Ongoing ear infections after grommets

[FeministThrowingAPrincessParty]

Hi all, hoping for some advice from anyone who has been through similar. My DS who is two has had recurring ear infections since he was nine months old. He had 14 in the space of a year, often with a lot of discharge. He has had antibiotics, drops etc. He had grommets put in about six months ago. He had two clear months without ear infections but has had almost constant thick discharge for the last four months. Sometimes with fevers and pain, sometimes not. Every time the GP looks in his ears, they say the grommets are still in place, so it’s not that.

I am bringing him to see ENT this week. Are there any questions I should be asking or interventions/tests I should be requesting? Thank you!

My daughter had an awful infection a few months after the grommets were in. I could smell it from across the room and there was a thick green discharge. It took three courses of antibiotics plus antibiotic ear drops then another two weeks of a different ear drop to clear it. The paediatrician saw her the day each course of antibiotics finished — the symptoms were long gone but she could see that infection was still present so prescribed again. (We are not in the UK so it’s normal to be seen by a paediatrician every couple of days with an ongoing issue; I suppose you’d have to see if the GP would see him at the end of the course even without symptoms.)

Thank you so much, this is really helpful. I did have an instinctive feeling that one of the recent courses of antibiotics was too short and that they changed him to a different course when a repeat prescription might have been more effective. So it may be that we just never cleared the original infection from January! I hope your daughter has fewer infections now or, even better, none at all!

Are they swabbing the discharge to check what's growing and what antibiotics it responds to?

Thank you. Yes, sometimes. You’re making me realise I should ask every time. Waiting for swab results tomorrow so should have that info for the ENT appointment.

You are making sure he doesnt get water in his ears right? So no swimming, no showers and loads of supervision in the bath and a shower cap over his ears?

Thank you. Yes, absolutely. He’s never germ swimming and we haven’t washed his hair properly in months lol! Just with a flannel.

Great. Sorry, just ruling out the obvious cause.

She never had another infection after that, and it’s been four years. Still a few blips with hearing, but nothing very acute.

Oh good 🙏