Parenting Preschoolers (3-5) Support Group

Bein in preschool surely has something to do with it. Does he have siblings at home by chance? I know my son has been sick quite a few times (pneumonia) since he stared preschool. I have heard if they have 6 or more ear infections a year tubes would probably be inserted. My niece has tubes shes almost 2yrs old. Also, my little godson has tubes and hes 2 1/2. It seems to be the trend. But it stops the infections. You should talk to your pediatrician.

MY SON IS 4 1/2 AND WERE UP TO ABOUT 16 EAR INFECTIONS. ITS NO STOP. WE HAD TUBES PUT IN HIS EARS IN OCTOBER AND IT HAS IMPROVED GREATLY BUT THIS IS HIS 3RD ONE SINCE THEN. SCHOOL DOES PLAY APART IN IT .

I agree about preschool and and he might also be a candidate for tubes. We're deciding right now if we're going to do the procedure with our daughter. One of the reasons that I'm considering the tubes is because I don't like having my children on a lot of anti-biotics. There are alternative treatments that you can try (if you don't do the tubes). We have an amazing pediatricain/advisor on the site who might chime in here... but I also want to mention that I have several friends who have followed a more natural approach prescribed by a pediatrican here in Santa Monica. His name is Dr. Jay Gordon and he describes the treatment on his website. The link is below. Good Luck!

http://www.drjaygordon.com/develop...

http://www.drjaygordon.com

Both my girls were prone to ear infections as infants. My older daughter had 5 ear infections before she turned 1. 2 of them we treated with antibiotics and the other 3 I treated homepathically with garlic oil ear drops and they cleared up on their own. Once she turned 1, she kind of outgrew them.

My younger daughter (now 2 years 9 months) had 5 ear infections before her 1st birthday. The difference is the homepathic treatments did not work on her... and although I was loathe to give her antibiotics. I had to. We ended up getting tubes in her ears because I did not want her to continue on antibiotics and cold and flu season was coming up (my daughter got most of her ear infections during non cold/flu seasons -- we were afraid of what would happen when the bad season hit). I was also concerned with her speech development. As a doctor described to me, she continued to have fluid in her ears between ear infections and it would be like hearing everything underwater. I am so glad we had the tubes put in. She continued to have perhaps 2 more ear infections since and we could treat them with antibiotic ear drops. Tubes don't prevent ear infections but the infections are easier to spot (with tubes, your ears drain when you have an ear infection so you can see it ... it's pretty obvious) and easier to treat. She's older now and the tubes pushed out in a year and she hasn't had any ear infections.

It's not as scary as you think. And it helped my daughter tremendously.

What great advice/comments have been posted since yesterday. I'd have to agree with much being said but just want to add a few things. I would prefer never to put any of my children/patients on antibiotics...but there are occasions when they are necessary. In regard to ear infections, specifically, a general rule of thumb we follow is if there are 4 separate ones in 6 months or a continuous effusion (fluid in the ear) for about 3 months, tubes certainly need to be considered. Other factors to consider are time of year (fall/winter), family medical history (mom and dad's ear infection history), and daycare/school/older siblings in the house (which deals with the exposure to colds and what can lead to these ear infections). But Cath is right, persistent fluid in the ear can impact the hearing which then impacts speech...and obviously, something we don't want.

As far as treatments for the occasional infection, when they are older than 2, not always necessary to jump to antibiotics. We can try to treat the pain and see if the child can fight the infection without the antibiotic.

Anyway, great post and many great responses.

Dr. J

What great advice/comments have been posted since yesterday. I'd have to agree with much being said but just want to add a few things. I would prefer never to put any of my children/patients on antibiotics...but there are occasions when they are necessary. In regard to ear infections, specifically, a general rule of thumb we follow is if there are 4 separate ones in 6 months or a continuous effusion (fluid in the ear) for about 3 months, tubes certainly need to be considered. Other factors to consider are time of year (fall/winter), family medical history (mom and dad's ear infection history), and daycare/school/older siblings in the house (which deals with the exposure to colds and what can lead to these ear infections). But Cath is right, persistent fluid in the ear can impact the hearing which then impacts speech...and obviously, something we don't want.

As far as treatments for the occasional infection, when they are older than 2, not always necessary to jump to antibiotics. We can try to treat the pain and see if the child can fight the infection without the antibiotic.

Anyway, great post and many great responses.

Dr. J

The sad reality is once our kids start pre-school they are more prone to virus's and infections than when we keep them in a cleaner envirement, children bring many germs to school and sadly teacher's cannot always monitor hand washing and proper hygiene, lot's of kid's are being sent to school still sick and spreading their germs to other children. My twin girl's have been more sick in the last 8months since starting pre-K than since they were born. My girls both experienced many ear-infections and some were treated with anti-biotics and other times I used the garlic-oil, I hate the thought of them being on anti-biotics all the time, sometimes ear-tubes are the only solution to help drain the fluid that gets caught up in their ears, I know of many families who have opted for this proceedure with great results. I am sure you will find the best method to give your child relief, it is really difficult as a parent watching your child in pain and continuous anti-biotics is also not a solution especially when they really don't help in the long run.