Lauren's ear infections Part 1

For the past 5 to 6 months Lauren has been experiencing regular ear infections and a couple bouts of tonsillitis. The ear infections have been as regular as being cleared of any infection on a Monday and by the Friday of the same week it would return. As soon as Lauren would start having temperatures and pulling on her ears I would take her to the GP to get treated before they would become to severe. Because this was happening so often we decided that it was time to see an ear, nose and throat specialist. 

The doctor assessed Lauren and said it was best to have grommets put into her ears as well as having her adenoids removed at the same time. Removing the adenoids helps the tube which connects the ears and nose together have more room to flow. He said there is also a high chance that when she is a bit older she will need to have her tonsils removed, at the moment she is to young to do this as it is to high risk for her age. He also said Lauren has a 30% chance of needing grommets put back into her ears once they have fallen out later on, which is a slightly higher chance then other kids. 

What grommets are is a small tube which acts like a filter for the ear, the doctor showed me what it looks like and it reminded me of a tiny white bead. It helps fluid trapped in the ear flow out. The ear drum usually pushes the grommet out itself between 9 to 12 months after the procedure. Lauren has fluid which is trapped behind her ear drum, if left untreated it will constantly breed bacteria and become infected. While the antibiotics are fantastic at killing the infection but it doesn't get rid of the cause. So the antibiotics kill the germs then a week later we are back at the beginning again. We are hating having her on constant antibiotics, the biggest thing I've noticed with her being on them constantly is it is effecting her teeth.

Because she has the fluid trapped in her ear, it is also effecting her hearing. While she can hear loud noises, she cannot hear the quieter ones. The way they tested her hearing was they had Lauren sit on my lap in a sound proof room, there were speakers in either corner of the room and they would play sounds out of either speaker at different volumes and different pitches, they would judge that she heard the noise if she looked at the right speaker, if she looked at the right one a little teddy would light up and dance. Having ear problems in little ones can effect their speech and delay them hitting milestones, which in Lauren's case is walking. 

I will share with you in my next blog how everything goes with her operation. If your little one is having regular ear infections I highly recommend taking them to see an ENT. I learnt a lot from our appointment and feel confident we are taking the right steps to help her. 

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