22 month old, ear infections and barely any words. Worried I’m failing her

[sickandsleepy]

My daughter is 22 months and has had quite a few ear infections over the last year (about six, always in both ears). The GP says ear infections are very common in toddlers, but I’m starting to wonder if they’ve affected her hearing and speech.

She only says about three words, although not very clearly - bubble, duck, book and some animal noises but doesn’t say mummy or daddy yet or anything else. She understands things and will bring us books or things she wants help with, but because she can’t express herself she gets really frustrated and sometimes hits or lashes out.

She’s had hearing tests which showed slight hearing loss and glue ear but they keep just saying come back in 3 months, and because of that I’m actually paying privately for her to see an ENT next week. I’m convinced the ear problems are part of why she isn’t talking much, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m somehow failing her or missing something I should be doing.

Has anyone else had a toddler with recurrent ear infections and speech delay? Did things improve once their ears were sorted? I think I just need a bit of reassurance that I’m not letting her down somehow.

@sickandsleepy I'm not sure I agree that children with hearing loss talk at the same rate; it's not what various SALT professionals have said to me anyway. I did find that SALT were much more positive about potential benefits of the operation than the ENT consultants though. Not sure why.

@WhimsicalObsidian do you mind if I PM'd you? My little boy had grommets and adenoid removal done about 3 weeks ago and it would be really interesting to compare notes. I think we are seeing similar improvements.

@hicketypickety - yes, I said to the consultant that I still want to continue on the surgical route because then at least I can rule out possible causes rather than continue in the dark.

@StacieBenson I agree with you, even just from people's experiences I've read online with their own children, it seems lots of children come on leaps and bounds with new words etc once they've had the surgery, I appreciate it won't be like that in all cases, but I suppose the consultants are trying not to have people think it's a magic wand maybe.

My son was just like this , constant ear infections from a baby, he would get antibiotics , his ear would expell all this disgusting stuff then clear up till the next time .
we went holiday and he got another ear infection , we went to a Spanish pharmacy who gave us a spray to dry out the inside of his ear . Apparently took the pharmacist said he has tiny ear canals and water would get trapped behind the ear drum , every time he swam or showered we sprayed his ears afterwards and we went from pretty constant ear infections to
virtually none . He was a late talker finally started talking about 3 and a half . He’s 25 now and had to have 2 lots of antibiotics a couple of months ago for another ear infection, seems it’s still his thing ! I’m have no idea what the spray is called but you could probably track it down if you wanted to try it . Best luck it’s so miserable isn’t it .

I appreciate this thread’s a few months old but I am pulling my hair out trying to get grommets for my 2 year old - they have been watching and waiting for a year he is so behind :( we are struggling to find private for under 3s I’d be so grateful if you could share the details with me too xx

@kayleeeeexo we had someone in the West Midlands. Happy to PM you details if helpful. xx

My ds was a bit like this but in our case despite speech delay we were reassured it’s “just that boys are a bit slower to develop verbally than girls”. He is worse when there is background noise so a place like a nursery is very hard for him.

His school was astonished when he was eventually diagnosed with bilateral permanent hearing loss (loss of very deep and very high sounds which makes everything sound flat/muffled consonant sounds). He masked very well so it took until he was 6 for the NhS to give us a full audiology test. I wish I had pushed harder and sooner.

Don’t be frustrated. Being behind doesn’t mean your dc can’t catch up.

Make sure when you chat to her you are facing her directly, and you can gently stroke her cheek to make sure she turns to concentrates on your face.

I didn’t teach ds to sign formally - we did use some gestures though (a bit like a watered down makaton).

Speak very slow and clear with short easy sentences, so she can see the shape your mouth makes. Play guessing games with animal sounds like snakes, cows , squeaky mouse so your dd can isolate the sound and the shape your mouth makes.

Repeat back to her what she said so she can hear you say it correctly.

That would be so helpful thank you xx

Ours is in Oxfordshire, would that help?

@kayleeeeexooh no I completely get it, it’s awful. I saw a Mr Steven Frampton BUT I did have to pay to see him. He wanted to see her audiology test results and agreed there and then to add her to his NHS list for grommets but also he advised she have her adenoids removed at the same time. So I did have to pay for the initial consultation (to skip the queue basically), but I won’t have to pay for the surgery as it’ll be done via NHS. I am still waiting though as she’s on the NHS list but at least she’s on the list for surgery now.

It really would we are south west thank you xx

I have PMd you x

@kayleeeeexojust to add to my previous comment, Mr Frampton was in Ringwood xx

Thank you so much xx I hope your little one gets all sorted ❤️