burst ear drums every couple of weeks. When we finally managed to be referrred to ENT it was an endless round of 'his ears are too gunky to see anything come back in 1 month' to then 'his ears are clear, lets see what they are like next month'!!!

It was only because I had concerns over his hearing and speech development that they went ahead with grommets.

The hearing tests when he was a toddler was him sitting on my lap in a room with cube shelces to both sides of us. The cubes had different things in like a pig that made a noise or a fire engine toy that had a siren - they would then monitor him and see what noises made him turn his head etc.

As he got a little older he would have headphones on and would have to put little men into and out of a bot when he heard a beep.

Grommets was a day surgery but it was horrible as he wasnt allowed to eat and drink from the day before and then we had to wait a couple of hours in the hospital! As soon as he came out the hospital we could see the difference, he found the radio really loud and also looked up into the sky bacause he heard a plane going by!

My daughter had bad glue ear age 3/4. We paid for private ENT consultancy and were scheduled for adenoid removal and grommets within 2 weeks of the first consultation. We were desperate to get it sorted before she started school because her hearing was clearly terrible.

Poor hearing can have a huge impact on development and can lead to all sorts of behavioural problems that might be wrongly diagnosed as something else.

I hope you’re not kept waiting too long for the hearing test and any subsequent surgery. The adenoid removal alone will be life changing.

Glue ear with both dc and recurring infections. Both had grommets and tonsils and adenoids out by age 4. Elder ds had very poor hearing which was missed really as he was an only child and they said he adapted and lip read due to having so much one on one time with me. Hearing tests were play based, I remember putting peg people into a boat as one of the tests. Having the operation made a massive difference to both and any development delays resolved themselves.

Hi,

I had glue ear that was fixed with grommets aged 5, I couldn’t speak but although I was slightly behind I caught up pretty easily. Had to have it monitored over the years with hearing tests. Had my grommets removed but one was embedded into my ear drum so left a hole and needed a skin graft. I still have troubles with my ears to this day but just keep an eye on it, ear infections are a horrible amount of pain and if I have a cold I will loose heating in one of my ears usually. And don’t like getting water in my ears. Hope the grommets help ☺️

Hi, my recently turned 3 year old has had ENT issues since around 6 months old. Had adenoids removed at 18 months but is still often congested, snotty, has sleep apnea and was also diagnosed with glue ear and hearing loss around a year ago (his hearing was never checked before then so assume he has had it a while). Now waiting on a date for operation tonsils, adenoids (again) to be removed as well as grommets to be inserted.

I recommend you get a referral into speech and language therapy asap, I go the health visitor to do mine over a year ago and we are only just getting a face to face appointment now. Has to be a professional who does the referral so ours was a duty HV happy to do it because of the glue ear diagnosis, but if you child is in nursery then they can also do it I think.

Also just a warning - if hearing test shows hearing loss we had to do a '3 month wait' where we then do another hearing test to see if the glue ear and hearing loss is still there. So although obvious hearing loss we haven't had any hearing help at all and his first hearing test was September last year.

Sorry for the long essay, hope this helps.

Thanks everyone I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. This all started in Dec 2021. My daughter had started to talk in the Sept and then she gt glue ear and went mute. She then started babbling away once it cleared. Wr heard odd words and then since August 2022 weve had nothing but tonsilitis and ear infections. 4 weeks we were up to 40 words and then she got two ear infections back to back and most of its gone again. I think the ENT consultant ia prepared to do grommets depending on hearing test and I will push for it as its hindering her development so much. I get such bad anxiety because I know others think its more than glue ear like Autism and then I get stressed in case its something more serious and ive missed it. Its so stressful. ENT said her right ear drum is retracted but couldnt see in her left as she was too wriggly.

Hi, just wondered if you had an update as im in the same situation. Thanks